IMAGH Brings Meeting of Minds in Foster’s Historic Home

By Jawahar Malhotra

Dr. Maqbool Haq, Abeezar Tyebji, Yan Digilov, Dr. Moyeen Haque and Latafath Hussain at the high tea meeting held at the home of attorney Charles Foster and his wife Lily.

Dr. Maqbool Haq, Abeezar Tyebji, Yan Digilov, Dr. Moyeen Haque and Latafath Hussain at the high tea meeting held at the home of attorney Charles Foster and his wife Lily.

HOUSTON: The Indian Muslims Assoc. of Greater Houston met this past Sunday afternoon, October 13 for high tea at the home of immigration attorney Charles Foster, who is also the Chairman of the Asia Society, Houston.

Foster and his wife Lily opened up their 100 year-old on Courtlandt place in the Westmoreland Historic District for the meeting which was attended by about two dozen members and supporters of the organization. The tea was held in the mesh covered outdoor patio of the Foster’s home, which can only be accessed from a short connector just before the Southwest Freeway starts in Montrose.

IMAGH President Latafath Hussain has been on a tear for the past year trying to get the organization more exposure for its efforts in building a seniors’ group, called Club 65 chaired by Fakhruddin Sabir and also a likewise group for the younger generation headed by Dr. Moyeen Haque. Club 65 recently held a picnic for its members and more activities are planned.

Close to the heart of the IMAGH is the desire to build a seniors living facility and community center, which was outlined earlier this year when the Club held its first meetings. The thoughts have been further refined by Chairman of the Board of Advisors Abeezar Tyebji who showed the ideas with the help of a PowerPoint presentation in the foyer of the Foster’s home. Dr. Maqbool Haq, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the IMAGH handed out honorary lifetime membership certificates to IMAGH to the Fosters, his partner Gordon Quan and his wife Sylvia and to Yan Digilov.

The audience listened attentively in the foyer of the home.

The audience listened attentively in the foyer of the home.

Tayebji has recruited the help of Yan Digilov, a young first generation Jewish immigrant who came to the US as a child with his parents as refugees from the Russian Caucuses region. He received his degrees in math and economics from Rice University but after being in the corporate world for a couple of years realized that his passion was in helping people and went to work as the Chief Local Strategist at the Dharma Charitable Strategies. In this role, he explained how he has worked with disparate new immigrant groups to formulate a way for them to preserve their culture and cohesiveness. “The question for me is why you want to build a center,” he challenged the group, “and I can show you how”.

The event, which included people of different faiths and organization affiliations ended after a spirited exchange of ideas and discussion.