VOLUME 3 | ISSUE 2 | OCTOBER 2015
An overview of what we’ve been doing together
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The Prophet (PBUH) said, “The one who cares for an orphan and myself will be together in Paradise like this,” and he held his two fingers together to illustrate. Bukhari
[ Sara and Dina from Muslim Aid’s Beity Orphange ]
An overview of what we’ve been doing together
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Gratitude
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You Give We Serve Ramadan 2015
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Prisoners Programme
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MA US Supports Syria
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Life As A Volunteer
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Voices From The Field
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Jannah Made Easy
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Development For Beginners
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MA Sweden Network Event
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From Street To School
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Sweden Funds Projects
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Smiles For Gaza
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Spotlight On Sara Morad
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Mushroom Cultivation
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Eid With The Met Police Iftar For Muslim Prisoners
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Russell Brand Visits MA US News Rainbow Family Khasmir
Gratitude It’s only been four months since Ramadan passed. The long hours were challenging, but when the glorious month dashed by, we felt a sudden sense of sadness that it was all over too soon. Along the beautiful spiritual side of Ramadan, the month always brings about a great sense of charity, unity and compassion. We are honoured to be part of such a caring and giving community. Our donors helped us to raise over £6 million for our causes; from emergency relief, child sponsorship, water and sanitation to livelihood programmes. We are so grateful to our generous donors. You can read about our activities during Ramadan on page 6. Our foothold in Sweden is growing thanks to the generous Swedish public. Since September 2014, we’ve raised over £120,000 for our development and emergency campaigns through the support of Mosques and events. A kind donation from a local NGO was given to our food security project in Myanmar and we received institutional funding to support poverty reduction projects in Somalia. You can read about what MA Sweden has been up to on page 11. We had a surprise visit from our neighbour, the delightful activist, Russell Brand, who popped in to one of our Iftar dinners at the Booth House homeless shelter, London. It was great to see him share iftar with us and chat with everyone. This truly is a reflection of what makes London a great city to live in; an eclectic mix of cultures, religions and opinions all coming together to share food, company, community and of course the spirit of Ramadan. For everyone that donated to the Eid Gift project, we’d like to say a big thank you for putting smiles on the faces of children all over the world. In particular, the children of Gaza who share their story on Eid day on page 28 And on the issue of child poverty and development, our Fundraising Officer, Thabrez Khan, who has suddenly become somewhat of a Muslim Aid’s poster boy (you can’t miss him, he was our billboards, videos and posters!) visited Pakistan to report on our Street to School project. This wonderful project takes kids off the street and rehabilitates them into school. Sometimes it’s the most simple project that makes the biggest impact. You can read about this on page 27. With a generous and loving donor base, dedicated staff and volunteers in the UK and in our field offices, and great progress with our programmes, we’ve got a lot to be grateful for.
Amina Rafique, Editor amina@muslimaid.org
A Syrian child from MA’s Beity Orphanage plants a seedling
Muslim Aid News: UK Update Another year, another Ramadan at Muslim Aid. A month gone by and in just four weeks all the hard work paid off. While the long hours tested our patience, we still worked just as hard to ensure that the people that count - those in dire need, were given their basic rights to live healthy and happier lives. Our simple campaign message, You Give, We Serve, resonated with our donors as they collectively gave ÂŁ6 million for our emergency and development programmes worldwide. Our Dig A Well project was popular as donors gave money to build a further 2,700 wells during Ramadan alone. We managed to sponsor a further 866 children through our child sponsorship programme. Our Beity Orphanage, built to look after Syrian refugee orphans in Turkey gained so much support. We raised over ÂŁ100,000 to help build a further orphanage within Syria. No story on the campaign would be complete without a special mention to the dedicated volunteers that soldiered through the long hours standing outside Mosques with collection buckets, selling cakes and dates outside the offices, to helping the team with its fundraising efforts. Just as we are thankful to our supporters, we are grateful to our wonderful volunteers. [ Children of the Beity Orphanage ]
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Prisoners Programme Doubles Its Reach Our prisoners programme has been a resounding success since it was started in 2012. As part of Muslim Aid’s UK development programme, the scheme supports Muslim prisoners with the tools to help them practice their faith without hardship. Gift packs, which include essentials such as religious books, prayer mats, the Qur’an and other items are given to prisoners during Ramadan. There’s also a support service that trains prisoners in certain skills so that they can find jobs when they leave prison. UK Development Officer, Nosheena Javaid, who is heading the programme noted: “Prisoners are always overwhelmed by community support. They benefit a lot from the packs. The books help them to renew their spirituality. The donor probably has no clue the extent prisoners benefit from the packs. They are so grateful to the donors.” As Muslims all over the world fast during Ramadan and enjoy the heightened sense of spirituality the holy month brings, it is important to remember not all Muslims enjoy the same freedoms. Last year, with the help of our donors, we reached 5,018 prisoners across London and the West Midlands. This Ramadan, we reached almost 10,000 prisons with gift packs in 90 prisons across the UK. The campaign holds a strong sentiment among our donors, as Nosheena remarked: “The programme is popular because prisoners have shown to display less aggression and develop self-discipline around prayer and Qur’an recitation. It helps prisoners with the daily isolation and stigma associated to being a Muslim in and out of prison.”
