As we mark the birthday of Mata Salamat, I feel it appropriate to reflect on the following recent statement of MHI on the charitable dimension of her life.(PARIS MATCH N° 2907, 3-9 FEBRUARY 2005)
‘If you have the resources, what are you doing with them?’” And the answer lies not in what one owns but, according to the ethics of Islam, how one uses it. The Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan (who died in July 2000) provided a worthy example. Having lived with great restraint throughout her life, my grandfather’s widow, who was French by birth, left all her assets to the Aga Khan Foundation when she died. She bequeathed to the organisation very considerable sums to be used in areas of most critical need, for example to support the most underprivileged populations.
The above should be included in the Today's History page!
Mata Salamat Begum Om Habibeh Foundation
Mata Salamat Begum Om Habibeh Foundation
Last edited by kmaherali on Fri Apr 26, 2019 3:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan (1906 - 2000), philanthropist and fourth wife of Aga Khan III
I grew up in an Ismaili community so we followed the Aga Khan. I always remember people talking about his French wife, Begum Om Habibeh (originally Yvette Blanche), with great compassion.
They came to my parent's wedding in Calcutta -- she was wearing a sari and a mink. I had never seen anyone wear a mink before.
It is extraordinary that a glamorous European woman managed to integrate so well into Ismaili society-- she had such an empathy with the community.
She was an unlikely national treasure but we loved her like Britain loves Kate Middleton -- she was always out in the community helping the poor and elderly and would relentlessly encourage education for women.
Her legacy remains in the Om Habibeh Foundation, whose programs have contributed to health, education and inclusion in some of the poorest areas of Egypt, where her and the Aga Khan are buried.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/08/world/pin ... index.html
I grew up in an Ismaili community so we followed the Aga Khan. I always remember people talking about his French wife, Begum Om Habibeh (originally Yvette Blanche), with great compassion.
They came to my parent's wedding in Calcutta -- she was wearing a sari and a mink. I had never seen anyone wear a mink before.
It is extraordinary that a glamorous European woman managed to integrate so well into Ismaili society-- she had such an empathy with the community.
She was an unlikely national treasure but we loved her like Britain loves Kate Middleton -- she was always out in the community helping the poor and elderly and would relentlessly encourage education for women.
Her legacy remains in the Om Habibeh Foundation, whose programs have contributed to health, education and inclusion in some of the poorest areas of Egypt, where her and the Aga Khan are buried.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/08/world/pin ... index.html
blogs.mediapart.fr/blog/ficanas/261214/souvenirs-la-begum-aga-khan-sur-la-cote
Souvenirs : La Bégum Aga Khan sur la Côte.
26 décembre 2014 | Par Ficanas
Yvonne Blanche Labrousse est née le 15 février à Sète. Elle habite alors à Oullins, rue de la gare. Son père Adrien est chauffeur de tramway (il décèdera chez sa fille en 1969, conseiller municipal du Canet) ; sa mère Marie Bouet est couturière. En 1929 cette jolie brune est élue Miss Lyon et l’année suivante Miss France à Paris. Elle part à travers le monde représenter la France et on la remarque du haut de ses 1m80. Huit ans plus tard, au Caire, lors d’une réception dans une ambassade, elle rencontre l’Aga Khan III qu’elle épousera en 1944 à Vevey en Suisse. Pour pouvoir se marier, elle se convertira à l’islam sous le nom de Om Habibeh et deviendra alors la Bégum des ismaéliens.
Yvette Labrousse en 1930
Aga Khan n’en n’est pas à son premier mariage : En 1896 il avait épousé sa cousine, puis en 1908 Cleope Teresa Magliano, une danseuse de l’opéra de Monte-Carlo, et en 1929 à Aix-les-Bains Andrée Joséphine Carron. Yvonne sera enfin la bonne épouse. Elle ne va pas passer inaperçue : Louise de Vilmorin dira d’elle « Elle est très grande. Elle sera très bien comme point de repère sur un champ de courses »… Effectivement on la verra souvent sur les hippodromes, de même que dans les opérations caritatives à Monaco et à Paris.
En 1945 le couple s’installe au Cannet dans la somptueuse propriété « Yakymour ». L’hiver ils sont à Assouan sur les bords du Nil, et voyagent en Inde, au Pakistan, en Afrique là où se rassemblent les ismaéliens. En effet chaque année les fidèles offrent à l’Aga Kahan son poids en or, argent et diamant (il pèse 109 kg) ; il est l’imam le plus riche du monde. Cela jouera un mauvais tour au couple : le 3 août 1949, à midi, ils partent à bord de leur Cadillac du Cannet pour se rendre à l’aéroport ; trois hommes masqués s’approchent et s’emparent du coffre à bijoux où se trouvait un diamant de 22 carats. Le montant du vol fut estimé à 213 millions de francs. Ce serait ce vol qui aurait inspiré Hergé pour « les bijoux de la Castatfiore ».
L’Aga Khan décède en 1957. La Bégum va lui faire construire un mausolée sur les bords du Nil ; elle se retrouve veuve à 53 ans (ils avaient 30 ans d’écart).
Elle passera ensuite sa vie à s’occuper d’actions charitables depuis la Côte d’Azur, surtout pour les problèmes sociaux en Egypte, mais s’intéressera également à la peinture et à la sculpture. Miss France s’éteindra le 1er juillet 2000 à l’âge de 94 ans. Elle aurait donné plus de 10 millions de francs à la commune. Une statue de la princesse en bronze, grandeur nature, a été installée au Cannet, de son vivant.
Christian Gallo - © Le Ficanas ®
Souvenirs : La Bégum Aga Khan sur la Côte.
26 décembre 2014 | Par Ficanas
Yvonne Blanche Labrousse est née le 15 février à Sète. Elle habite alors à Oullins, rue de la gare. Son père Adrien est chauffeur de tramway (il décèdera chez sa fille en 1969, conseiller municipal du Canet) ; sa mère Marie Bouet est couturière. En 1929 cette jolie brune est élue Miss Lyon et l’année suivante Miss France à Paris. Elle part à travers le monde représenter la France et on la remarque du haut de ses 1m80. Huit ans plus tard, au Caire, lors d’une réception dans une ambassade, elle rencontre l’Aga Khan III qu’elle épousera en 1944 à Vevey en Suisse. Pour pouvoir se marier, elle se convertira à l’islam sous le nom de Om Habibeh et deviendra alors la Bégum des ismaéliens.
Yvette Labrousse en 1930
Aga Khan n’en n’est pas à son premier mariage : En 1896 il avait épousé sa cousine, puis en 1908 Cleope Teresa Magliano, une danseuse de l’opéra de Monte-Carlo, et en 1929 à Aix-les-Bains Andrée Joséphine Carron. Yvonne sera enfin la bonne épouse. Elle ne va pas passer inaperçue : Louise de Vilmorin dira d’elle « Elle est très grande. Elle sera très bien comme point de repère sur un champ de courses »… Effectivement on la verra souvent sur les hippodromes, de même que dans les opérations caritatives à Monaco et à Paris.
En 1945 le couple s’installe au Cannet dans la somptueuse propriété « Yakymour ». L’hiver ils sont à Assouan sur les bords du Nil, et voyagent en Inde, au Pakistan, en Afrique là où se rassemblent les ismaéliens. En effet chaque année les fidèles offrent à l’Aga Kahan son poids en or, argent et diamant (il pèse 109 kg) ; il est l’imam le plus riche du monde. Cela jouera un mauvais tour au couple : le 3 août 1949, à midi, ils partent à bord de leur Cadillac du Cannet pour se rendre à l’aéroport ; trois hommes masqués s’approchent et s’emparent du coffre à bijoux où se trouvait un diamant de 22 carats. Le montant du vol fut estimé à 213 millions de francs. Ce serait ce vol qui aurait inspiré Hergé pour « les bijoux de la Castatfiore ».
L’Aga Khan décède en 1957. La Bégum va lui faire construire un mausolée sur les bords du Nil ; elle se retrouve veuve à 53 ans (ils avaient 30 ans d’écart).
Elle passera ensuite sa vie à s’occuper d’actions charitables depuis la Côte d’Azur, surtout pour les problèmes sociaux en Egypte, mais s’intéressera également à la peinture et à la sculpture. Miss France s’éteindra le 1er juillet 2000 à l’âge de 94 ans. Elle aurait donné plus de 10 millions de francs à la commune. Une statue de la princesse en bronze, grandeur nature, a été installée au Cannet, de son vivant.
