The ‘Write’ Stuff
Writing is a skill which can be learnt. Give your child the confidence to write his own speech, essay, presentation or letter!
Writing well is vital for success in school, at tertiary level, in the workplace and now more than ever when interacting with modern technology.
Expressing their thoughts in words teaches children to:
Discover their identity
Stimulate their imagination and artistic strengths
Clarify their thoughts and helps to organise their ideas logically
Relate important messages
Workshop includes:
3 hour session for Grades 5-7
Date: 28 January 2011
Time: 9:00- 12:00
Venue: Al Falaah College
Cost: R200 (Includes notes)
The workshop will cover:
Choosing topics, planning/drafting, writing styles and editing
Contact: Khadija Lockhat (BPaed,BEd Honours-Lang and Media Studies)
082 555 1431
031 266 2649
khatija@lockhat.com
www.kidenuf.wordpress.com
The year ahead
Local economic update: January 2012
By Tendani Mantshimuli, consumer economist, Liberty
Indicators to watch in the year ahead.
A possible global recession
Economic performance in 2012 is not expected to be much of an improvement on what we experienced in 2011. Global economic developments will still have a major impact on the domestic economy. Since it doesn’t look like the European economy will strengthen in a meaningful way; the OECD[1] is even forecasting a mild recession.
Also, the US sovereign debt problems have not been resolved. As 2012 is an election year, it might actually make resolutions more difficult to reach.
These developments might lead to a very bleak global economic outlook which will result in our growth remaining weak. Consequently, we cannot hope to see our exports faring well, which will have an impact on manufacturing performance in the year. As things stand now there is no indication that the SA economy might slide into a recession in 2012, but this is dependent on events outside of this country.
The rand and rising prices
The strength of the rand will be another thing to watch out for. A significant deterioration in the rand will have a negative influence on inflation developments.
International food prices and higher petrol prices are partly behind inflation being over the upper target band. While oil prices are high they haven’t been increasing steeply, so most of the increases we’ve seen in petrol prices were related to the weak rand. The weakness of the rand recently has been related to risk aversion and investors selling off emerging-market assets as a result of eurozone problems, not a result of SA economic fundamentals. Administered prices[2] will still continue to pose an upward risk to inflation. Eskom will be adding another tranche of the higher tariffs they requested from the energy regulator to finance power stations. These are mainly cost-push pressures, in other words created by the supplier rather than consumer demand, so an increase in interest rates would not be very effective against this type of inflation.
A concern for the SARB[3] will be if these price increases feed into expectations of higher salaries which will then influence wage negotiations; and so the spiral in price increases will become generalised throughout the economy.
What will happen to interest rates?
2012 will be a year of increasing inflation and weak economic growth; at least for the first half of the year. This will make the SARB’s job a bit tricky. Reading between the lines it is clear that price stability remains the primary focus of the bank. The bank is right to focus on inflation because higher prices affect everyone negatively, particularly low income earners; the rands you have at the beginning of the year should be able to buy more or less the same number of goods at the end of the year.
Currently the inflation rate for lower-income earners is 7.8%, well above the national average. The bank will have to fulfil their mandate of maintaining price stability while monitoring global economic developments and the potential impact on the domestic economy. This was made clear in the MPC[4] statement. The MPC is aware of the dangers of the worsening euro area crisis, and its possible effects on the global and domestic economy and on inflation. Should the need arise, the MPC will act and could even cut rates.
Article supplied by Liberty
Book Bazaar : Durban
Swop and Sell at the Book Bazaar
Indulge in a morning browsing through books!
Bring old books for all ages and exchange or sell to others
Enjoy the company of a new set of books in exchange for books you’ve already read!
Magazines dated Jan-Dec 2011 are welcome
Save money, space and the environment!
Date: 14 December 2011
Time: 10:00-12:00
Venue: 65 Meerut Road Westville
Entrance: R10 (adult) kids free
Bring a partner to promote your books while you are browsing
Carry small denominations of cash for change
Attach a price to each book
Contact: Khadija Lockhat
082 555 1431
031 266 2649
khatija@lockhat.com
www.kidenuf.wordpress.com
Muslim Women and Children in Swaziland Need your Help in any way
The small muslim community of Swaziland wishes all muslim and good people of the world peace and successWe seek the assistance of all influential muslims in our quest to build the FIRST muslim center in the Kingdom of Swaziland to serve as
A school
Arabic and Islamic madressa
Hostel/boarding facility
Community center
Sports center
Skills centre
Kindly advice us about available grants in this regard. Individual and other donations to facilitate the project are requested. We have received some help from the World Islamic Call Society and contacted many other and still await responses.
