Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

07 November 2024

4-minute read

Fatima Mokaba’s CV reads like that of an extremely motivated community leader and inspiring humanitarian. Founder of the Al-Atfaal NPO; Aalimah, Early Childhood Development practitioner; counsellor and teacher at a madrassah in Palm Ridge, are just some of her titles.

Fatima was born into a non-Muslim home and when she was 8 years old, her parents embraced Islam, simultaneously bringing her and her older sister into the deen. When she was in grade 11, she attended Darul Uloom in Azaadville to study the Aalimah course which she completed in 2008. Fatima’s father owned a bakery and she and her sister were encouraged to go along when her parents distributed bread to family and to the poor. This was her inspiration to continue their legacy when she got married and moved to the area of Kwa-Thema; a community of elderly people looking after their grandchildren, interspersed with some child-headed households.

Fatima started off by opening a Muslim day-care in the area when she saw the dire need for one. As founder of Al-Atfaal, an NPO dedicated to making a difference across Gauteng, humanitarian work comes naturally to Fatima. As she would walk to madrassah, Fatima found people living in abject poverty and old people she met daily would ask her for help. She wanted to help them, and this spurred her on to look after the old ladies in her area by taking them to hospital when they were sick and giving them breakfast and lunch. She “feels fulfilled” when helping people, especially those who don’t ask.

Other projects in the informal settlement that Fatima is involved in includes giving out bread and food weekly, hosting community baby showers where baby hampers are given out to new mothers who don’t have any means to get basics for their new babies; holding elderly days to assist the old people; and the distribution of grocery hampers to poor people every few months.

So how does she manage to juggle so many community projects while still taking care of her home and family? Sister Fatima says that it is “totally impossible” to do anything on your own, and that if you want to achieve a lot, time management is key, alongside planning and schedules for both weekdays and weekends. She also gets her kids involved in all her projects.

Going out and helping people keeps her motivated, and Fatima says that “if Allah SWT is able to assist me to assist them, then alhamdulillah”. Putting Allah SWT and deen first is her way of staying motivated. “Whatever intention that you’ve made, Allah SWT will guide you according to that intention.”

Full of energy and plans for the future, Fatima aims to extend the daycare and add in a small jamaat khana and a madrassah as part of the facility, with the purpose of making it a place from where they can continue to help and assist the community.

Listen to the full interview with Ml Sulaimaan Ravat on Sabahul Muslim.