Christian Gallo - © Le Ficanas ®
Last edited by Admin on Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
December 12, 2014 at 20:40
This Friday night Mowlana Hazar Imam gave a surprise to seniors in Cannet by inviting them for lunch at the Palestra .
Mata Salamat used to invite the poor of Le Cannet during her time.
Hazar Imam was welcomed by the deputy mayor of Le Cannet Michèle Tabarot .
More on Mata Salamat:
http://www.ismaili.net/mata/mata_main.html
This Friday night Mowlana Hazar Imam gave a surprise to seniors in Cannet by inviting them for lunch at the Palestra .
Mata Salamat used to invite the poor of Le Cannet during her time.
Hazar Imam was welcomed by the deputy mayor of Le Cannet Michèle Tabarot .
More on Mata Salamat:
http://www.ismaili.net/mata/mata_main.html
Funeral of MSMS Incident:
Below is the extract from Willi Frischauer's The Aga Khans about the funeral of MSMS.
"At Aswan, Prince Karim first went to the Begum's house, where the body of his grandfather was lying in state, and discussed with her the next day's funeral arrangements and the part of the mourners in the ceremony. Muslim tradition required it to be an all-male affair with the ladies remaining in the background: 'According to our custom,' said Mr Zulfikarali C. Valiani, who helped to make the arrangements, 'the men would assemble in one tent while the ladies would be in another tent. . . .'
At twelve-thirty p.m. on the day of the funeral, Prince Karim, accompanied by the Mir of Hunza, Sir Eboo Pirbhai, Mr Amirali Fancy and other Ismaili dignitaries, went to the local mosque for Friday prayers. The funeral procession formed at three p.m. In Aly's absence, the three nearest male relatives—Karim, Amyn, Sadruddin—and the late Aga's long-serving old valet, Solomon Bandely, carried the coffin on the last stage to the fortress-like Mausoleum on the hill overlooking the Nile. As the procession passed the ladies' tent, the Begum emerged. Dressed in a white sari and accompanied by a friend and a maid, she followed the cortege, a break with Muslim custom. The young Imam showed no sign of
his disapproval, and did not utter a word. But when the funeral was over, the coolness between him and the Begum was evident. The Imam of the time had been publicly defied by the widow of his predecessor. The incident caused a rift which was not healed for several years. It certainly put an end to any notion of Prince Karim accepting guidance from the Begum—or anyone else for that matter.
He was Imam in his own right.
As if to underline her own right, the Begum at the head of a large retinue of women paid another visit to the Mausoleum a few weeks later. To reporters she talked with some bitterness about the Aswan incident: 'Prince Karim did not want me to follow the procession on the grounds of Ismaili rites,' she said. ' If I went to the Mausoleum contrary to his wishes, it was only because I was tired and did not want to wait for hours in the gilded armchair in which I was to sit.' Members of her late husband's family, she added, did not speak to her and left the day after the ceremony without taking leave of her: I know that Prince Karim does not have the slightest intention of following his grandfather's wishes so far as I am concerned . . .' Ten years later, when I mentioned the incident, the Aga Khan dismissed it as a minor misunderstanding about religious etiquette which was best forgotten: 'The Begum is European . . . ' was all he said by way of explanation."
Do you think from the above that the Begum could have been a murid of the Imam at that time?
'Prince Karim did not want me to follow the procession on the grounds of Ismaili rites,' she said. ' If I went to the Mausoleum contrary to his wishes, it was only because I was tired and did not want to wait for hours in the gilded armchair in which I was to sit.'
There is a big difference between an order and a wish.
In his will MSMS desired (not ordered) that the Begum guide the Imam. Do you think that the Imam would desire his murid to guide the Imam?
"I DESIRE that my successor shall during the first seven years of his Imamate be guided on questions of general Imamate policy by my said wife YVETTE called YVE BLANCHE LABROUSSE, the Begum Aga Khan, who has been familiar for many years with the problems facing my followers and in whose wise judgement I place the greatest confidence."
. . .'
The Imam never followed that desire of MSMS as per Willi Frischauer.
Below is the extract from Willi Frischauer's The Aga Khans about the funeral of MSMS.
"At Aswan, Prince Karim first went to the Begum's house, where the body of his grandfather was lying in state, and discussed with her the next day's funeral arrangements and the part of the mourners in the ceremony. Muslim tradition required it to be an all-male affair with the ladies remaining in the background: 'According to our custom,' said Mr Zulfikarali C. Valiani, who helped to make the arrangements, 'the men would assemble in one tent while the ladies would be in another tent. . . .'
At twelve-thirty p.m. on the day of the funeral, Prince Karim, accompanied by the Mir of Hunza, Sir Eboo Pirbhai, Mr Amirali Fancy and other Ismaili dignitaries, went to the local mosque for Friday prayers. The funeral procession formed at three p.m. In Aly's absence, the three nearest male relatives—Karim, Amyn, Sadruddin—and the late Aga's long-serving old valet, Solomon Bandely, carried the coffin on the last stage to the fortress-like Mausoleum on the hill overlooking the Nile. As the procession passed the ladies' tent, the Begum emerged. Dressed in a white sari and accompanied by a friend and a maid, she followed the cortege, a break with Muslim custom. The young Imam showed no sign of
his disapproval, and did not utter a word. But when the funeral was over, the coolness between him and the Begum was evident. The Imam of the time had been publicly defied by the widow of his predecessor. The incident caused a rift which was not healed for several years. It certainly put an end to any notion of Prince Karim accepting guidance from the Begum—or anyone else for that matter.
He was Imam in his own right.
As if to underline her own right, the Begum at the head of a large retinue of women paid another visit to the Mausoleum a few weeks later. To reporters she talked with some bitterness about the Aswan incident: 'Prince Karim did not want me to follow the procession on the grounds of Ismaili rites,' she said. ' If I went to the Mausoleum contrary to his wishes, it was only because I was tired and did not want to wait for hours in the gilded armchair in which I was to sit.' Members of her late husband's family, she added, did not speak to her and left the day after the ceremony without taking leave of her: I know that Prince Karim does not have the slightest intention of following his grandfather's wishes so far as I am concerned . . .' Ten years later, when I mentioned the incident, the Aga Khan dismissed it as a minor misunderstanding about religious etiquette which was best forgotten: 'The Begum is European . . . ' was all he said by way of explanation."
Do you think from the above that the Begum could have been a murid of the Imam at that time?
The Imam did not order anyone. He expressed his wish. Mata Salamat said:salimkhoja786 wrote: Please make note of few sentences in above paragraph.
1.But when the funeral was over, the coolness between him and abd the begum was evident.
2.The Imam of the time had been publicly defied by the widow of his predecessor.
3.The incident caused a rift which was not healed for several years.
4.It certainly put an end to any notion of Prince Karim accepting guidance from the begum.
5.To reporters she talked with some bitterness about Aswan incident.
6. Members of her late husband,s family, she added , did not speak to her and left the day after the ceremony.
7. I know that Prince Karim does not have the slightest intention of following his grand father's wishes so far I am concerned.
You can feel the bitterness on both sides.
Imam orders his followers and not non Ismailis.
'Prince Karim did not want me to follow the procession on the grounds of Ismaili rites,' she said. ' If I went to the Mausoleum contrary to his wishes, it was only because I was tired and did not want to wait for hours in the gilded armchair in which I was to sit.'
There is a big difference between an order and a wish.
In his will MSMS desired (not ordered) that the Begum guide the Imam. Do you think that the Imam would desire his murid to guide the Imam?
"I DESIRE that my successor shall during the first seven years of his Imamate be guided on questions of general Imamate policy by my said wife YVETTE called YVE BLANCHE LABROUSSE, the Begum Aga Khan, who has been familiar for many years with the problems facing my followers and in whose wise judgement I place the greatest confidence."
. . .'
The Imam never followed that desire of MSMS as per Willi Frischauer.
The lady of Yakymour
https://yakymour.wordpress.com/2016/02/ ... -yakymour/
Yvette ‘Yvonne’ Blanche Labrousse born, in 1906, of a father who was a tramway driver and a town councillor for Le Cannet, and a mother who was a seamstress. Nothing in her modest upbringing told anything of the glorious destiny that was to be hers.
Yvette Labrousse
Today, 110 years ago, Yvette Labrousse was born Yvonne Blanch Labrousse in the small town of Sète, near Marseilles, France, on 15 February 1906. She was the daughter of Adrien Labrousse and Marie Brouet, a seamstress. When she was only six months old her family soon move to Cannes, where they lived in a flat in the Rue d’Antibes, and later on to Lyon where the young Yvette spent most of her childhood.