Dr Basheer B L Shabangu
basheer@realnet.co.sz
www.theiyos.org
Islamic Youth Organization of Swaziland.
Tel 00268 2505 8355 direct 00268 2505 5110
Mobile 00268 7602 1747.
Ladies Contact for Programmes Abeeda and Penelope 00268 7602 1982 (programmes include preschools with madressa, domestic and women and child anti-abuse campaigns, agriculture-dairy, poultry, goats, sports and dawah, etc)
Organisation: Books in Homes
October 19, 2011 by Mum Admin
Filed under blog, Childhood Development
Books in Homes is an organisation whose sole purpose is to promote reading. Whilst it may not be a Muslim-run organisation, I felt the need to support it simply because reading is the basis of Islam and the organisation is giving us an opportunity to do something to improve the lives of hundreds of disadvantaged children in South Africa. Our learners are underperforming because they are not exposed to books before starting school. Let us make a difference. Visit http://booksinhomes.weebly.com/index.html for more information.
Winning recipes
September 28, 2011 by Mum Admin
Filed under blog, Feeding & nutrition
Congratulations to Sara Khan for winning this amazing hamper from Astral Foods
Sara submitted the following recipes:
Chicken sosaties
1kg Goldi chicken breasts (cut in big cubes)
MARINATE IN:
1¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon red chillies
3 tablespoon mayonnaise
3 tablespoon Italian salad dressing
1 teaspoon mixed herbs
Other items
1 bottle pickled onions
Pineapple cubes
3 green and red peppers
METHOD:
1. Put the cubes of chicken on skewers with pickled onions, peppers,
pineapple cubes (as desired).
2. Baste with butter and braai
3. Serve on platters with sauce.
SAUCE:
125g melted butter
2 tablespoon tomato sauce
2 tablespoon mayonnaise
lemon juice to taste
Crushed garlic
METHOD:
Boil together and pour over chicken sosaties.
Braai chicken breasts
12 Goldi chicken breasts
2 tablespoon lemon juice
salt to taste (± 2½ teaspoon)
½ cup yogurt
½ cup cream
2 tablespoon garlic paste
1 tablespoon ginger paste
2 teaspoon roasted and ground jeeru
2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
ghee or butter
Make incisions on the chicken breasts and rub in lemon juice, and salt. Refrigerate for a few hours
Mix the rest of the ingredients and marinate drumsticks for two hours
Braai, basting with ghee or butter.
Braai chicken masala
1 Goldi chicken, cut up into pieces for braai
1 teaspoon ginger garlic
1 tablespoon crushed red chillis
1 tablespoon mustard sauce
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoon flour
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoon tomato sauce
Mix all ingredients and marinate chicken. Braai while basting with oil.
Braai Day 2011
There are just a few hours left for the Recipe competition
Here are some of the entries received so you can start preparing for tomorrow….
Chicken sosaties
1kg Goldi chicken breasts (cut in big cubes)
MARINATE IN:
1¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon red chillies
3 tablespoon mayonnaise
3 tablespoon Italian salad dressing
1 teaspoon mixed herbs
Other items
1 bottle pickled onions
Pineapple cubes
3 green and red peppers
METHOD:
1. Put the cubes of chicken on skewers with pickled onions, peppers,
pineapple cubes (as desired).
2. Baste with butter and braai
3. Serve on platters with sauce.
SAUCE:
125g melted butter
2 tablespoon tomato sauce
2 tablespoon mayonnaise
lemon juice to taste
Crushed garlic
METHOD:
Boil together and pour over chicken sosaties.
Braai chicken breasts
12 Goldi chicken breasts
2 tablespoon lemon juice
salt to taste (± 2½ teaspoon)
½ cup yogurt
½ cup cream
2 tablespoon garlic paste
1 tablespoon ginger paste
2 teaspoon roasted and ground jeeru
2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
ghee or butter
Make incisions on the chicken breasts and rub in lemon juice, and salt. Refrigerate for a few hours
Mix the rest of the ingredients and marinate drumsticks for two hours
Braai, basting with ghee or butter.
Braai chicken masala
1 Goldi chicken, cut up into pieces for braai
1 teaspoon ginger garlic
1 tablespoon crushed red chillis
1 tablespoon mustard sauce
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoon flour
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoon tomato sauce
Mix all ingredients and marinate chicken. Braai while basting with oil.
Thanks to S Khan for the above
TAGLIETELLE ALFREDO!!!