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Muslim Aid News: UK Update
Life as a Muslim Aid Volunteer By Tania Haque
Volunteering during Ramadan is a hard, tiring and testing experience. But each year it’s something that I look forward to. It is also one of the most enjoyable and exciting experiences I have taken part in. This year I got involved in many different ways, from packing goody bags and prisoner packs to leaving for Brighton after college to help at one of the ‘Jannah Made Easy’ events. I even had the opportunity to plan and hold a volunteers car wash with a group of friends with full support from Muslim Aid. What I enjoy the most about volunteering with Muslim Aid is the way that everyone gets along like family; everyone is welcoming and accepting regardless of who you are. They take into account your personal needs, so whether you’re coming in to pack bags for an event, you’re always comfortable. Volunteering with a charity is also a major aspect in boosting my confidence as I am constantly meeting new people and being pushed to my limits to be the best I can be. So although I may have been tired from the fast, I pushed myself to get the most out of it and feel the barakah (blessings) that comes with doing charity work. Finally, volunteering with Muslim Aid makes each Ramadan memorable for me. It sets an atmosphere and vibe that allows me to appreciate Ramadan more than I would have had I of been at home all day. It’s a truly moving opportunity.
[ Tania volunteers for Muslim Aid ]
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Made Easy This year, Muslim Aid took its Ramadan campaign to new heights and travelled around the UK with our very own speaker tour titled ‘Jannah Made Easy’. The 20 city tour, headlined international speaker Shaykh Riad Ourzazzi (Al Maghrib Institute) followed by spoken word artist Faisal Salah and Qari Shaykh Muhammad Ayyub, aimed to inspire audiences around the UK to make the most of Ramadan. The tour helped to raise vital funds to build a much needed orphanage Syria and help support vulnerable orphans around the world through our Rainbow Family programme.
sponsorship programme ‘Rainbow Family’, which helps to tackle child poverty by helping children, realise their aspirations and providing them with an education and the basic necessities to live and succeed. This particular speaker tour has also allowed our own young volunteers to develop themselves as they got involved in organising their own events around the country. The Muslim Aid volunteer committee, a dedicated group of volunteers, worked for months on end to pull off the highest grossing event of the tour raising almost £190,000 in donations and pledges in just one night! Altogether the tour raised over £870,000 in donations and pledges, enough to support hundreds of orphans in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. Over the next year we will be helping our supporters to fulfil their pledges through their own community, events and challenges.
In the most blessed time of the Islamic Calendar, the Shaykh spoke about simple steps we can all take to attain Jannah in our daily lives; from remembering Allah often (dhikr), curing diseases of the heart through charity (sadaqa) and reviving the sunnah of supporting an orphan. He narrated that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “I will be like this in Jannah with the person who takes care of an orphan” and then raised his forefinger and middle finger by way of illustration [Bukhari].
