After 60 years, Noorrouihaar Nintin (born Sydow), fulfilled a lifelong promise to her father Abdul Wahab Ibin Hoosein Sydow, the eldest son of Hossasin Sydow. Mrs Mooronihaar Nintin promised her father, who was born in South Africa, that she would come to Mauritius to find the family of Karina Lauten.

It appears that a ship brought Karina Lanten?s family from Bay of Bengal, India, to Mauritius but on its way, two young men, Hoosein and Hashim Hylybaccus, on the ship stayed behind in South Africa because Hoosein fell ill. These two young male family members of Karima Lauten, settled in Cape Town, South Africa, got married and raised their families there.

Mrs Noorrouihaar is the granddaughter of Hoosein Hylybaccus. Another brother of Hoosein and Hashim, carried on to Mauritius with the ship from India. This brother was Cassim. He settled in Vacoas and married a French lady, Mireille Duval, and lived on the property of Karina Lauten. Then Cassim family?s descendants developed in Mauritius. An interesting fact is that the South African family planted peanuts with the seeds brought from India. Another important fact is, that in South Africa when the two young men landed, the government made a law that all non-whites had to carry a pass to travel around the country. Then the brothers and Hashim and Hoosein changed their surname to Sydow, to keep the link with the family in India who were sirdars.

In her quest to find her Mauritian family, Mrs Nintin made contact with her cousin Fatima Koheeallee, the granddaughter of Cassim, who had settled in Vacoas. Fatimah who works at Unicef, has lived in Switzerland, Denmark and now in England, agreed to meet Mrs Nintin in Mauritius, to establish links with the family and also to network with other organizations on sustainable development programmes. Mrs Nintin is involved with diplomatic work for the South African government. She is on various boards in the welfare structures and is now working together with the ministry of Women?s Rights on Training and Community Development. Mrs Nintin is also very involved in Islamic works. She has established the Islamic Social Welfare Association and many projects for persons embracing Islam, youth camps, child welfare, counselling of married couples on Shania Law. She was honoured with many awards for her services in South Africa and other countries.

Mrs Nintin wants to be of assistance to the Mauritian Social Security ministry and forge closer links in the sharing of knowledge and skills training. She is very grateful for the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Women?s Rights and thank her for her kind gesture. The Council for women has been most helpful with the protocol arrangements and we wait for the opportunity to do the same in South Africa.

<B>N.M. </B>