An-nisa, Al-Hikmah Centre, 28 Track Road, Batley, WF17 7AA e: an-nisa@imws.org.uk t: 01924 500 565

voice of

In this month’s

An-Nisa We’ve got:

Cricket coach Halima Khan gives us an insight into a male dominated sport. The women’s committee share a healthy walk and our baby blog deals with getting back to daily life.

We’ve also got a fab snack with an aubergine and tips for the changing season.

Remember Al-Hikmah has a lot of ladies activities so check the website for what’s hap-pening next.

email: an-nisa@imws.org.uk if you would like to contribute

An interview with cricket coach

Halima Khan LAST MONTH began IMWS’s annual

Cricket Coaching programme, an initia-tive to train young people in core cricket skills.

Cricket Coaching has been a staple in the IMWS calendar since it was launched in 2002 15 years ago.

This year, young girls will have the opportunity to be coached by a female coach including Halima Khan, who has over 10 years experience coaching.

Speaking to An-Nisar about how she got into cricket, Halima said: “I have al-ways been into sport from a young age and cricket was always something that was popular at home from being on the TV to my brother playing in a league for as long as I can remember. With all the crick-et influence around me I naturally created an affiliation and liking to the sport. At secondary school girls played rounders and the boys cricket, so my first experi-ence of playing cricket was in the back garden and streets of my house.”

Girls have often found sport is an ave-nue closed off to them for a number of reasons, and even when they get a foot through the door, above still hovers the proverbial glass ceiling. To this Halima said: “From when I first came into sport the challenges have dramatically re-duced, there is more of an emphasis on women in sport and this is been driven nationally which supports peo-ple at a local level. There is more fund-ing and support to help with gaining qualifications and organisations are starting to create safer spaces which promote inclusive environments for women to take part in sport as partici-pants or coaches.

“However, we can still do more, for me I have been a level 2 coach for over 10 years and work in sports develop-ment at a management level, I would like to progress on this yet finding no success or support to be able to do this and it becomes increasingly hard-er to break this glass ceiling.”

On the topic of Black and Ethnic Minor-ity (BME) girls breaking into sport, much progress has been made by the ECB and cricket counties who can provide funding and support to gain qualifications and set up local events, says Halima.

But communities need to “take advan-tage” of these opportunities and “do more in promoting women and girls in sport at any level. This is a big piece of work which can be done through education and rais-ing awareness of careers in sport.”

“I would personally like to see a good number of girls who will start to realise cricket can be played by all regardless of gender or ability.”

Moving onto the coaching programme at IMWS, Halima hopes “participants see the good cricket can do in developing them as young people from improved mental, physical and social well-being. We all know the good sport can do for people and this is the perfect opportunity to gain these skills and a better knowledge of the sport.”

IMWS has a number of activities for girls and women taking place at the centre. If you would like to know more and be kept up to date regarding events at Al-Hikma, email info@imws.org.uk with “mailing list” in the subject title.

February 20172

Aubergine Nan

Ingredients:

•1 long small auber-

gine sliced into circles

• ½ tsp dhara powder

• touch of chillie

• 1tsp paprika

• 2 garlic cloves

crushed

• saltMix all this in a bowl with 2 tbsp water

You will also need;• 1 tsp mustard seeds• butter for spreading• sprinkle of cheese• and one garlic coriander naan

Method:In a pan heat a little oil

and add the mustard seeds once they have popped add in the aubergine mix-ture and fry till the auber-gine is soft. Spread butter onto the naan and spread the cooked aubergine and

sprinkle with cheese and black ground pepper place in the oven and cook till the naan is warm and the cheese has melted.

AHHH AT last winter is almost over and Spring is finally around the corner, well depending on how Britain is feeling, you can never be too sure when season changes will kick in, in this country!! Howev-er It is time to change your beauty treatments from the winter treatments to Spring treatments so let me get you started.

Hopefully your winter face treatments worked and didn’t leave you with too much dry dead skin, but if you still have that dull win-

tery skin try using this home-made face scrub, all you need

to do is mix 3 tbsp of vir-gin unrefined coconut oil with ½ cup sugar. You can use this all over your body and face so in the shower scrub vigorously with this mixture then wash off and dry with a towel, do this at night and the coconut oil will stay on you as a mois-turiser. Then in the morn-ing with a body dry brush scrub all over and face to remove anymore dead skin and wash off again.

Don’t forget to treat

your hair, because hair can be the worst victim of winter and probably looking dry and brittle. To help your hair massage a few teaspoons of olive oil with 2 to 3 drops of tea tree essential oil into your scalp. Leave it for 20to 30 minutes, and then wash out using your regular shampoo and conditioner, do this two times a week throughout the year and seasons to continue hav-ing healthy shiny looking hair.

