MLSC – Half a century of service to the community
The MLSC at D. R. Wijewardene Mw, Colombo 10.
The Muslim Ladies Study Circle (MLSC) will be celebrating its 50th anniversary on Saturday, August 26 at the Ramada Hotel Colombo from 7 p.m. onwards.
The Study Circle is a private charity organization that has been of aid to many women of various ethnicities and social backgrounds through their vocational training centres in Galle, Colombo, Kahatowita, Warakapola, Panadura, Atulugama and Weligama.
They have also been active on the medical front. Their projects over the years include, maintaining the Cancer Ward at the Kalubowila Hospital, a ward at the Castle Street Maternity Hospital and at the De Soysa Maternity Hospital, constructing a three-storey building for the mentally ill, providing more than 220 houses to the homeless, assisting in building 120 houses for displaced families and war widows, and also aiding families affected by floods.
The group began back in the 1970s in Galle when six school leavers of Sacred Heart Convent, namely Nabila Idroos, Shinaz Careem, Fairoosa Ismail, Sithy Kadeejah Abdullah, Areesa Jiffy and the late Shimna Hussein united with the single objective of empowering women and helping the underprivileged.
MLSC President Ameena Musthapha
As the girls belonged to conservative families they called themselves a ‘Study Circle’ as they felt their parents would not let them meet if they discovered their true intent.
They extended their charity work to Colombo when a few members moved from Galle to Colombo around 1980. The vocational training centre in Colombo was established in 2006, catering for women of all social backgrounds.
“We provide training in dressmaking, cookery, computing and cake decorating,” said President of the MLSC Sikhamani Ameena Musthapha. Upon completion of their training, students are certified by the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC) an internationally recognized Lankan Commission.
“We see women as key pillars of the family structure. Our aim is to empower more women from low income families so that they will be able to independently stand on their own,” Ms. Musthapha says. MLSC has produced women entrepreneurs who run successful businesses today.
“We are the caregivers to our children, the emotional support to our spouses, the chefs in our kitchen the unqualified medical professionals in our household, the counsellors to our families and now even in some cases the income generators,” Ms. Musthapha added.
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