Yvette Labrousse
Yvette grew up tall, more than six feet, and vèry beautiful. Having stricktly raised, however, she showed no disposition to accept the film and modelling offers that cameher way, instead, she went to work with her mother, who was running a dress shop that time. She always told that her parents were very warm, kind and always openminded.
Yvette Labrousse
After being elected Miss Lyon in 1929, then Miss France in Paris in 1930, she joined the Miss Europe 1930 pageant in Paris, at the Paris Opera. The streets outside the hall were packed with people eager to see the beautiful participants from all over Europe… It was one of the most talked about events in the press.
Miss France, Yvette Labrousse, she was always full of great story’s about ‘her time’ as Miss France, about the girls, the fashion of that time, the make-up and the travels.
Yet Yvette Labrousse was no longer a provincial. As a beauty queen and a representatieve of France, she traveled to many countries around the world. She found herself particulary taken by Egypt and, in the late thirdies she moved to Egypt.
Yvette Labrousse, Paris, 1930’s
She started to travel around the world and settled in Cairo. There Yvette Labrousse met her future husband, the Sultan Aga Khan III, 48th Imam of the Nizari Shia Ismaili community, and they fell in love at first sight when they met at a royal dancing party in Egypt in 1938. They married thirteen months after the Aga Khan III and his third wife were divorcedby mutual consent, on 9 October 1944 in Switzerland.
Sir Sultan Mohamad Aga Khan III and Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan seated half-length portrait by Weinberg. Photograph signed and inscribed by Begum, “A souvenir – from an old friend – of the family Aga Khan”. Inscribed in the image, middle left and right. 8 1/2×6 1/2 inches; matted in original sterling silver frame bearing Khan’s emblem at top. Circa 1955
Then she took the name of Om Habibeh (Little Mother of the Beloved) and became Begum, fully Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan. In 1954, Om Habibeh was given the title of ‘Mata Salamat’, which literally means serene or peaceful mother. She was the foutyh woman in Islamic history with that title!

I have at last been granted the real and wonderful haven of finding in and with my wife a true union of mind and soul
Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan III, in his Memoirs ‘World Enough & Time’, page 275
They settled in the Avenue Victoria villa at Le Cannet, in the hills above Cannes, on a hillside wich she had once looked on to from the flat in the Rue d’Antibes, for which planning permission applications had been submitted in 1937. They named it Yakymour: Y for Yvette, ak for Aga Khan, mour for amour. The French word for love. As is clear from such indications , the couple was very close and the two loved each other dearly.
Yakymour, Le Cannet, France
Within this property surrounded by parkland, Her Higness La Bégum used to assemble the members of the Cannes film festival jury, and many national and international movie stars. Some of them became friends for live. She wasn’t only Kees van Dongen’s muse, but with her husband’s encouragement, she also developed an active interest in painting and sculpture, herself becoming an accomplished artist and sculptor. She was also interested in the arts including classical music, opera and ballet.
She rarely left his side, and nursed him devotedly through the pains of old age until his death in 1957. But her duty was also a delight. She never ceased to be grateful for the manner in which he had widened her horizons, especially in music and in the arts. “Enjoy yourself”, he told her. Ït’s later then you think”.
Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan by
Before his death, the Aga Khan III chose a location on the on the West Bank of the Nile as his final resting place. The location was highly symbolic, for centuries earlier the Aga Khan’s ancestors had founded the Fatimid dynasty with its capital in Cairo. The Fatimids represented one of the apogees of culture, being patrons of the arts, liteature, achitecture, pluralism (the acceptance of racial, ethnic, cultural and intra-religious differences) and scientific endeavors, all fields that were equally dear to the Aga Khan III an Om Habibeh. The Begum was very supportive of her husband in his work during their thirteen years together. They both took a particular interest in issues affecting women’s welfare.
When her husband died in 1957, he had stated in his will that his successor, his grandson Karim, would have Om Habibeh as advisor for the first seven years of his reign. because she had been familiar for many years with the issues facing his followers and he had the confidence in her wise judgment. Immediatly, with the help of architect Farid El-Shafie and contractor Hassan Dorra, Om Habibeh started building at Aswan, on top of the hill above there house, a mausoleum to her husband, a task that took 16 months.“The Aga Khan wants to sleep in the hot sand overlooking the waters of the Nile”, Om Habibeh always said, “and when I die I want to lie beside him. We do not want to be parted”.
It was not in her nature either to forget, or to try to hide, her humble orgins. Her legacy remains in the Om Habibeh Foundation, whose programs have contributed to health, education and inclusion in some of the poorest areas of Egypt.
Her gesture of daily placing a red rose on her husband’s tomb while in Egypt (every day for 43 years, either the Begum or when she was away in Europe, Sheikh Ahmed Ibrahim, whom she hired in 1963 to spend eight hours a day chanting verses from the Koran over her late husband’s tomb, laid a fresh red rose there) enforced the reputation of the legendary romance between the Aga Khan III and Om Habebeh. After the death of her husband, she continued to live at Yakymour, though she always spent three months a year in the villa at Aswan, the site of her husband’s mausoleum.
Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan
As a widow, she travelled widely both for charity and for pleasure. She was a regular face at Ascot (she herself owned several horses), where she always caught the eye. In the 1950’s and 60’s she was a true fashion icon, and was a countless times on the cover of big magazines. Her advice on fashion was typically sensible: “Don’t choose what you like, but what suits you. To be elegant one must have discretion. The secret is in the details”. Often she was sitting front-row at the Paris fashion shows from Christian Dior, Lanvin, Jaques Faith and many others
Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan by Gyenes
She was dearly loved by her people because of her generosity to the poor, childern, women and the elderly, and, by her own husband as well. She had a big heart for everybody. Also for people outside the Shia Ismaili community. No matter what kind of religion, man or women, or even sexual oriantation, she was véry openminded, Yakymour and Nour el-Salam were both an open house.
She also loved annimals a lot. Over the years she had several dogs and cats. ‘Every person and every animal should be loved, we are all creations from Allah. When a person is not good for animals, he can not be good to humans’. ‘We should take care of eachother, everybody should be loved!, We are here on earth to do good, and not to harm or judge people, so lets love’…. And that’s what she did!
Grandma ‘Yaky’, the Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan with her poodles at Yakymour, Le Cannet, France, January 1, 1985
It was not in her nature either to forget, or to try to hide, her humble orgins. Her legacy remains in the Om Habibeh Foundation, whose programs have contributed to health, education and inclusion in some of the poorest areas of Egypt
Beauty was not only on the outside. It came from the heart. Highly popular, Her Highness La Bégum showed great generosity throughout her life. She made many donations to schools (‘education is the most impotant thing in life after being loved’ and ‘The highest result of education is tolerance’ she always said) and hospitals. But also donations to women’s shelters, Alzheimer foundation, and… Aids foundation.
Over four decades of widowhood (she never thought of remarrying) she was always out in the community helping the poor and elderly and would relentlessly encourage education for women. For over forty years, banquets were offered to the town’s elderly inhabitants. The Begum also ran a charitable foundation, the Om Habibeh Foundation, which tackled poverty in Aswan, Egypt, where she inherited her husband’s villa by the Nile. At home in Le Cannet, she established a home for the elderly. It was not in her nature either to forget, or to try to hide, her humble origins. In the last years of her life, she made an outstanding donation to the town, enabling it to renew its school property.
Begum Om Habibeh, Le Cannet, Jardin Des Oliviers, Avenue Thiers, Le Cannet, 1997
She also contributed to the creation of the Jardin des Oliviers, for which the town showed its gratitude by erecting a bronze statue by Charles-Louis La Salle, unveiled by the mayor of Le Cannet Rocheville, in her image. She last appeared in public for the inauguration of this garden in 1997. She was also vèry happy that she could be present at the wedding of Princess Zahra Aga Khan with the businessman Mark Boyden, June 21, 1997 in Paris.
Le Cannet, Le Jardin Des Oliviers, Avenue Thiers, bronze statue of Om Habibeh by Charles-Louis La Salle
Before her death, the late Begum arranged for Yakymour, the home of which she and her husband were so fond, to be retained for use by the Aga Khan family. She also planned that a large part of her estate be donated to two foundations closely associated with the family: The Aga Khan Foundation, Geneva, a non-profit organisation established by the current Aga Khan in 1967, which oversees and supports major international programmes in health, education and rural development, in some of the poorest regions of Asia and Africa, and the Bellerive Foundation in Geneva, established by Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan in 1977, which is devoted to the protection of the environment, conservation of natural resources and the safeguarding of human and animal rights.