Spring is on it’s way! time

to change beauty routine!

cut & keep

EXCLUSIVE

to An-Nisa!

This is a recipe I like to make for myself and my little one with a cup of tea and a glass of milk for the little one..

Safeeyah’s KitchenRecipes with a South Asian twist!

Do you want to become more active but not sure how?

Are you coming up with excuses or concerns when it comes to exercise?

There are many people who think ex-ercise is boring, time consuming, costly or they simply don’t know how or where to get active. Some people may lack confidence, have weight loss problems or feel unfit to exercise. What a lot of people don’t realise is how easy and sim-ple it can be to get started and achieve better health. Many of you are probably doing this one physical activity anyway. I’m talking about walking! YES WALKING!

Walking is one of the easiest ways to get more active. There are tremendous health benefits related to it. It is a free and simple way to lose weight. Overall walking is ideal for both young and old and you don’t need to be super fit to start.

Benefits of walking

A regular brisk walk can help reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes, lowers blood pressure and improves the output of the heart, lungs and cir-culation. It also improves the flexibility of your joints, strengthens your muscles and bones, reducing the risk of osteopo-

Maybe How dare you?Say those things untrue about me!How dare you?Threaten to hurt me!How dare you?Interfere, when Im not your problem!How dare you?Call me a disbeliever!How dare you?Stir things with everyone I talk to!!…..you are made for each other…….

I can hold my head up highI can say I make my husband smileI can be honest about what I doI can say I am a good mother too,I have nothing to hide,unlike you!

In a marriage there is this thing calledTRUST!Some people have itand some people don’t!I am not married to you,for you to question my actions.You are not my Husband, my Father, my Mother or my Brother!You are simply a nobody so do not interfere.

Maybe keep close to your own homeMaybe then you may feel peace,Maybe then the jealousy you seem to expressMay just disappear and we can get on, Maybe then the respect I once had for youMay return and we will certainly get on!

Maybe try not to spread rumours,Maybe then you might start to feel a little happier with life itself.Maybe learn to love the people around you,Maybe then you will feel wantedMaybe then you wwill leave me alone and just maybe we can move on!

But most of all Just maybe learn to trustand you will findnot everyone is out to hurt one anotherThat people are genuinely happyand that you should never interfereespecially with someones marriage because a marriage can be like glass or solid oak.If it’s glass you will break itit will never be repairedbut if it’s solid oakthen you will certainly lose!

Poets Podium

February 2017 3

Do you want to become more active but not sure how?

Are you coming up with excuses or concerns when it comes to exercise?

There are many people who think ex-ercise is boring, time consuming, costly or they simply don’t know how or where to get active. Some people may lack confidence, have weight loss problems or feel unfit to exercise. What a lot of people don’t realise is how easy and sim-ple it can be to get started and achieve better health. Many of you are probably doing this one physical activity anyway. I’m talking about walking! YES WALKING!

Walking is one of the easiest ways to get more active. There are tremendous health benefits related to it. It is a free and simple way to lose weight. Overall walking is ideal for both young and old and you don’t need to be super fit to start.

Benefits of walking

A regular brisk walk can help reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes, lowers blood pressure and improves the output of the heart, lungs and cir-culation. It also improves the flexibility of your joints, strengthens your muscles and bones, reducing the risk of osteopo-

rosis.

Brisk walking

Brisk walking means walking at a quick and energetic pace, fast-er than strolling. You should be breathing

hard but not gasping for air when brisk walking. To get maximum health ben-efits, brisk walking is recommended. Experts recommend 150 minutes of physical activity per week for adults. This could include a short brisk walk each day, about 25 minutes or short bursts of 10 minutes – but it can all add up!

How you can get started

• Make sure you have comfortable shoes and clothing.

• If you want to start walking then its best to start off slow at your own pace and build up gradually.

• Walk the kids to school. Sometimes there’s so much traffic and parking prob-lems during school pick up and drop off times, it’s quicker to get there on foot!

• If you drive to work then try to park further away and walk the rest of your journey.

• Walk to your lo-cal shop and avoid taking the car.

• Have targets set per day. Most people walk gen-erally 3000 to

4000 steps a day so aim higher.

• Consider it a social activity, get to-gether with friends and family on a set day every week and take a walk, have a good chat at the same time too. Maybe explore new places and enjoy the scen-ery.

Walking in Batley and Dewsbury is an ideal way of getting fit as the area is very hilly! – Halifax Road, Dark Lane, Batley Field Hill to name a few. So why not start walking?

The IMWS Women’s Committee are interested in starting a free walking club for women around our area, dur-ing weekday evenings – from March onwards. Let us know what you think or to register your interest, email us at sisters@imws.org.uk or by phone 01924 500555.