Get involved and get in touch on volunteers@muslimaid.org
From this, audiences were inspired to give in charity to help support two of Muslim Aid’s overseas projects. The first was to help build an orphanage inside Syria for those who have lost their parents due to the ongoing conflict. This is following the outstanding success of the first Beity Orphanage built on the Turkish border, which now houses 75 orphans providing them with education, healthcare and helping to integrate back into society. The second was Muslim Aid’s child [ Guests enjoying the tour ]
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Muslim Aid News: UK Update
MA Sweden Holds Networking Event Muslim Aid Sweden organised an event on 20th May 2015 in Sweden, to network with local and international NGO’s and also community heads to introduce the recently established Muslim Aid Sweden office and discuss ways to work together. The event was attended by representatives from Forum Syd, Ikea Foundation, Oxfam Sweden, Nepal Association of Sweden, Médecins Sans Frontières, Al Maghrib Institute and Mosque community leaders amongst other guests. Muslim Aid’s CEO, Hamid Azad, also attended the event and gave a presentation of the organisations success since establishing itself as an international charity in 1985 along with details on expansion into the nordic countries starting with Sweden.
[ From left to right; Sophie Anderson, Head of Programmes, Forum SYD with Hamid Azad CEO, Muslim Aid and Salman Mujtabah, MA Manager - Corporate and Emerging Markets ]
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Sweden Funds Projects In Somalia & Myanmar Stockholm’s second largest development funding institution, Forum Syd, has approved Muslim Aid Sweden a grant of £8,000 to evaluate and develop a concise development program in Somalia. This will be used to support educational projects for children or livelihood programmes for single mothers depending on completing a needs assessment report. Another local organisation, the Solidarity Centre, which is an inter-faith NGO, has given Muslim Aid £8,000 to carry out food distribution in conflict affected Myanmar. Since the office established in 2014, Muslim Aid Sweden has raised in excess of £120,000 for various development programmes, including Ramadan projects.
[ Muslim Aid Sweden funds a Soup Kitchen, Stockholm ]
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Muslim Aid News: UK Update
Spotlight On
Sara Morad
In this issue, we talk to Information and Public Affairs Officer, Sara Morad, about her love for writing and plans to become a best selling novelist. Tell us a bit about yourself? I studied International Relations at university. I started off wanting to be a doctor or pharmacist but I decided to stick to my passion for writing. I went on to intern at other NGOs and ended up at Muslim Aid, initially in the fundraising department, then on to the child sponsorship department and now the information and public affairs department, in which I have been for three years. I couldn’t think of a better fit for me and I really love my job. I was always so confused about what I wanted to do in life but everything just fell into place. What has been your most memorable moment at Muslim Aid? I vividly remember being part of the team that created the annual review each year since working here. It is a painstaking task which requires a lot of skill and patience, but once you finally have all the information you require and you begin writing about all the amazing work Muslim Aid has done around the world over the year, it really is a pleasure. What do you like about working at Muslim Aid? Everything I do has to have a purpose and I could not work knowing that what I was doing was of no real benefit to people who needed it. The world is already plagued with injustice and I think its our duty to try and tackle it through every facet of our lives. I don’t feel like
[ Sara loves working for Muslim Aid ] I’m in a workplace, I feel like I’m at home with family. A big, eccentric, fun and caring family that come together to go great things. Tell us something we don’t know about you already? I am planning to write my own novel! Since I was a child I have loved to read anything I can get my hands on and write short stories. Hopefully I want to get my novel published and have started writing it. What do you enjoy doing outside of work? Wherever I can I get involved with campaigning on issues such as human rights and social justice. From a very young age I was very aware of injustice and took a keen interest in what’s happening around the world. This, coupled with my religious beliefs, spurred my interest in campaigning.
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Eid With The City Of London Muslim Association [ Mohammad Walayat Khokhar MBE with VIPs from the Metropolitan Police and the MoD ] Muslim Aid were honoured guests at the annual London Metropolitan Eid dinner held at the prestigious Guild Hall , London last August. Community Liaison Officer, MBE, Mohammed Walayat Khokhar attended the event and said: “It was a great privilege to be a guest. It’s wonderful to see London’s community get together as part of inter-faith building to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid. This shows the great diversity of London as a multi-cultural and multi-faith city coming together in unity and peace.”