There was no doubting her enduring devotion. “Now all I have left to hope for”, she said shortly before her death, “is that Allah will take me to his side”. Begum Om Habibeh ‘Mata Salamat’ aka Yvette Labrousse died on 1 July 2000, in Le Cannet, near Cannes, at the age of 94 years, and is buried next to her beloved husband at the Aga Khan’s sandstone mausoleum in Aswan. The couple had no children. She was survived by her stepson, Sadruddin Aga Khan, and three step-grandchildren, Karim Aga Khan the current Aga Khan, Amyn Aga Khan and Yasmin Aga Khan, who are the children of the late Prince Aly Khan, who died in 1960 and who was the eldest son of the late Aga Khan.

The jamat will recall with fondness and affection her support for the work of My late beloved grandfather, and also her devoted care and attention to Him particularly in the later years of His life. Throughout her lifetime Mata Salamat retained an abiding interest to the progress and well-being of the jamat world-wide
Mawlânâ Hazar Imam Karim Aga Khan IV
She has now been reunited with her husband, who has been resting, since 1957, in a mausoleum built on their Nour es-Salam property, near the river Nile, in Aswan, Egypt. ‘Till today she is very respected and loved. For her eternal love, her honesty, her help (she hated the word ‘charity’!) and being só openminded…..
by Jean Amr
The Om Habibeh Foundation was established by the Aga Khan’s late step-grandmother, Om Habibeh, the Begum Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan. It is an Egyptian, not-for-profit organisation of long-standing that has been contributing to, and supporting, a number of institutions, in the Aswan area, which are involved in healthcare, education and income generation for disadvantaged communities. The Foundation draws on the support and technical expertise of the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network to advance the newly announced initiatives.
The Aga Khan Foundation
For more information:
Farees Nathoo
Aga Khan Foundation
Tel. +20 (22) 506 1570
Email: [email protected]
https://yakymour.wordpress.com/2016/02/ ... -yakymour/
Yvette ‘Yvonne’ Blanche Labrousse born, in 1906, of a father who was a tramway driver and a town councillor for Le Cannet, and a mother who was a seamstress. Nothing in her modest upbringing told anything of the glorious destiny that was to be hers.
Yvette Labrousse
Today, 110 years ago, Yvette Labrousse was born Yvonne Blanch Labrousse in the small town of Sète, near Marseilles, France, on 15 February 1906. She was the daughter of Adrien Labrousse and Marie Brouet, a seamstress. When she was only six months old her family soon move to Cannes, where they lived in a flat in the Rue d’Antibes, and later on to Lyon where the young Yvette spent most of her childhood.
Yvette Labrousse
Yvette grew up tall, more than six feet, and vèry beautiful. Having stricktly raised, however, she showed no disposition to accept the film and modelling offers that cameher way, instead, she went to work with her mother, who was running a dress shop that time. She always told that her parents were very warm, kind and always openminded.
Yvette Labrousse
After being elected Miss Lyon in 1929, then Miss France in Paris in 1930, she joined the Miss Europe 1930 pageant in Paris, at the Paris Opera. The streets outside the hall were packed with people eager to see the beautiful participants from all over Europe… It was one of the most talked about events in the press.
Miss France, Yvette Labrousse, she was always full of great story’s about ‘her time’ as Miss France, about the girls, the fashion of that time, the make-up and the travels.
Yet Yvette Labrousse was no longer a provincial. As a beauty queen and a representatieve of France, she traveled to many countries around the world. She found herself particulary taken by Egypt and, in the late thirdies she moved to Egypt.
Yvette Labrousse, Paris, 1930’s
She started to travel around the world and settled in Cairo. There Yvette Labrousse met her future husband, the Sultan Aga Khan III, 48th Imam of the Nizari Shia Ismaili community, and they fell in love at first sight when they met at a royal dancing party in Egypt in 1938. They married thirteen months after the Aga Khan III and his third wife were divorcedby mutual consent, on 9 October 1944 in Switzerland.
Sir Sultan Mohamad Aga Khan III and Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan seated half-length portrait by Weinberg. Photograph signed and inscribed by Begum, “A souvenir – from an old friend – of the family Aga Khan”. Inscribed in the image, middle left and right. 8 1/2×6 1/2 inches; matted in original sterling silver frame bearing Khan’s emblem at top. Circa 1955
Then she took the name of Om Habibeh (Little Mother of the Beloved) and became Begum, fully Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan. In 1954, Om Habibeh was given the title of ‘Mata Salamat’, which literally means serene or peaceful mother. She was the foutyh woman in Islamic history with that title!
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I have at last been granted the real and wonderful haven of finding in and with my wife a true union of mind and soul
Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan III, in his Memoirs ‘World Enough & Time’, page 275
They settled in the Avenue Victoria villa at Le Cannet, in the hills above Cannes, on a hillside wich she had once looked on to from the flat in the Rue d’Antibes, for which planning permission applications had been submitted in 1937. They named it Yakymour: Y for Yvette, ak for Aga Khan, mour for amour. The French word for love. As is clear from such indications , the couple was very close and the two loved each other dearly.
Yakymour, Le Cannet, France
Within this property surrounded by parkland, Her Higness La Bégum used to assemble the members of the Cannes film festival jury, and many national and international movie stars. Some of them became friends for live. She wasn’t only Kees van Dongen’s muse, but with her husband’s encouragement, she also developed an active interest in painting and sculpture, herself becoming an accomplished artist and sculptor. She was also interested in the arts including classical music, opera and ballet.
She rarely left his side, and nursed him devotedly through the pains of old age until his death in 1957. But her duty was also a delight. She never ceased to be grateful for the manner in which he had widened her horizons, especially in music and in the arts. “Enjoy yourself”, he told her. Ït’s later then you think”.
Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan by
Before his death, the Aga Khan III chose a location on the on the West Bank of the Nile as his final resting place. The location was highly symbolic, for centuries earlier the Aga Khan’s ancestors had founded the Fatimid dynasty with its capital in Cairo. The Fatimids represented one of the apogees of culture, being patrons of the arts, liteature, achitecture, pluralism (the acceptance of racial, ethnic, cultural and intra-religious differences) and scientific endeavors, all fields that were equally dear to the Aga Khan III an Om Habibeh. The Begum was very supportive of her husband in his work during their thirteen years together. They both took a particular interest in issues affecting women’s welfare.
When her husband died in 1957, he had stated in his will that his successor, his grandson Karim, would have Om Habibeh as advisor for the first seven years of his reign. because she had been familiar for many years with the issues facing his followers and he had the confidence in her wise judgment. Immediatly, with the help of architect Farid El-Shafie and contractor Hassan Dorra, Om Habibeh started building at Aswan, on top of the hill above there house, a mausoleum to her husband, a task that took 16 months.“The Aga Khan wants to sleep in the hot sand overlooking the waters of the Nile”, Om Habibeh always said, “and when I die I want to lie beside him. We do not want to be parted”.
It was not in her nature either to forget, or to try to hide, her humble orgins. Her legacy remains in the Om Habibeh Foundation, whose programs have contributed to health, education and inclusion in some of the poorest areas of Egypt.
Her gesture of daily placing a red rose on her husband’s tomb while in Egypt (every day for 43 years, either the Begum or when she was away in Europe, Sheikh Ahmed Ibrahim, whom she hired in 1963 to spend eight hours a day chanting verses from the Koran over her late husband’s tomb, laid a fresh red rose there) enforced the reputation of the legendary romance between the Aga Khan III and Om Habebeh. After the death of her husband, she continued to live at Yakymour, though she always spent three months a year in the villa at Aswan, the site of her husband’s mausoleum.
Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan
As a widow, she travelled widely both for charity and for pleasure. She was a regular face at Ascot (she herself owned several horses), where she always caught the eye. In the 1950’s and 60’s she was a true fashion icon, and was a countless times on the cover of big magazines. Her advice on fashion was typically sensible: “Don’t choose what you like, but what suits you. To be elegant one must have discretion. The secret is in the details”. Often she was sitting front-row at the Paris fashion shows from Christian Dior, Lanvin, Jaques Faith and many others
Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan by Gyenes
She was dearly loved by her people because of her generosity to the poor, childern, women and the elderly, and, by her own husband as well. She had a big heart for everybody. Also for people outside the Shia Ismaili community. No matter what kind of religion, man or women, or even sexual oriantation, she was véry openminded, Yakymour and Nour el-Salam were both an open house.
