
Shaikh Abdullah Y. Faqeeh, the Administrator at the Islamic Mission center in Kwekwe (Photo K. Mavundutse)
The Islamic Mission center in the city of Kwekwe, Midlands Province, is lagging behind in its operations of assisting the children in the community to pay school fees. Many other Muslim-run mission centers all over Zimbabwe face an array of challenges.
Shaikh Abdullah Y. Faqeeh, who is the administrator at the Islamic mission center in Kwekwe, told Relzim.org, “We want donors to chip in so that we can be able to expand the boarding facilities so as to accommodate more students.”
Faqeeh highlighted that the number of the students that they are currently enrolling was far less then the number of applicants.
“The mission center in Kwekwe can only accommodate 60 students but at the moment the applicants for next year are 465,” he said.
A Form 1 student who resides at the mission center said, “The food supply is not sufficient. But the administration is doing their best to meet our needs”.
“Of course we are facing problems. But we do try to manage them. People should know that we are a non-charitable organization,” said an insider at the mission center.
The administrator described future plans. “As soon as we get donor funding, plans are in place to establish more centers in the country. At the moment we have centers in Harare, Bulawayo and this one in Kwekwe. The towns that we intend to establish centers in are Mutare and Masvingo.”
“This is only possible through the help of The Almighty and the support of well-wishers and donor community,” stressed Faqeeh.
Students enrolled at these mission centers attend academic studies at nearby government schools and receive religious and moral education about Islam at the Kwekwe mission center.
The institutions receive and acknowledge applications from young Zimbabweans, guardians or parents from across the religious spectrum and orphans.’ These students are sent to school and provided with meals at no charge.
Some of the students enrolled at the Islamic mission center in Kwekwe come from as far as Hwange, Kadoma, Chinhoyi, Mhangura, Mberengwa, Shangani and Masvingo.
The Zimbabwe Islamic Mission centers operate under Majlisula ulama Zimbabwe (Council of Islamic Scholars in Zimbabwe) – the biggest Islamic organisation in the country.
See related reading