Iftar For Muslim Prisoners As many of us shared Ramadan with our friends and families, there are many who spend the month of observance in isolation and away from family. Amongst those are the UK’s Muslim prisoners, who currently account for roughly 14% of the entire prison population.
Muslim Aid staff joined the inmates in cooking chicken and lamb biryani for over a thousand prisoners, using ingredients that were purchased with your generous donations. Muslim Aid’s Prisoner Rehabilitation Project also reached out to inmates across the country by providing Ramadan packs containing essentials like prayer mats, dates, miswaks, prayer books, clothing and other items.
As part of Muslim Aid’s UK Prisoner Rehabilitation Project, your donations provided fresh, warm iftar meals for some of those who are currently serving time. Visiting HMP Wormwood Scrubs in West London,
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Muslim Aid News: UK Update
Russell Brand Joins Muslim Aid Iftar For Homeless This Ramadan, comedian and activist Russell Brand joined Muslim Aid’s staff and volunteers in sharing an iftar meal with the residents of Booth House, Whitechapel. As a safe house for rough sleepers, Booth House is a place where many find shelter and support to help get back on their feet. Coinciding with the celebrations of the Salvation Army’s 150th anniversary, the iftar was part of Muslim Aid’s annual Feed the Fasting Programme. As a joyous gathering of people from different backgrounds and walks of life, the sharing of food during the holy month of Ramadan marked a re-kindling of community spirit
and togetherness that is often forgotten. “This event is a great example of communities coming together to help each other, and it shows the generosity of the Muslim community and charities like Muslim Aid”, said Russell Brand. Muslim Aid’s Feed the Fasting campaign takes place every Ramadan, which is the month of fasting. During this time, Muslim Aid provides parcels containing a month’s supply of food for people in over 40 countries around the world. Last year, 227,000 people received parcels containing vital food supplies such as rice, pasta, tins and biscuits.
[ Russel Brand joins Muslim Aid at Booth House, London ]
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“They ask you (O Muhammad) what they should spend in charity. Say: ‘Whatever you spend with a good heart, give it to parents, relatives, orphans, the helpless, and travellers in need. Whatever good you do, God is aware of it.’” The Holy Qur’an, 2:215
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Muslim Aid News: UK Update
Muslim Aid delivers iftar for fasters at 17 Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem
Since 2008 Muslim Aid has built 6,135 wells in Asia and Africa providing communities with clean safe water.
Muslim Aid America To Raise Funds For Dig A Well The Muslim student association of the University of Central Florida (UCF) will raise funds for Muslim Aid’s Dig A well programme at its annual fastathon. The Dig A Well programme builds wells for communities that do not have access to clean safe water. The annual fastathon which will take place in October this year, will bring students of all faiths, who have made a pledge
to fast. For every pledge, sponsors will donate towards the Dig A Well Programme. More than 500 students will participate by fasting, while donating their lunch money. Muslim Aid America is planning to work with other universities across the USA to host similar fundraising activities.
Reflections On Child Sponsorship Kashmir, India The Rainbow Family Child Sponsorship Programme supports over 5,000 orphans and children from destitute families from three continents and is one of Muslim Aid’s most successful programmes. Our Rainbow Family Programme Assistant, Minara Wahid, recently visited Kashmir, India and shares her experience. What was the purpose of your visit? To see how the programme is implemented, how well the project is run in this area and assess whether there are any further needs. How is the programme implemented in India ? We have two partners in India – there is one in Srinagar, Kashmir, that has 96 children supported by Muslim Aid. The other partner is in Kerala.
[ Minara with a child and her mother from Rainbow Family ]
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Muslim Aid News: Overseas Update
Muslim Aid America Supports Syria’s Youth Muslim Aid was invited to a special workshop in August to deliberate on projects to assist young Syrian refugees who are unable to attend school. It is estimated that more than five million Syrian refugees are unable to attend school for a host of reasons. This special group of more than 20 NGOs met in Washington D.C. for an entire day to discuss a strategy and projects than can be implemented in the short-term.