She also loved annimals a lot. Over the years she had several dogs and cats. ‘Every person and every animal should be loved, we are all creations from Allah. When a person is not good for animals, he can not be good to humans’. ‘We should take care of eachother, everybody should be loved!, We are here on earth to do good, and not to harm or judge people, so lets love’…. And that’s what she did!
Grandma ‘Yaky’, the Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan with her poodles at Yakymour, Le Cannet, France, January 1, 1985
It was not in her nature either to forget, or to try to hide, her humble orgins. Her legacy remains in the Om Habibeh Foundation, whose programs have contributed to health, education and inclusion in some of the poorest areas of Egypt
Beauty was not only on the outside. It came from the heart. Highly popular, Her Highness La Bégum showed great generosity throughout her life. She made many donations to schools (‘education is the most impotant thing in life after being loved’ and ‘The highest result of education is tolerance’ she always said) and hospitals. But also donations to women’s shelters, Alzheimer foundation, and… Aids foundation.
Over four decades of widowhood (she never thought of remarrying) she was always out in the community helping the poor and elderly and would relentlessly encourage education for women. For over forty years, banquets were offered to the town’s elderly inhabitants. The Begum also ran a charitable foundation, the Om Habibeh Foundation, which tackled poverty in Aswan, Egypt, where she inherited her husband’s villa by the Nile. At home in Le Cannet, she established a home for the elderly. It was not in her nature either to forget, or to try to hide, her humble origins. In the last years of her life, she made an outstanding donation to the town, enabling it to renew its school property.
Begum Om Habibeh, Le Cannet, Jardin Des Oliviers, Avenue Thiers, Le Cannet, 1997
She also contributed to the creation of the Jardin des Oliviers, for which the town showed its gratitude by erecting a bronze statue by Charles-Louis La Salle, unveiled by the mayor of Le Cannet Rocheville, in her image. She last appeared in public for the inauguration of this garden in 1997. She was also vèry happy that she could be present at the wedding of Princess Zahra Aga Khan with the businessman Mark Boyden, June 21, 1997 in Paris.
Le Cannet, Le Jardin Des Oliviers, Avenue Thiers, bronze statue of Om Habibeh by Charles-Louis La Salle
Before her death, the late Begum arranged for Yakymour, the home of which she and her husband were so fond, to be retained for use by the Aga Khan family. She also planned that a large part of her estate be donated to two foundations closely associated with the family: The Aga Khan Foundation, Geneva, a non-profit organisation established by the current Aga Khan in 1967, which oversees and supports major international programmes in health, education and rural development, in some of the poorest regions of Asia and Africa, and the Bellerive Foundation in Geneva, established by Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan in 1977, which is devoted to the protection of the environment, conservation of natural resources and the safeguarding of human and animal rights.
There was no doubting her enduring devotion. “Now all I have left to hope for”, she said shortly before her death, “is that Allah will take me to his side”. Begum Om Habibeh ‘Mata Salamat’ aka Yvette Labrousse died on 1 July 2000, in Le Cannet, near Cannes, at the age of 94 years, and is buried next to her beloved husband at the Aga Khan’s sandstone mausoleum in Aswan. The couple had no children. She was survived by her stepson, Sadruddin Aga Khan, and three step-grandchildren, Karim Aga Khan the current Aga Khan, Amyn Aga Khan and Yasmin Aga Khan, who are the children of the late Prince Aly Khan, who died in 1960 and who was the eldest son of the late Aga Khan.
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The jamat will recall with fondness and affection her support for the work of My late beloved grandfather, and also her devoted care and attention to Him particularly in the later years of His life. Throughout her lifetime Mata Salamat retained an abiding interest to the progress and well-being of the jamat world-wide
Mawlânâ Hazar Imam Karim Aga Khan IV
She has now been reunited with her husband, who has been resting, since 1957, in a mausoleum built on their Nour es-Salam property, near the river Nile, in Aswan, Egypt. ‘Till today she is very respected and loved. For her eternal love, her honesty, her help (she hated the word ‘charity’!) and being só openminded…..
by Jean Amr
The Om Habibeh Foundation was established by the Aga Khan’s late step-grandmother, Om Habibeh, the Begum Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan. It is an Egyptian, not-for-profit organisation of long-standing that has been contributing to, and supporting, a number of institutions, in the Aswan area, which are involved in healthcare, education and income generation for disadvantaged communities. The Foundation draws on the support and technical expertise of the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network to advance the newly announced initiatives.
The Aga Khan Foundation
For more information:
Farees Nathoo
Aga Khan Foundation
Tel. +20 (22) 506 1570
Email: [email protected]
Last edited by kmaherali on Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
https://dailynewsegypt.com/2018/10/25/5 ... -in-aswan/
Daily News Egypt
56 project submissions for Om Habibeh Foundation’s first entrepreneurship competition in Aswan
10 winners will be announced early November 2018
The Om Habibeh Foundation revealed in press statement that the business projects that were selected to participate in the first business entrepreneurship competition, is organised by the Aswan Skills Development Programme, and implemented by the Om Habibeh Foundation, in cooperation with the Aga Khan Foundation and Global Affairs Canada.
This competition is one of the activities within the ASDP’s entrepreneurship fields which primarily focuses on spreading the entrepreneurship culture, and empowering young innovators and entrepreneurs from Aswan in various fields.
The competition was attended by selected experts and those interested in entrepreneurship and youth empowerment in the governorate of Aswan.
The number of projects submitted for the first competition reached 56 projects competing for the prizes.
The projects submitted by the young entrepreneurs in Aswan will be subject to arbitration by a special jury committee, where the entrepreneurs will present their business projects during the semi-finals, before the selection of the winning projects. The 10 winning projects will be announced in early November 2018.
The total value of prizes offered by the Om Habibeh Foundation, in cooperation with the Aga Khan Development Network and Global Affairs Canada is EGP 1m, with the value of prizes ranging from EGP 10,000 to EGP 100,000 per project.
Meanwhile, the foundation revealed in press statement that it plans to organize the second competition for entrepreneurs in Aswan during the first quarter of 2019, noting that all the application details will be announced after declaring the first competition’s winners.
Daily News Egypt
56 project submissions for Om Habibeh Foundation’s first entrepreneurship competition in Aswan
10 winners will be announced early November 2018
The Om Habibeh Foundation revealed in press statement that the business projects that were selected to participate in the first business entrepreneurship competition, is organised by the Aswan Skills Development Programme, and implemented by the Om Habibeh Foundation, in cooperation with the Aga Khan Foundation and Global Affairs Canada.
This competition is one of the activities within the ASDP’s entrepreneurship fields which primarily focuses on spreading the entrepreneurship culture, and empowering young innovators and entrepreneurs from Aswan in various fields.
The competition was attended by selected experts and those interested in entrepreneurship and youth empowerment in the governorate of Aswan.
The number of projects submitted for the first competition reached 56 projects competing for the prizes.
The projects submitted by the young entrepreneurs in Aswan will be subject to arbitration by a special jury committee, where the entrepreneurs will present their business projects during the semi-finals, before the selection of the winning projects. The 10 winning projects will be announced in early November 2018.
The total value of prizes offered by the Om Habibeh Foundation, in cooperation with the Aga Khan Development Network and Global Affairs Canada is EGP 1m, with the value of prizes ranging from EGP 10,000 to EGP 100,000 per project.
Meanwhile, the foundation revealed in press statement that it plans to organize the second competition for entrepreneurs in Aswan during the first quarter of 2019, noting that all the application details will be announced after declaring the first competition’s winners.
Om Habibeh Foundation was established by Mata Salamat to improve the quality of life of residents of Aswan
Posted by Nimira Dewji
“Aswan and the people of Aswan have a place of deep affection in my heart and within my family.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
AKDN Press Release, December 18, 2003
Mata Salamat Begum Om Habibeh, wife of Imam Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III, established the Om Habibeh Foundation (OHF) in 1991 in Aswan, Egypt, to improve the quality of life of residents of Aswan and surrounding areas. The Foundation, now an affiliate of the Aga Khan Development Network, has contributed to health, education, and income-generating initiatives for the disadvantaged in Aswan including the Aswan Nursing Programme, now a partner of the Aga Khan University School of Nursing.
