MAQAM, the place where Abraham stood

Dear All

I attended the Johannesburg dinner event that hosted Asmaa Islam, daughter of Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)and hope to share the website with anyone who's interested in reading more about the holistic Maqam centre that the Yusuf Islam Foundation has developed.
Not only do I think this a course worth celebrating and supporting, but that the intention behind it is worth noting for our local landscape; that integration of traditions is important in order to foster learning between the different religions in SA.

Check out:

http://themaqam.com

'The MAQAM will be an exhibition, arts and well-being space, aimed at drawing a balance between the mind, body and spirit. It will serve as a venue where people, regardless of faith or background, can come together to learn about themselves and each other and increase their understanding and enjoyment of Islam’s spiritual, artistic and material contributions.'

Asmaa Islam speaks in Pretoria on Tuesday, 24th, Durban on the 25th and Cape Town on the 27th.
Media Enquiries ( for more information or to arrange to speak with Asmaa) may be directed to Mr Edris Khamissa on 082 825 1991

Best,
Shafinaaz

White is a colour...

White is a colour. Anybody who says otherwise has never had the joy of sloshing about in the snow. My very first, as yet abstract experience was rather grim. Having landed in Frankfurt in the early hours of Friday 3 December, I was treated to the laments of frustrated passengers from around the world who had been eagerly waiting to get their flight to Berlin for Christmas. Many had been waiting for a flight for over 24 hours. The delayed flight schedule was the result of new blankets of snow covering the city.
Anxiety crept stealthily through the waiting lounge, reflected on the faces of travellers. I felt it too, as the ground staff announced further delays every ten minutes or so. Until finally, just over an hour had passed beyond what would have been our departure time, and the boarding gates opened.

Of course, it would be yet another 45 minutes before take-off, but then we were all set to our destination Berlin.

And a beautiful sight awaited us on arrival...

It didn't matter that we had just stepped into a city that allowed us a drop of some 30 degrees Celcius. A scorching Johannesburg had just bid us farewell at 22 degrees the evening before, and Berlin boasted an icy welcome at -8 degrees. Generous lather of bright white snow covered pathways, trees and buildings. A steady trickle of snow flakes continued to make its way to the ground. Delighted, I eagerly shoved my waterproof K-way gloves into the pockets of my down-padded jacket, slipped back my fur beanie and gathered handfuls of the soft ice.

There is a first time for everything, and this was my first encounter with snow.

S-N-O-W

A gush of wind whistled past my face, freezing a silly smile in place. Adrenalin was not to let this cold get the better of me. At this point, cold is just a word in the dictionary. Google it. Really. It is just a word! It means nothing compared to the precious experience that can transport a stuffy academic back to the days of childhood wonder and discovery.

And it renders beautiful a puzzled city of brilliant old architecture, remnants of pre-fab ugliness and gloomy grey skies. The snow adds colour. And Berlin comes alive! The streets are filled with grace, filled with smiling faces, filled with the festive glow of Christmas and the promise of newness.

White is a colour. A vibrant one at that!

Berlin sparkles because of it.

Insane in Time

It's been an insane year. So much so that it's evident in me not having blogged here for almost two months. That's seven weeks or so. My reference to insanity is not said as a bad thing, although I do miss my blog.
But the insanity is also a fabulous time to reflect on the passage of the ten months that 2010 has been, and the very fleeting two remaining months that will be.
Even though its been a very quickly melting year, I've often in the past not been able to account for these quick spurts of time. This year is most different, and I have much to be thankful for.
And so when I have those moments when I come up for air, I know and remember to be grateful to the Source of all my creativity, starting from the breath that sustains me on a daily basis.

And to 2010. Thank you for being the rollercoaster of delights that you have been. Thank you for the promises that you have laid before me that will continue this gregarious festive energy well into the new year. Thank you for the highs, the open doors, the lifted ceilings, the fresh air, the wonderful people that I am able to work and play with and the very thing that makes life worth every bit: Love.

What point would the M4K blog have if it wasnt to appreciate the advent of the blook in its name, Memoirs For Kimya, right?
M4K will be distributed as a gift book by some women's empowerment initiatives and corporates in the coming weeks. And I will be off to Germany with Daughters are Diamonds and my research on violence and gender during the first two weeks of December to present at a conference at Humboldt University. And then, its the new year. The New Year.

