KOTHY VANTERSA (UK) WELFARE ASSOCIATION - A Progressive Association

Kothywalas in the UK have much to be proud of. Our elders who arrived in the UK in the 60s and 70s for economic reasons had their minds and hearts firmly planted in their homeland. Their desire to better themselves the UK was matched by an even bigger desire to better their family, friends and neighbours left behind in Kothy. And so they banded together and formed the Kothy Vantersa UK Association, laying the foundations of an organisation that would secure a connection between their old and new homes.

Abdul Aziz Hafezi and Yakub Umer were elected President and Secretary in 1989 and re-elected for the second time in 1998.  Their aim has been to continue to develop the spirit of those early years and progress the Association.

KoThe success of the Association can be judged by a number of factors.  Membership has increased over the years.  More than 75% of members have donated to the various projects carried out to date.

TOTAL MONEY RAISED IN 20 YEARS

A huge personal contribution of more than £45,000 from members alone has enabled many needy projects to be completed including rebuilding of the Kothy mosque jamaat khaana, completion of street paving, providing communal industrial cooking utensils (vassan), a modern underground gutter system and supplying water to the village by a 50,000 litre water tank. We have also coordinated other projects.  These include extending the primary school, building a school boundary wall, providing additional toilets in the school playground and helping to distribute funds to provide medical help to seriously ill villagers.

 The total amount of money spent in Kothy amounts to over £80,000. 

Every KV member should be proud of their contribution to these projects in making Kothy a better place to live in.

A FRESH MANDATE

Aziz and Yakub wish to continue as President and Secretary as they believe the work of the KV Association is not yet finished. 

Two key things are seen to be important for the future health of the Association:
1. Unity is paramount. A united membership, fully committed to the cause of the Association and fully committed to personally contributing to fund village projects will succeed in fulfilling the aims of the original founders. As mentioned above, you, the membership, have collectively dug deep into your pockets to raise over £45,000. This dwarfs not only the single biggest individual contribution but the biggest family donation by many times. Proof indeed of the old adage of ‘strength in numbers’. This is why we wish to encourage the Association to collectively fund and carry out village projects as opposed to individuals promoting pet ad hoc projects outside the Association. Once again we emphasise our guiding principle declared at the 2007 AGM that ‘no one member is bigger than the Association’. If you have a project in mind please contact either one of us and we will ensure it is discussed at Association meetings..

2. Growing the membership. We want to recruit new and lapsed members, particularly the younger generation and imbue in them a sense of pride and philanthropic ambition that our elders instilled in us. Every member should encourage their family members to take part in the Association and attend meetings. If nothing else it is a great way of networking and catching up.

We would like future projects to include educational and health initiatives such as providing a school bus to take children to secondary school in neighbouring villages, providing computers for the school and a health clinic to provide basic medical and nursing care for villagers.

Much has been achieved in the past 20 years. Much more needs to be done in the next 20. With yours and Allah’s help, insha-Allah we will achieve our vision.

Kothy Vantersa
Taluka Amode
District Bharuch
Gujarat
India

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