Om Habibeh Salamat Aga Khan
Mata Salamat with Imam Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah. Photo: Pinterest
The Foundation draws on the support and technical expertise of the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network.
Nursing Aswan Egypt Om Habibeh Aga Khan
Nursing managers from hospitals and nursing schools in Aswan Governorate gather to discuss “Ethics in Nursing.” Photo: AKDN / Jean-Luc Ray
Om Habibeh Foundation Grant for Aswan
In 2003, Mawlana Hazar Imam announced a grant of US$ 320,000 for medical equipment by the OHF, as part of a series of new development initiatives to benefit the people of Aswan. These included a plan for a social development training centre to have national reach, and programmes in the areas of nursing education, pre-school education and the strengthening of civil society organisations.
AKDN
Civil Society Capacity Building Programme in Aswan
AKDN’s Civil Society Capacity Building programme in Aswan was established in 2007 by the OHF with the goal of promoting civic engagement and participation, community responsibility and capacity-building in community development agencies while fostering stronger and more impactful networking and links between various local civil society and community development organizations.
AKDN
Om Habibeh Continuing Education Centre
The Continuing Education Center (CEC), an initiative of OHF, was inaugurated on May 18, 2010 in Aswan. The CEC aims to provide employment-related training to the youth of Aswan and Upper Egypt with the ultimate goal of fostering economic development.
AKDN
Om Habibeh Aswan Aga Khan
Girls in training at the Continuing Education Centre (Youth Employability Training), Aswan, Egypt. Photo: AKDN
OHF Signed Agreement With the Ministry of Education
In September 2014, the OHF and the Ministry of Education signed a five-year Partnership Agreement to strengthen co-operation in the field of Early Childhood Development (ECD) in the Aswan Governorate. Under this partnership, the OHF provided further support for ECD teachers and centres, enhancing the impact and success of the collaborations it has undertaken at government-run ECD centres in the Aswan governorate.
AKDN
Aswan Skills Development Program
In January 2015, the Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development announced a grant to Aga Khan Foundation to implement the Aswan Skills Development Program in Egypt, in collaboration with Manitoba’s Red River College.
The project was designed to strengthen the quality and impact of vocational, technical, and professional training programs. The initiative focused on improving access to relevant job skills development and employment services for unemployed or underemployed youth.
AKDN
OHF Signed Agreement With Aswan University
The OHF signed an Agreement with Aswan University to further develop the institutional relationship with the two organisations, specifically around the strengthening of the quality of education at the Faculty of Nursing, and the improvement of employability skills of Aswan University students. As part of the Agreement, OHF offered English courses for 3,000 students of Aswan University from various faculties to improve their chances of gaining employment after graduation.
AKDN
OHF and Aswan Directorate of Agriculture to Support 5,000 Farmers
In January 2015, the Aswan Directorate of Agriculture (DOA) and the OHF signed an agreement to provide technical assistance to 5,000 more farmers over five years. The Agreement expanded the current assistance provided by OHF including technical support, development of private enterprise in the agricultural value chain, and sharing of best practice models.
About Mata Salamat Om Habibeh
Om Habibeh first travelled to Egypt before her marriage in 1944 and returned often after that year. She and Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah spent many years at Noor El Salaam, their residence by the banks of the Nile at Aswan, where she made a home after her husband’s death in 1957. Om Habibeh, who died in 2000 at the age of 94, is buried alongside Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah in the nearby mausoleum that she designed.
nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2019/04/10/om-habibeh-foundation-was-established-by-mata-salamat-to-improve-the-quality-of-life-of-residents-of-aswan/
Posted by Nimira Dewji
“Aswan and the people of Aswan have a place of deep affection in my heart and within my family.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
AKDN Press Release, December 18, 2003
Mata Salamat Begum Om Habibeh, wife of Imam Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III, established the Om Habibeh Foundation (OHF) in 1991 in Aswan, Egypt, to improve the quality of life of residents of Aswan and surrounding areas. The Foundation, now an affiliate of the Aga Khan Development Network, has contributed to health, education, and income-generating initiatives for the disadvantaged in Aswan including the Aswan Nursing Programme, now a partner of the Aga Khan University School of Nursing.
Om Habibeh Salamat Aga Khan
Mata Salamat with Imam Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah. Photo: Pinterest
The Foundation draws on the support and technical expertise of the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network.
Nursing Aswan Egypt Om Habibeh Aga Khan
Nursing managers from hospitals and nursing schools in Aswan Governorate gather to discuss “Ethics in Nursing.” Photo: AKDN / Jean-Luc Ray
Om Habibeh Foundation Grant for Aswan
In 2003, Mawlana Hazar Imam announced a grant of US$ 320,000 for medical equipment by the OHF, as part of a series of new development initiatives to benefit the people of Aswan. These included a plan for a social development training centre to have national reach, and programmes in the areas of nursing education, pre-school education and the strengthening of civil society organisations.
AKDN
Civil Society Capacity Building Programme in Aswan
AKDN’s Civil Society Capacity Building programme in Aswan was established in 2007 by the OHF with the goal of promoting civic engagement and participation, community responsibility and capacity-building in community development agencies while fostering stronger and more impactful networking and links between various local civil society and community development organizations.
AKDN
Om Habibeh Continuing Education Centre
The Continuing Education Center (CEC), an initiative of OHF, was inaugurated on May 18, 2010 in Aswan. The CEC aims to provide employment-related training to the youth of Aswan and Upper Egypt with the ultimate goal of fostering economic development.
AKDN
Om Habibeh Aswan Aga Khan
Girls in training at the Continuing Education Centre (Youth Employability Training), Aswan, Egypt. Photo: AKDN
OHF Signed Agreement With the Ministry of Education
In September 2014, the OHF and the Ministry of Education signed a five-year Partnership Agreement to strengthen co-operation in the field of Early Childhood Development (ECD) in the Aswan Governorate. Under this partnership, the OHF provided further support for ECD teachers and centres, enhancing the impact and success of the collaborations it has undertaken at government-run ECD centres in the Aswan governorate.
AKDN
Aswan Skills Development Program
In January 2015, the Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development announced a grant to Aga Khan Foundation to implement the Aswan Skills Development Program in Egypt, in collaboration with Manitoba’s Red River College.
The project was designed to strengthen the quality and impact of vocational, technical, and professional training programs. The initiative focused on improving access to relevant job skills development and employment services for unemployed or underemployed youth.
AKDN
OHF Signed Agreement With Aswan University
The OHF signed an Agreement with Aswan University to further develop the institutional relationship with the two organisations, specifically around the strengthening of the quality of education at the Faculty of Nursing, and the improvement of employability skills of Aswan University students. As part of the Agreement, OHF offered English courses for 3,000 students of Aswan University from various faculties to improve their chances of gaining employment after graduation.
AKDN
OHF and Aswan Directorate of Agriculture to Support 5,000 Farmers
In January 2015, the Aswan Directorate of Agriculture (DOA) and the OHF signed an agreement to provide technical assistance to 5,000 more farmers over five years. The Agreement expanded the current assistance provided by OHF including technical support, development of private enterprise in the agricultural value chain, and sharing of best practice models.
About Mata Salamat Om Habibeh
Om Habibeh first travelled to Egypt before her marriage in 1944 and returned often after that year. She and Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah spent many years at Noor El Salaam, their residence by the banks of the Nile at Aswan, where she made a home after her husband’s death in 1957. Om Habibeh, who died in 2000 at the age of 94, is buried alongside Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah in the nearby mausoleum that she designed.
nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2019/04/10/om-habibeh-foundation-was-established-by-mata-salamat-to-improve-the-quality-of-life-of-residents-of-aswan/
UK architect shares her vision for design of new Aswan Community Education Centre
Aswan, the ancient city of Swenett on the banks of the Nile and frontier town on the southernmost border of Ancient Egypt, is the focus for the work of the Om Habibeh Foundation (OHF) in Egypt. The OHF, established by Mata Salamat in 1991 and formally registered in 2006, is an affiliate of the Aga Khan Foundation-Egypt (AKF-E). AKF-E’s program portfolio includes early childhood, civil society and rural development. All these programs function within the Governorate of Aswan, which has a population of 1.5 million people in Upper Egypt.
