Tuesday 22 September 2009

celebration time

well, it's been a hectic few days, preparing for eid-ul fitr (for all those lovely people who wished me a "happy end of ramadan thingy", you now know what it's called!) and then celebrating the day. most people were expecting the celebration to be on sunday, but i was actually happy for it to be on monday as i had an extra day to prepare.

we start the day with prayers at the hamilton gardens pavilion, and from there spend the day visiting friends and eating. i think we managed to visit about 10 houses in 3 hours, before heading home to receive our own visitors. there were a steady stream of these all afternoon. and it's not over yet, we've had a bit more visiting to do tonight and tomorrow night as well.

the kids get plenty of presents, mostly of money as well as everyone having something new to wear for the day. a few days prior to the celebration, mosques will start collecting the "fitra" donations, which are set this year at $10 for every person earning an income. that money is then quietly distributed to the poor in the community, so that everyone can have new clothes and nice food to celebrate.

so yes, not much time for blogging or politics or keeping up with emails and the news. although, i see that the case against "double-bunking" has started, and am hoping that it goes the way of the prison workers. i don't see why they should have to face greater risks because the government won't look at better options for dealing with prisoners. like more investment in rehabilitation so that they can be sent out into the community, or like more home detention (which also decreases recidivism), or shorter sentences where appropriate.

and also, i'd like to offer solidarity to the open country cheese workers who have been treated very shoddily by their employer. yet another way for employers to drive down the earnings of their employees, and it's sickening. monetary donations to support these workers can be sent to the solidarity fund at BNZ, account number 02 0320 0082084 026.

in the meantime, to all my friends out their, eid mubarak, happy eid, selamat hari raya and i hope you had a successful ramadan.

1 comment:

Deborah said...

mosques will start collecting the "fitra" donations, which are set this year at $10 for every person earning an income. that money is then quietly distributed to the poor in the community, so that everyone can have new clothes and nice food to celebrate.

Ahh.... a lovely way to do community, and inclusion, and helping people out.