Ingredients:
1/2packet alfredo(250g)
3 pieces fillet chicken cubed(250g)
1tsp fine salt
1 tsp grounded green chillies
1/2 tsp aromat
1tsp robertsons chicken spice
1tsp garlic
1tsp black pepper pwder
1 med green pepper cubed
1/2 punnet mushrooms saute in garlic butter
6 salami/polony slices(slice into strips n cut in 1/2)
1/2 (125ml)tub fresh cream
2tblsp flour
1 packet floyds/knorr mushroom sauce(or chick&mushroom pasta sauce).
METHOD:
Boil alfredo wit salt and 1tsp oil to avoid it from getting stuck. Cook chicken with spices,add cubed peppers. Make a paste with flour-add to chicken! Add fresh cream!Empty knorr/floyds sauce in mug-add boiling water-mix we’ll then add to chicken! Add alfredo to chicken-mix wel!mix saute mushrooms and add fried salami(macon) in2pasta.top wit grated cheese(optional).heat in oven before serving!
Thanks to Zakira Essack (Durban) for the above
Ingredients
GRILLED LIME CHICKEN BREASTS
Chicken breasts – (boneless, skinless)
1 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon Honey
3/4 cup Water
1/2 teaspoon Fresh ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Ground thyme
2 tablespoons Vegetable oil
1 tablespoon Fresh ginger – (peeled, grated)
Combine all the ingredients except chicken in blender or food processor. Process until combined well. Pour over chicken.
Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Grill over hot coals, turning once, until done.
Garnish with lime slices.
From ‘faymeera’
Send recipes to info@muslimmums.co.za or post below before 5pm.
Children of Islam Jalsah
TO ALL PARENTS AND FAMILIES: ALL WELCOME to The 2nd Children of Islam Jalsah.
A family event not to be missed! Educational, Entertaining, Motivational & Spiritually Uplifting!
Bring the kids and let us all together experience the spectacular 2nd Children of Islam Jalsah in commemoration of the 1400th solar anniversary of the revelation of the Holy Qur’an. With an attendance of 5000 it is dubbed as the “Biggest Gathering of Children in Gauteng” – an interactive programme by children for children – featuring qiraats, nasheeds, plays, skits, displays, thikr, the thundrous sounds of Takbir and more…
Ellis Park Arena (formerly the Standard Bank Arena), Johannesburg
Sunday, 25 September 2011 / 9am to 1pm
BOOK NOW AT COMPUTICKET. R100 per person. LIMITED SEATS!
www.computicket.co.za Tickets obtainable at all Checkers/Shoprite outlets.
(NB. All computicket proceeds towards defraying costs of invited school/madressah children attending).
Enquiries and information: info@awqafsa.org.za www.awqafsa.org.za
Contact: Faizel 0824516462 Shakera 0827759448 Zeinoul 0828768027
Click here to view poster www.awqafsa.org.za
New website: masjids.co.za
Mosques in South Africa and surrounds – www.masjids.co.za – is more than a dedicated online directory of places to pray and has listed over 800 mosques and prayer rooms including those in malls and airports. Amongst other benefits, it assists local and foreign travellers in finding a place to pray and is a source of reference for Islamic organisations. Furthermore, it is unique in that each Mosque has a dedicated page, thus having a “web presence” at no cost.
The website evolved from a spread sheet that was being distributed via email and the idea then came about to have a user-friendly website dedicated to mosques in South Africa. The website was officially launched in May this year and received very positive feedback both locally and internationally.
The main feature is the dedicated page that can store almost unlimited information for each mosque. Mosque pages are searchable per area within each province. Mosques can be added to the website or updated via the website’s online form. Each page includes physical location, contact details, a Google map including street view, GPS coordinates and other information that is relevant and has been made available to us.
There is a blog feature for recent news related to mosques and website activity that visitors can subscribe to via RSS and Email. For those using social media the website can be followed via Twitter and our Facebook fan page. We also started an online photo album – using the popular Google Picasa – many of the photographs have been submitted by the public.
Readers can also subscribe to any specific mosque(s), comment on that mosque page and receive email notifications as others comment without subscribing. This acts as a virtual noticeboard where visitors can share events and news relating to that mosque.
Finally, we have a GPX file that was sent to us that can be downloaded and then uploaded to a GPS device which is preloaded with a number of Mosques and places to pray in Southern Africa. We also have a page that displays all these locations as an interactive Google map.
Going forward we are looking at listing other Southern African countries and perhaps someday all Muslim places to pray in Africa.