Yasmin Shariff, a highly accomplished architect, visited Aswan in March this year for her TKN assignment. She describes what it was like landing at the Aswan airport terminal, “seeing the shimmering image of what looks like an ancient Egyptian Queen in the tilework reminded me of my family friend, Seeham El Gohary - the wife of architect Farouk El Gohary, who designed the terminal. That was over a decade ago and now I was returning to the same place, far from home, but all strangely familiar. This time, not visiting as a tourist with family, but in a different role as an experienced professional wanting to share knowledge and contribute to the valuable work being done by so many dedicated people.”.
In 2010, OHF launched the Continuing Education Centre (CEC), which provides practical, industry-relevant training to unemployed and under-employed youth. Since its establishment, the CEC has served over 2,850 young student trainees with an impressive female enrolment rate of 67%. Its target is to reach over 6,000 beneficiaries from the local communities by 2020.
The OHF and CEC are currently working out of a converted residential block, a significant improvement on their previous office space. The recently renovated facility, with solar panels on its roof, is due to generous funding provided by Global Affairs Canada for the Aswan Skills Development Program. Although the current classroom space is tight, there is room available for creative co-working areas and inspiring spaces for collaborative teams to launch ideas and projects. Yasmin explains, “as an architect, I could immediately see how the current configuration was creating fragmented work spaces. A new professionally designed and purpose built structure has the potential to break out of cellular offices and closed door layouts and transform this working environment”.
OHF has a large site in downtown Aswan and, before embarking on construction based on a design that was developed in 2010 (prior to the CEC launch), OHF asked Yasmin if she could advise on the suitability of these proposals. After discussions with Yasmin, it became clear to all that there is an excellent opportunity to develop a new collaborative centre for the CEC, OHF and the people of Aswan.
“We have a very special site with great potential for an exciting new integrated centre with ample space for a public square large enough for a vast array of different uses, from cultural events to football screenings in an open air theatre,” Yasmin added. “There could be a digital park, outdoor pop-up business spaces, co-working areas, and the outside of the building itself could be home to seedlings on the terraces, herbs dried in the solar ovens on the rooftops and more……..the ideas just kept on flowing. These dreams are not just flights of fancy but easily deliverable options.”
Working in the shadow of Mawlana Sultan Mohamad Shah’s mausoleum, with its majestic presence on the banks of the Nile, made this TKN experience very special for Yasmin, “Aswan is a truly magical place and it is a great privilege for me to volunteer on this project. With nursing, entrepreneurship, English language and IT as the main focus of CEC programmes, there may be future opportunities for other TKN volunteers to serve on this inspiring project.”
Shams Alibhai, CEO of AKF Egypt, says, “Yasmin’s rich architectural experience and substantial work on education projects in the UK is being leveraged for the CEC in Aswan. We are fortunate to have her skills and competence influence the new purpose built space for the CEC in Aswan. She has shared a vision for an exciting multi-user space that includes educational, recreational, artistic, and entrepreneurial spaces! We look forward to continuing this journey.”
https://the.ismaili/diamond-jubilee/uk- ... rce=Direct
Aswan, the ancient city of Swenett on the banks of the Nile and frontier town on the southernmost border of Ancient Egypt, is the focus for the work of the Om Habibeh Foundation (OHF) in Egypt. The OHF, established by Mata Salamat in 1991 and formally registered in 2006, is an affiliate of the Aga Khan Foundation-Egypt (AKF-E). AKF-E’s program portfolio includes early childhood, civil society and rural development. All these programs function within the Governorate of Aswan, which has a population of 1.5 million people in Upper Egypt.
Yasmin Shariff, a highly accomplished architect, visited Aswan in March this year for her TKN assignment. She describes what it was like landing at the Aswan airport terminal, “seeing the shimmering image of what looks like an ancient Egyptian Queen in the tilework reminded me of my family friend, Seeham El Gohary - the wife of architect Farouk El Gohary, who designed the terminal. That was over a decade ago and now I was returning to the same place, far from home, but all strangely familiar. This time, not visiting as a tourist with family, but in a different role as an experienced professional wanting to share knowledge and contribute to the valuable work being done by so many dedicated people.”.
In 2010, OHF launched the Continuing Education Centre (CEC), which provides practical, industry-relevant training to unemployed and under-employed youth. Since its establishment, the CEC has served over 2,850 young student trainees with an impressive female enrolment rate of 67%. Its target is to reach over 6,000 beneficiaries from the local communities by 2020.
The OHF and CEC are currently working out of a converted residential block, a significant improvement on their previous office space. The recently renovated facility, with solar panels on its roof, is due to generous funding provided by Global Affairs Canada for the Aswan Skills Development Program. Although the current classroom space is tight, there is room available for creative co-working areas and inspiring spaces for collaborative teams to launch ideas and projects. Yasmin explains, “as an architect, I could immediately see how the current configuration was creating fragmented work spaces. A new professionally designed and purpose built structure has the potential to break out of cellular offices and closed door layouts and transform this working environment”.
OHF has a large site in downtown Aswan and, before embarking on construction based on a design that was developed in 2010 (prior to the CEC launch), OHF asked Yasmin if she could advise on the suitability of these proposals. After discussions with Yasmin, it became clear to all that there is an excellent opportunity to develop a new collaborative centre for the CEC, OHF and the people of Aswan.
“We have a very special site with great potential for an exciting new integrated centre with ample space for a public square large enough for a vast array of different uses, from cultural events to football screenings in an open air theatre,” Yasmin added. “There could be a digital park, outdoor pop-up business spaces, co-working areas, and the outside of the building itself could be home to seedlings on the terraces, herbs dried in the solar ovens on the rooftops and more……..the ideas just kept on flowing. These dreams are not just flights of fancy but easily deliverable options.”
Working in the shadow of Mawlana Sultan Mohamad Shah’s mausoleum, with its majestic presence on the banks of the Nile, made this TKN experience very special for Yasmin, “Aswan is a truly magical place and it is a great privilege for me to volunteer on this project. With nursing, entrepreneurship, English language and IT as the main focus of CEC programmes, there may be future opportunities for other TKN volunteers to serve on this inspiring project.”
Shams Alibhai, CEO of AKF Egypt, says, “Yasmin’s rich architectural experience and substantial work on education projects in the UK is being leveraged for the CEC in Aswan. We are fortunate to have her skills and competence influence the new purpose built space for the CEC in Aswan. She has shared a vision for an exciting multi-user space that includes educational, recreational, artistic, and entrepreneurial spaces! We look forward to continuing this journey.”
https://the.ismaili/diamond-jubilee/uk- ... rce=Direct
A message from Aswan’s young entrepreneurs for World Environment Day
Aswan, the third biggest city in Egypt, is a busy market and tourist centre on the east bank of the Nile River. But while opportunities exist, there is a large disconnect between training that is available and the skills and products in demand in an Egypt that is both quickly modernising and grappling with the challenge of climate change. For Aswan’s youth, this often leads to unemployment, with limited opportunities to enter the job market.
To address a number of these challenges, the Aga Khan Foundation and Om Habibeh Foundation in Egypt undertook an initiative to improve economic opportunities in the Aswan governorate by strengthening the quality and range of technical and vocational training, professional training, entrepreneurship support programmes and employment services available to youth. The initiative, called the Aswan Skills Development Programme, worked to improve employment and employability for 6,000 young women and men.
In partnership with Seneca College in Toronto, the programme is strengthening the quality and range of training, support programmes and employment services available to young women and men in the region.
As part of the programme, an entrepreneurial pitch competition was held in 2019, supporting young business talent in the region. This World Environment Day, we want to share some messages from some of the semi-finalists:
More and photos:
https://www.akdn.org/our-stories/messag ... onment-day
Aswan, the third biggest city in Egypt, is a busy market and tourist centre on the east bank of the Nile River. But while opportunities exist, there is a large disconnect between training that is available and the skills and products in demand in an Egypt that is both quickly modernising and grappling with the challenge of climate change. For Aswan’s youth, this often leads to unemployment, with limited opportunities to enter the job market.
To address a number of these challenges, the Aga Khan Foundation and Om Habibeh Foundation in Egypt undertook an initiative to improve economic opportunities in the Aswan governorate by strengthening the quality and range of technical and vocational training, professional training, entrepreneurship support programmes and employment services available to youth. The initiative, called the Aswan Skills Development Programme, worked to improve employment and employability for 6,000 young women and men.
In partnership with Seneca College in Toronto, the programme is strengthening the quality and range of training, support programmes and employment services available to young women and men in the region.
