Taking IR South Africa from strength to strength – Bushra Razack
Bushra Razack, now aged 28, began work in the humanitarian and development sector at the age of 12, where she represented South Africa at the Millennium Young People’s Congress in Hawaii. At 12 she was a co-author of the book, ‘Rescue Mission’, a youth assessment of the Millennium Development Goals. This was launched at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. It seems that she has not looked back.
After her studies, she began to focus on programme development and project design. She left home and travelled across Africa with the intention of helping start-up NGOs and community based organisations to improve their operations.
She spent 3 years in East and West Africa working with a carbon offsetting company that developed energy efficient cooking stoves. Bushra then spent another 3 years developing outreach strategies for eye care hospitals in Kenya and Cameroon.
Bushra currently works for Islamic Relief South Africa as the National Programmes Manager and has a family with two small children. No two days are the same. Almost on arrival she was thrown into the deep end when she was requested to lead on one of the World Humanitarian Summit consultations.
In addition to running the Programmes department, she has taken on advocacy duties. In her short time at IRSA she has begun to develop relationships and strategic partnerships with key decision makers and stakeholders. She is also currently working on a toolkit for faith leaders.
Bushra has worked in the most difficult of conditions, but, she says, possibly the most challenging job of all – is being a mom to her two babies. She realises that these are her two most important Rights Holders and deserve the most of her time, energy and attention. She is working hard to juggle her two little ones and her work.
“Juggling work and motherhood is not always easy. Having a 2 month old makes it particularly hard. Some days are more challenging than others. On these days, I look at my little ones and remember that Motherhood is a choice you make everyday – to put someone else’s happiness and well-being ahead of your own: to be completely unselfish, and to put their needs first. As much as it is my duty to feed them and clothe them, it is my duty to do my part to ensure that they grow up in a world that is beautiful, tolerant, respectful, and loving…” – Bushra says.
She added: “When I have a challenging day I remind myself that I am lucky – my work lets me do this! It lets me contribute to creating a world for my children that is free from huger, suffering and injustice. What do I do on a daily basis? Do what I can to leave the world better than I found it. For myself, my children and succeeding generations”
IR South Africa Country Director, Yusuf Patel tells us:
“Bushra has that passion to serve humanity and do good , also a very hard worked with no limits when it comes to the crunch She has Lots of potential and insha Allah we aim to develop her further as a senior IRSA leader.”
