Milton, NY Hosts Ijtema
By Masood Ashraf

Milton, NY- July 26, 2008 - On Saturday, by the grace of Allah a trip comprising 5 Khuddam (4 from Fitchburg and 1 from Boston Majalis) travelled to the host town of MKA USA’s National Ijtema to perform MKA’s second community service trip. They were pleasantly surprised to be greeted at the park by about 10 townspeople assembled in waiting.

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The Town Supervisor Mr. Al Lanzetta had requested local clergy and community leaders to meet his ‘Muslim brothers’ at this ad hoc interfaith meeting. They had gathered to welcome us and to ask us about our faith and motivation to serve their town. Additional members of the assembly included 2 clergy from neighboring churches, a reporter from the local newspaper the Southern Ulster Times, a local political leader running for state office, and a local volunteer for the park.
 
The townspeople mentioned that they were impressed by our team because it included youth from diverse walks of life: a doctor, a software engineer, a locomotive engineer, an armored guard carrier. They also note that the team consisted of Americans from various descents such as West Africa and Pakistan. They were particularly heartened to see the desire of the Khuddam to serve the local town.
 
After the hour long ‘interfaith town meeting,’ the Khuddam performed 2 hours of waqare-amal at the park, during which they pruned tree branches and overgrown brush on a pristine walking trail. The cleanup was followed by a 45 minute game of basketball, played by the Khuddam as well as 2 local high school youth who were present in the park.
 
The grand trip ended with a guided tour by Tom, a local town activist, of one of the oldest continuously occupied Jewish homes in America, called the ‘Gomez Millhouse.’ As the team parted with Tom, he warmly stated, “We here [in this town] are not [solely] a Christian, Jewish, or Muslim community; neither are we an Italian or Irish community; we are faith community and everyone is welcome here.”