As part of the programme, an entrepreneurial pitch competition was held in 2019, supporting young business talent in the region. This World Environment Day, we want to share some messages from some of the semi-finalists:
More and photos:
https://www.akdn.org/our-stories/messag ... onment-day
Om Habibeh Foundation: Awareness campaign about coronavirus
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDsnz-u-JMo
As part of its efforts to raise awareness of COVID-19 among disadvantaged and marginalised communities, the Om Habibeh Foundation (OHF) launched radio programmes, pinned posters around villages, and even distributed colouring books donated by UNICEF. The colouring books, for example, were designed to encourage families to spend quality time with their children while committing to physical distancing measures. In the process, it provided behavioural change tips through radio programmes and posters that were pinned in public areas across the villages. Overall, OHF raised awareness of COVID-19 within the community of Aswan and 20 of the poorest villages in the area. The colouring books even drew a few smiles on children faces!
Read more: https://www.akdn.org/project/fighting...
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDsnz-u-JMo
As part of its efforts to raise awareness of COVID-19 among disadvantaged and marginalised communities, the Om Habibeh Foundation (OHF) launched radio programmes, pinned posters around villages, and even distributed colouring books donated by UNICEF. The colouring books, for example, were designed to encourage families to spend quality time with their children while committing to physical distancing measures. In the process, it provided behavioural change tips through radio programmes and posters that were pinned in public areas across the villages. Overall, OHF raised awareness of COVID-19 within the community of Aswan and 20 of the poorest villages in the area. The colouring books even drew a few smiles on children faces!
Read more: https://www.akdn.org/project/fighting...
Om Habibeh Foundation Supporting Aswan's Farmers
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD4v499Vpb8
*****
Om Habibeh Foundation Aswan Kitchen Garden
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgJ0L6Cpczk
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD4v499Vpb8
*****
Om Habibeh Foundation Aswan Kitchen Garden
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgJ0L6Cpczk
Re: Mata Salamat Begum Om Habibeh Foundation
https://www.tatler.com/article/aga-khan ... e-red-rose
More photos on link
Inside the heartbreaking love story of Aga Khan III and his beauty queen wife, who became known as the ‘Red Rose’
On the week of the anniversary of her birth, Tatler delves into romance between the Aga Khan and his fourth wife, Begum Aga Khan III
By Natasha Leake
17 February 2023
Beautiful, glamorous and loyal – Begum Aga Khan III was born this week in 1906. She was the Aga Khan III’s fourth and final wife for 13 years.
Their love story is widely remembered as being the greatest, and has even been referred to as a story book romance. They married thirteen months after the Aga Khan III divorced his third wife, Nawab A’lia Shamsul-Muluk, by mutual consent.
Begum Aga Khan on the right during an evening at Versailles 1973
Begum Aga Khan on the right, during an evening at Versailles, 1973 Daniel SIMON/Getty Images
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Begum Aga Khan III was christened Yvonne Blanche Labrousse – but called herself Yvette for short. At the age of 24 in 1929, she was named Miss France, but it was when she danced a tango at a princess’s party in Egypt that the Aga Khan was said to have noticed her, according to the Heritage Society; he hired her as his social secretary, and the two married in 1944. She was 38, and he was 67.
Yvette Larbousse Begum Aga Khan III attending a ball
Yvette Larbousse, Begum Aga Khan III, attending a ball Evening Standard/Getty Images
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The two lived a happy life until his death in 1957 – and she remained a widow, never remarrying until she died in July 2000. She is often remembered as the ‘Red Rose’ as she placed a red rose upon the Aga Khan III’s tomb in Egypt every day without fail, according to the BBC. When she was away, she ensured the gardener did the same.
Begum Aga Khan always maintained that it was the Aga Khan who taught her everything she knew: ‘Of course, I always appreciate beauty,’ she is said to have declared, according to the Heritage Society. ‘But he taught me how to really enjoy a lovely sunset, moonlight, to know the stars, the colours and scents of flowers, to like music, ballet and opera, to appreciate everything that is beautiful in life.’
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Begum Aga Khan III ullstein bild Dtl./Getty Images
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In her later life, Begum Aga Khan became a keen sculptress – the Heritage Society tells the story of how she once set off from Paris with a suitcase full of clay, returning to her home in Egypt. When she arrived at customs, they told her that Egyptian clay from their home in Aswan was the finest in the world, ‘so I threw away the contents of the French packing case and when we came home I filled it with Aswan clay which I brought triumphantly back to Paris,’ she said many years later. She also made a bust of the Aga Khan in his later years, which was the only bust to portray him without glasses.
Begum Aga Khan at Cannes Film Festival in 1957
Begum Aga Khan at Cannes Film Festival in 1957 Gilbert TOURTE/Getty Images
Following the death of her husband in 1957, she led her stepson, the current Aga Khan, with wise counsel for the first seven years of his time in the position. She died in 2001, aged 94, and is remembered to this day for her loyalty to her husband.
More photos on link
Inside the heartbreaking love story of Aga Khan III and his beauty queen wife, who became known as the ‘Red Rose’
On the week of the anniversary of her birth, Tatler delves into romance between the Aga Khan and his fourth wife, Begum Aga Khan III
By Natasha Leake
17 February 2023
Beautiful, glamorous and loyal – Begum Aga Khan III was born this week in 1906. She was the Aga Khan III’s fourth and final wife for 13 years.
Their love story is widely remembered as being the greatest, and has even been referred to as a story book romance. They married thirteen months after the Aga Khan III divorced his third wife, Nawab A’lia Shamsul-Muluk, by mutual consent.
Begum Aga Khan on the right during an evening at Versailles 1973
Begum Aga Khan on the right, during an evening at Versailles, 1973 Daniel SIMON/Getty Images
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By Dora Davies-Evitt
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Read More
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As Prince Karim al-Husayni celebrates his 84th birthday, Tatler reflects on the life of a fascinating religious leader and socialite
By Natasha Leake
article image
Begum Aga Khan III was christened Yvonne Blanche Labrousse – but called herself Yvette for short. At the age of 24 in 1929, she was named Miss France, but it was when she danced a tango at a princess’s party in Egypt that the Aga Khan was said to have noticed her, according to the Heritage Society; he hired her as his social secretary, and the two married in 1944. She was 38, and he was 67.
Yvette Larbousse Begum Aga Khan III attending a ball
Yvette Larbousse, Begum Aga Khan III, attending a ball Evening Standard/Getty Images
Read More
Inside the dazzling wedding of the last Emperor and Empress of Iran
To mark the anniversary of the week of their wedding, Tatler looks back at a spellbinding occasion that took place in the Hall of Mirrors of the Golestan Palace in Tehran, 1959
By Natasha Leake
article image
The two lived a happy life until his death in 1957 – and she remained a widow, never remarrying until she died in July 2000. She is often remembered as the ‘Red Rose’ as she placed a red rose upon the Aga Khan III’s tomb in Egypt every day without fail, according to the BBC. When she was away, she ensured the gardener did the same.
Begum Aga Khan always maintained that it was the Aga Khan who taught her everything she knew: ‘Of course, I always appreciate beauty,’ she is said to have declared, according to the Heritage Society. ‘But he taught me how to really enjoy a lovely sunset, moonlight, to know the stars, the colours and scents of flowers, to like music, ballet and opera, to appreciate everything that is beautiful in life.’
Most Popular
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By Davina Cadogan
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By Dora Davies-Evitt
Begum Aga Khan III
Begum Aga Khan III ullstein bild Dtl./Getty Images
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Sale of Princess Margaret’s wedding tiara reportedly left Lord Snowdon heartbroken
Lord Snowdon, who died in 2017, was reportedly ‘crushed’ by his children’s decision to auction 800 items their late mother owned
By Natasha Leake
article image
In her later life, Begum Aga Khan became a keen sculptress – the Heritage Society tells the story of how she once set off from Paris with a suitcase full of clay, returning to her home in Egypt. When she arrived at customs, they told her that Egyptian clay from their home in Aswan was the finest in the world, ‘so I threw away the contents of the French packing case and when we came home I filled it with Aswan clay which I brought triumphantly back to Paris,’ she said many years later. She also made a bust of the Aga Khan in his later years, which was the only bust to portray him without glasses.
Begum Aga Khan at Cannes Film Festival in 1957
Begum Aga Khan at Cannes Film Festival in 1957 Gilbert TOURTE/Getty Images
Following the death of her husband in 1957, she led her stepson, the current Aga Khan, with wise counsel for the first seven years of his time in the position. She died in 2001, aged 94, and is remembered to this day for her loyalty to her husband.