One of the oldest expatriate women’s organisations in the Gulf last night celebrated a milestone to remember after officially moving into a new larger premises, promising to be bigger and better than ever before.
The Indian Ladies Association (ILA), which has been supporting the local and expatriate communities in Bahrain for 68 years, has set up base at a spacious villa in Zinj, which will help the not-for-profit organisation expand activities for members, as well as its Sneha Recreation Centre for Children with Special Needs.
The organisation celebrated its move with an inauguration ceremony attended by dignitaries including chief guest Indian Ambassador Piyush Srivastava, who expressed his pride in the organisation.
The Indian ambassador kicked off proceedings with a cutting of a ribbon to officially inaugurate the new premises and a traditional lighting of the lamp.
“It gives me immense pleasure to be here today on this memorable occasion,” said Mr Srivastava during the opening ceremony.
“After 37 long years, the ILA has now moved into this new location which will provide more space to run activities such as the Sneha Recreation Centre,” he added.
Sneha is an ILA flagship project that started as an informal playgroup for children with special needs in December 1987, and has over time flourished into a thriving centre, for children of different nationalities with conditions such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other disabilities.
The number of students who will benefit from this new space is still unclear as most children have travelled abroad with their parents for the summer holidays.
“The Sneha Recreation Centre has worked hard to provide a safe haven for these children, and these new premises will help them assist even more in the future,” said Mr Srivastava.
“Everyone in this organisation, both past and present, has worked tirelessly to make this happen.
“The ILA has been in the forefront of community outreach programmes and socio-cultural activities such as Ramadan ghabgas, the vibrant Anand Bazaar, and workshops for low income workers, and they can now take their fantastic work to the next level,” he added.
Also at the ceremony was ILA president Sarada Ajith, the driving force behind the new premises, having succeeded in finding a bigger place for the organisation, something which was a priority among past presidents and received their full backing.
“This move has been a decade in the making,” she said.
“We are forever grateful to our patron, Mrs Monika Srivastava (wife of Mr Srivastava).
“The new premises will help us expand our work with Sneha towards special needs children.
“Our past presidents and senior members were also instrumental in this, if it was not for their encouragement and support, this might not have been possible.”
She also wished the outgoing ambassador the best of luck and thanked him for everything he had done for the organisation.
The outgoing diplomat will leave the kingdom after completing his tenure as ambassador after almost two years since arriving in the country in July 2020.
“We will really miss Mr and Mrs Srivastava,” she said.
“They played a big role in this organisation, and we will miss them at the ILA.”
The ceremony was also attended by former ILA president Nivedita Dutta, guest of honour Bangladeshi ambassador to Bahrain Dr Md. Nazrul Islam, Dadabhai group chairman Mohammed Dadabhai, as well as other invited guests from several embassies and organisations.
nader@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))