Dressed in a crisply-starched white cotton shalwar qameez, OMJ president Abdul Sattar Abdul Karim Suriya handed out awards to the cricket team and other Okhais who had served the community. Shields were presented to government officials, doctors, pilots, engineers and social workers from the jamaat.
According to the head of OMJ’s media committee, Muhammad Rafiq Vayani, the aim of the ceremony was “to honour the men in our community who are heads and CEOs of companies, because they deserve to be applauded for making the Okhai community proud.” He said that although the ceremony was a tribute to community members, officials from outside the community had also been invited to attend.
The Okhai Memon community traces its origin to the coastal town of Okha in Gujarat, India. Members of the community are thought to have migrated to Karachi in the mid-nineteenth century, with a jamaat being formally constituted around 1880.
Speakers at the ceremony spoke of the jamaat as being the oldest in Karachi and said that it endeavours to provide the best of services to all members of society. Rafiq Vayani said that the jamaat runs four schools, including the OMJ Academy, which work to educate Memons and non-Memons alike. Dr Rasheed Vayani, a community member and superintendent of a government hospital in North Nazimabad, said that the schools serve to educate three to four thousand children from low-income backgrounds. All students are charged a fee of Rs200 to Rs300, with a frequent exemption for Okhai Memons who are unable to afford the fee. Uniforms, books and other school materials are provided to students free of charge.
Dr Rasheed talked about the Usman Memorial Hospital in Husainabad, established by the Haji Hashim Haji Ahmed Foundation which was set up by Haji Hashim Tobaccowala, a well-known philanthropist from the jamaat. He said that the hospital has 115 beds and patients are charged a nominal fee on a daily basis.
A total of 47 members of the community, working in a variety of fields, were presented with awards at the ceremony, the first of its kind for the Okhai jamaat.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2011.
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