The public can assist by visiting the website, spreading the word and assisting in information correction, sending photographs and even videos. You can submit a Mosque by completing the online form or simply leave a comment on a mosque page and we will update the information accordingly. Our biggest challenge is getting information updated as the website has a national target base and we rely on public feedback and currently have no commercial backing.
Organisations and businesses may contact us for advertising opportunities.
We would appreciate any constructive criticism, comments or suggestions which can be sent anonymously via our contact page so we can identify user trends to further enhance the website experience.
Visit us at www.masjids.co.za or for more information email us at info@masjids.co.za
Chicken myths busted (and an exclusive competition)
Chicken is certainly one of the world’s favourite and cheapest sources of protein. But more often than not, chicken gets a bad wrap for being filled with hormones, inorganic, mutant and so on. But these are mostly myths that people believe, and ultimately discourages people from eating chicken – the most versatile protein around.
Especially being a mom, we want what is best for our children, we want them to grow up big and strong and healthy without having to worry about the food they eat being unwholesome.
I sometimes overhear moms in coffee shops or at the stores saying to their children, no you can’t eat that it’s not good for you. What’s alarming about that is the fact that sometimes it’s to do with chicken.
I think the problem is that a lot of people are misguided or misinformed about various foods especially chicken. Astral is a leading South African poultry producer with brands like Festive , Goldi and County Fair which are fresh, frozen and crumbed chicken. They have approached me about this very topic and wanted to address some common misconceptions in the hope to help moms to continue to buy nutritious food and make good food choices for their family.
“We hope that by debunking some of the myths around chicken that this will make for a highly informed consumer public who knows what they are buying and what they are consuming. It will also hopefully encourage our public to buy local and support our local industry,” says Chris Schutte, CEO of Astral.
Schutte goes on to set straight the more common poultry fictions around:
1. Do chickens grow so fast because they are injected with growth hormones?
No, definitely not! No chickens produced by any of Astral’s poultry operations are injected, fed or in any way whatsoever subjected to hormones. In order to obtain the desired growth and weight targets, a perfect combination of superior genetics, scientific nutrition and best farming practices are ethically applied. Be assured, eating our chicken products is perfectly safe for you!
2. Are all chickens injected with water before being sold?
No, not entirely true! Our fresh chicken, never frozen, is 100% natural. In fact, excess moisture is removed from fresh chicken through an air chilling process before being packed. However, we do flavour enhance IQF frozen portions (Individually Quick Frozen) with a water based brine, to improve meat tenderness and succulence by means of a scientifically applied injection method.
3. Are chickens restricted from movement by being kept in small wire cages?
Not true at all! In Astral, our chickens are raised in large poultry sheds designed to keep them as comfortable as possible. The disinfected floors are bedded with wood shavings, sunflower husks or wheat straw which allows them to scratch and move around as they please. Our chickens also have unrestricted access to light, clean water and nutritious feed 24 hours a day.
4. Are chickens reared on a diet of maize only?
No, only approximately half of the ration is maize! Maize, the main energy source in a chicken’s diet, comprises approximately 50% of the feed ration. In addition, specially formulated protein ingredients, together with key vitamins and minerals, are added to create the perfect balanced diet and is fed to our chickens in the form of easily digested crumbles or pellets.
5. Do antibiotics administered to chickens remain in the meat and are they dangerous to our health?
No, not entirely true! Antibiotics are administered to our chickens when necessary through feed intake and under the strict guidance of a registered veterinary practitioner. Any incidental antibiotic residues are well within the legislated maximum residual levels (MRL). It is standard practice to withdraw antibiotics from feed according to the manufacturers’ guidelines. This is done at least five days prior to slaughter to ensure no residues remain in the meat. Astral additionally tests the livers and muscles of slaughtered chickens through an independent laboratory for traces of antibiotic residues.
Astral is also running a fabulous competition for this week only:
• Send in your best chicken recipe for braai day (the recipe involving one of their brands such as Festive, Goldi or County Fair, stands the best chance of winning)
• The best recipe received by 17:00 on Friday 23 September will win a chicken hamper for them and their family courtesy of Astral
About Astral
Recipes can be posted as comments below or emailed to info@muslimmums.co.za
Astral is a leading South African integrated poultry producer. Key activities consist of animal feed pre-mixes, manufacturing of animal feeds, broiler genetics, production and sale of day-old chicks and hatching eggs, integrated breeder and broiler production operations, abattoirs and the sale and distribution of various key poultry brands.
EDITOR’S NOTE: ASTRAL FOOD PRODUCTS IN SOUTH AFRICA ARE CERTIFIED HALAAL BY THE MUSLIM JUDICIAL COUNCIL (MJC)
