The outgoing Chairman of National Muslim Students Association (NAMSA) Abdullah Matrood Chapola says activities of the association are not actualised due to lack of financial support from Muslims in the country.
Speaking in an exclusive with Malawi Muslim Website, Chapola says lack of strong financial support is a major challenge that the association encounters.
“Lack of funding is a major challenge for the NAMSA. lack of proper feedback from the stakeholders and the general Muslim communities and minimal involvement of different professionals across Malawi were also the other challenges we faced,” Chapola says.
Chapola who studies at Malawi University of Business and Applies Sciences (MUBAS) formerly known as The Polytechnic says COVID-19 pandemic disrupted their term in office.
“Our term was one of the most difficult as we faced COVID-19 for over a year which greatly affected our programs as schools were closed and we couldn’t operate effectively,” he says.
Chapola adds,” Death of one of our Executives Aisha Senga, and a Board Member (Ishmael wadi) was so heartbreaking. But all in all in the end we managed to work through them and achieved many things. We found solutions to the challenges we encountered for the best interest of the association.”
According to Chapola, during his time, NAMSA also registered achievements.
“We tried our best in unifying NAMSA to the extent every student felt the they belong to the this Association.We were part and parcel of the Hijab Fight and in the end we succeeded,” he says.
Chapola adds,” Introduction of Here4U initiative which is for members who were having mental health challenges to optimize their mental and health being. by referring them to well qualified personnel to be assisted for free. Secondary school exam Coaching in all the 4 regions (2020 exams).”
The outgoing NAMSA Chairman urges the new leadership engage in several fundraising activities.
“They need develop Business and Cooperate proposals. They should work on Building the NAMSA brand. They should make sure they are composed in their activities It’s a powerful brand just need working on it. They should be patient and should know how to control themselves. handling students isn’t an easy task,” he says.
Chapola says every one in executive should be given an exclusive task that will help them to be efficient.
NAMSA Conducted a conference last Saturday to choose new leaders.
The association held first ever online elections that saw Hamzah Jasper DAEL from Mzuzu University winning the chairmanship race.
The theme for this year’s Elective Conference was “Sharing the Vision in Creating a Unified Muslim Students Community.”
