60th Jalsa Salana, USA Inshallah, the Jalsa will be held on June 20-22, 2008 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, 2300 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg PA 17110-9443.
Sept. 10, 2007 – In the taciturn environment of prayer, the Imam was reciting verses from the Holy Quran. Standing upright facing God Almighty, my eyes began filling with water...
The water continued to a reservoir of my eyelids. As I prostrated, the reservoir over flooded and water seeped out of my eyes down the rocky path of my skin and over the cliff of my chin into a private, yet sensitive part of my body: the heart. As the water continued into my chest, I knew where I was. I knew who I was. I was an Ahmadi Muslim prostrating in prayer to God at the 59th Jalsa Salana 2007.
This Jalsa was a special one for me and for MKA USA. Majlis Khuddam ul Ahmadiyya America experienced service of over 209 volunteers in the Khidmat e Khalq office and more than 150 volunteers in other departments. Approximately, 5000 hours were belabored by our volunteers. Our cost was free. Our security team led by Abdur Rahim Latif, Zahid Mian, Abu Bakar bin Saeed, Anas Mirza, and Irfan Chaudhry provided secured front entrance, back entrance, outside perimeter, inside perimeter, overnight security, Patrol Security, Lajna Gah Security, and security of their patience. The Security team delivered great service and great smiles. The transportation team led by Hibbi Iqbal, Luqman Mahmood, & Nasir Jadran and Mohammad Ahmad Nasir Sahib dedicated shifts beginning 7:30am- night to ensure the safe travel of our guests from airports and hotels. Mashallah, Naseem Khan and his crew did not allow a traffic jam to occur at Jalsa. Everyone entered in smoothly and departed smoothly. They skipped many lunches to ensure a traffic free environment. Our Rapid Response Team led by Mansoor Shams and his twelve member addressed emergency management situations and prevented crisis’s from escalating to further conflict.
The Khidmat e Khalq office provided logistical support to our nazimeen and our volunteers. Printing badges, ID cards and addressing volunteer concerns, it is not a surprise that the comfort level at Friday at 4pm was identical to the comfort level on Saturday at 4pm in 2006. The Luggage Department assessed over twenty bags and diligently stored bags and addressed baggage claim issues. When asked by Zafrullah Khan about the status of Luggage, he replied “everything is smooth.” The smoothness of the event was also smothered in the refreshments provided to our 200 plus volunteers around the clock. The Blue Team led by Zahid Bhatti Sahib provided Gatorade, ice pops, and granola bars to our volunteers on duty. “This is unbelievable…my team loves this service,” was the remark by Anas Mirza Sahib. The Red team or Rehan Chaudhry team coordinated outside deliveries of refreshments, Manar and Tariq picked up lunch and dinner for the volunteers while Omar Farooq made sure that the people on duty had Chai at 5pm. Our security for Amir Sahib i.e. Hifazzat e Khas were made sure that they were well fed and well refreshed around the clock. Amir Rehman Sahib went as far as the stage to deliver the refreshments. He stated that “our goal is to make people happy; they are the ones on duty, so they should be deserving the best treatment and respect.” This commitment followed through the three days where smiles of receiving mango juice and ice pops flourished. As Safeer Bhatti and Affan Abdullah munched away breakfast on Friday morning, we can thank Afsar Jalsa Salana Waseem Haider Sahib for providing us our daily breakfast of donuts and Egg& cheese sandwiches.
Hiba tur Rehman, Coordinator of Khuddam Section under the guidance of Huzur (aba) in UK came to bless this event. The National Amila had a short time to ask him questions and request feedback. He reminded us that age should not get in the way of duty as servants to Ahmadiyya. As we looked around, we figured we have a lot of work still to do. We were fortunate to take a group photo with him. We showed Hiba tur Rehman Sahib our ideas for Khilafat Centenary Celebration 2008. Our ideas as beautifully created by Mutamim Ishat Naem Mohamed Sahib were: 1) adapt 50 highways by 2008. 2) Deliver Love For All, Hatred For None candy to over 1,000 homes. 3) Design a KCC Poster 4) Involve ourselves in a publication. 5) participate in a KCC 2008 Sports Tournament.
MKA USA was also honored to hold our 5th annual Jalsa Salana Blood drive. Sohail Ahmad took the lead and came prepared with signs, supplies, and a lot of patience! Despite volunteers being pulled in various directions, he managed to help collect over 58 units of blood, potentially saving more than 150 lives!
In the final moments of Jalsa Salana, National Amila of MKA USA went up to congratulate Boston for receiving the Alame Inami for 2006. Tireless efforts of Nasir Rana sahib, Iftikhar Khan sahib and their team in organizing the first Ameen ceremony for attfal did not go to waste. Over 50 children celebrated their Ameen ceremony by shaking hands with respected Ameer Sahib and receiving gifts from Sadr Sahib MKA USA. We had a successful Science Fair where Tasveer Khawaja and mentor Abdul Salaam Bhatti received first place in proving how the Golden Ratio of Beauty worked. Science Fair Coordinator Ata ul Aleem Choudhary was quite impressed and received many follow up questions and research projects for the team that proved the Golden Ratio of Beauty.
As Jalsa concluded and we all went home tired and exhausted, but sincerely happy and refreshed, we knew MKA USA did its job and accomplished its goal by the story below related by one of my team members Asadullah Chaudhary Sahib who informed me that I had to see his face glow:
There was a khadim who drifted long ago. Nine years, he was on duty at Jalsa and he remembers how he felt the pain sometimes. He somehow felt alienated. After hearing the work of the Refreshment team and their sincere care of the volunteers on duty, he became so happy and amazed at Jammat’s progress. He stated that “Jammat e Ahmadiyya is moving in the right direction.” This act helped him build his morale and his support for Jammat e Ahmadiyya all over again.
60th Jalsa Salana, USA 
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