God is Great.

"We are the leaders we've been waiting for" -WLC 2010

I attended a conference of diva hotseaters late last week. If there is any reason to re-awaken the potential we all know that we have lurking inside us, then the best way to go about it is to surround yourself with women who challenge themselves everyday, women who break with regulatory myths, women who trample unsavoury stereotypes; yes, women who change the world, one day at a time.

The Women's Leadership Conference convened at the Sunnyside Park Hotel in Johannesburg on 11-12 March 2010. As luck would have it, traffic into Johannesburg was reduced to a mere crawl thanks to a truck having exploded near the Atterbury exit into Pretoria and traffic was rerouted around nearby cities rather than over and through them. I was on my way into the mega-city having been out of town for the wedding festivities of a friend. It turned out to be a rather testy welcome into Gauteng, if you take into account that losing your cool is not the greatest show of survival of the fittest in a city that collides with the shortness of time and has to digest a population of feisty beings intent on making a corporate killing rather than just surviving on a daily basis. Those below the breadline are a mere mirage, an invisible fringe for the most part. A fantastical media report or two at the most. Such is the plight of the rainbow nation governed by the most TENDER-hearted of statesmen.

Time is money and tangents are costly. So where was I?
Aah. And so it came to pass that I was invited to join this gregarious bunch of divas in this neatly carved space for dialogue in Parktown.
I missed Debora Patta's talk but heard snippets for the length of the conference; she being of South Africa's more outspoken, daring media personalities and unsurprisingly Vodacom's Media Woman of the Year for 2009.
Kristine Pearson envisages a world of 'Women Lighting-up Africa'. She is CEO of the Freeplay Foundation based in the UK, US and SA. Noble cause indeed. And much to be made of the impressive vastness of her not-for-profit international organisation and its intent to more than create awareness of the devil of parafin usage in rural Africa and its insistence on gobbling up unsuspecting children in the impending darkness. She lobbys for clean and renewable energy, lighting and job creation for rural women in Africa.
Day 1's workshop was run by Philipa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa: The Art of Telling Your Story. A powerful orator, Philipa held the audience in a trance of sorts as she went about her talented renderings and interactive sharings.
I sat on a panel that rounded up day one, along with Nicole Wills, founding partner and MD of award-winning advertising and communications agency Stick Communications SA; and Dr Sonia Joubert, academic and consultant in Creativity and Organisational Intelligence. A beautiful thread of conversation ranged from ways in which we might galvanise our own creativity on a regular basis to how to mentor and be mentored in an environment that encourages and unleashes creativity in others. I was happy to work to the theme of the THINK DIFFERENT ad, thanks to a friendly reminder from a brainstormy friend. Crazy works for me!
This theme pretty much carried forth throughout to the end of the two day-conference. It was more than imagination that confirmed the sparkle in people's eyes by the end of it all...

Day 2 began with an inspiring presentation on the mastery of organisational politics by Mardia Van Der Walt-Korsten, Businesswoman of the Year 2009 who is also the CEO of a German multi-national called T-Systems. Mardia cites her key to success simply as her love for life, and her intention to create an environment that puts soul into IT. Her value for humanity in her workplace is infectious as the direct interaction with a woman whose eyes sparkle when she speaks about her life and her work.

Tali Nates from the Johannesburg Holocaust Centre spoke about building bridges and learning tolerance. She spoke about the awareness of being: are we perpetrators, upstanders, bystanders or victims? Choice and repentance were strong themes in her talk.
There could not be a more fabulous way to end the conference than to welcome Prof Edna Van Harte, Dean of the Faculty of Military Science at the Military Academy in Saldanha at Stellenbosch University.
If it is about challenging stereotypes, and if its about a question of whether or not there is a place for women leaders in the military, then I think that she awakened that potential in more than one way.

The conference rounded up with the message of social movement; believe in something strongly and passionately enough, and get something going! Remember this? The MTN Clap :P

Enjoy. And stay with the magic. Its inside of you. Let it Live!