Did You Know?

India never invaded any coun-try in her last 100000 years of

history.

Chess was invented in India.

India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.

The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing

over a million people.

The ‘Place Value System’ and the ‘Decimal System’ were developed in India in 100 B.C.

Walk towards a better future

WHERE ARE WE NOW? At home with my gorgeous baby, getting settled into daily life of looking after another human being who is totally dependent on me. I’m truly grateful to the Almighty for blessing us with a healthy baby.

Looking down at my baby’s first smile and listening to her first babble is priceless.

I’m amazed at how they quickly start to communicate in their own special way, a smile, a laugh or a cry whichever it was, I treasured every moment.

We all know babies cannot communicate yet and are not able to tell you they are hun-gry, need a nappy change, need a burp, need a hug or are not feeling well. What are we to do? Oh yes we recognise their cry!

A different one for I’m hungry, I want a drink, I want a cuddle, change my nappy and the killer cry “Don’t put me down!”

All babies are demanding and it really is not helpful when they start getting a cold or a fever, it’s quite frightening and stressful not knowing what to do. Most babies get con-stant colds and fever as they grow up, this helps make their immune system stronger. When they have a runny nose or a blocked nose all sorts of remedies are offered, but as mum you discover for yourself what your baby’s needs are and what works for you and your baby. We all must have tried all sorts of remedies from burning “ajmo” to clear a blocked nose to rubbing Vicks on the soles of the feet to help a fever.

One of the most stressful things to deal with is your baby having colic.

For me it was extremely hard not having just one daughter suffer from it, but having to go through with it with my third daughter, who suffered from it severely. I tried all sorts of tricks from bathing her in the morning, bathing her in the evening, walking around with her on her tummy, taking her for ride in the car, colic drops “Huwa Water”, gripe wa-ter.............. The list is endless!

She cried on the dot at Magrib time and would not settle until 2/3 in the night, she needed comforting, and it was really diffi-cult to work out whether she was hungry or whether it was colic!

I’d comfort her by rocking her to sleep with one foot pushing the pram and my arm stir-ring the pan of food I was cooking (still had other children to feed as well as myself!)

My mum was a godsend - thank the Al-mighty! She would rub Vicks on her stomach, make healthy food suitable for me whilst breastfeeding. She would cook me meals and make me piles of chapattis to keep me going when I had days where I couldn’t drag my-self away from her because she took so much of my time. It lasted for 7 months before she

started to settle! By then I was walking zom-bie, I never had enough sleep, never ate on time and didn’t want to smile at people let alone talk to them. Any spare time I had to my-self, all I wanted to do was sleep! But that was never for long of course, be-fore someone was hungry, wanted a drink or the loo and needed a wash!

We mustn’t forget the vomiting and diarrhoea!!

All babies will get a tum-my bug, whether it’s pro-jectile vomiting or a tap turned on the other end, you deal with it. Holding your breath as you clean the well drenched carpet and changing the 20th nappy of the day becomes second nature as your baby rides through these difficulties. Along with this there will be the teething problems, cra-dle cap, constipation, rosy cheeks, some mi-nor eczema, maybe some allergies. But these are all treatable and manageable, however worrying, tiring and stressful. Your child’s health is the most important and I am truly grateful that these minor ailments were just that. Parents who endure the worry over their children’s health are truly amazing and very strong.

On another serious note I’m going to touch on the mother’s health.

It is the most natural thing to have a baby; how-ever it’s also the most de-manding on women’s bod-ies and minds.

It’s a huge responsibility to be in charge of being who is totally dependent on you alone for all its needs.

There are not only sleep-less nights but also the isolation you get from not being able to just decide to do things at your own leisure, even something as simple as going for a bath! I’ve taken my children in a bouncer with me to have a bath. When my daughter had colic there were days when I would just be a bag of nerves and would cry at the tiniest thing. At this stage your hormones are running around like a mad

hatter!Having the “blues” or post-natal depres-

sion is very common; the feeling of isolation, low self esteem, no confidence and extreme anxiety are just some of the symptoms. What

we must remem-ber is that you must not suffer in silence alone. Having post natal depression has not always been ac-knowledged or rec-ognised. No woman needs to suffer from it alone. You don’t need to put up with hurtful remarks like “pull yourself to-gether!”

There is plenty of help available now from G.P’s and health visitors and other mums who

in my opinion have a wealth of knowledge. A problem shared is a problem halved. Only a few weeks ago it has been recognised that men also suffer from post-natal depression!

Well this topic is something that needs to be discussed and talked about more openly and I hope this is a start.

Until next time..................

Blog: Back to daily life