Tell us about the programme in Kashmir? The majority of the children are based around Srinagar, where the partner’s office is. I managed to speak to many of the children on a one to one basis. Education is key for them; many of them prefer school over food! In the UK, primary and secondary education is free and it is often something we take for granted knowing that we do not have to struggle for it. The Rainbow Family helps children pay for school fees, books, stationary, uniform, bus fare and any remaining expenses go towards household groceries. The parents of sponsored children no longer feel as if they have a bleak future, they have hope in the support they receive. The programme not only supports a child, but the entire family too.
education. Children from this area want to help their community and aspire to be model citizens. Do you have any concerns regarding the programme in Kashmir? Kashmir is prone to conflict and protests, it does not affect beneficiaries directly but can be disruptive in their daily activities. Srinagar is a very accessible area, everything is close to each other. Any curfews that are placed every 4-5 months do not prevent children from attending school. As the programme is small, it helps local children and they can all be visited over 2-3 days. What can donors do to help? Basic needs such as water and sanitation, healthcare and medicine are not very accessible in this area. As donors, we should do more research about Kashmir to see what is lacking, and try to sponsor more children there.
Many children have no father and if their mother remarries, the children go to live with relatives. In some cases the stepfather does support them; however the Rainbow Family programme is always there to provide overall support. The programme is a huge stepping stone for many children towards further and higher
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Muslim Aid News: Overseas Update
This year, our Rainbow Family Programme Officer, Akik Noor, went to Sri lanka to see how the child sponsorship programme is doing and to meet some of the children who are supported by Muslim Aid. He shares his thoughts about his visit.
I was pleased to see that the team incorporate the beneficiaries in other projects such as livelihood and income generation. Any memorable moments you would like to share about some of the kids? There was a moment when I met Azhar. This child has been sponsored for 2-3 years. His donor is very committed and often corresponds with him. I was amazed to see how much Azhar cherishes the letters; he keeps all the letters in a small suit case. His face beamed with happiness when I asked about his donor. Azhar is a gifted student, he achieved the best exam grades in his age group within the whole district. Prior to the sponsorship the family were unable to send Azhar to additional tuition classes.
What was the purpose of your visit? The purpose of my visit was to monitor the Rainbow Family Sponsorship on the ground. It was an excellent opportunity to meet the team especially my colleagues and the kids. We have many tools to remotely monitor the project but field visits are very effective. Tell us a little about the RF programme in Sri Lanka. How many children are sponsored here? We have over 300 children directly sponsored, many of the family members also benefit from the support. The project has been ongoing since 2007 and we are steadily expanding. Sri Lanka is a country in recovery following the civil war from 1983-2009. Also the Indian Ocean earthquake and Tsunami had a devastating effect on the country. Many families are poor and there have been many children left orphaned from constant natural disasters and civil conflict.
Do you have a message for our donors who are considering sponsoring a child in Sri lanka? You must do it! I’ve visited other countries but Sri Lanka stands out in terms of how much the children value education. This complements the Rainbow Family ethos of educating beneficiaries out of the poverty cycle.
What were your immediate thoughts about their needs and concerns? Poverty levels are very high, especially in rural areas where most of our beneficiaries are located. A majority live in basic houses made of tin or in some cases mud,
[ Akik with a Rainbow Family child, Sri Lanka ]
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Gender Equality
“The experience of the Grameen Bank is a microcosm of what can happen globally if we put women at the centre of our economic and social activity.” Muhammed Yunus, Founder of the Grameen Bank & Nobel Prize Peace Laureate. In this issue we talk about the role of women in development. Throughout the world, women represent a substantial, underutilised force for sustainable development. In Asia, for example, women are responsible for 50% of agricultural output, while nearly 80% of agricultural labour in the Africa market is female. Unfortunately, many of these women lack access to the necessary financial and agricultural resources which, according to the World Bank Studies, if freely accessible, could decrease global hunger by 12-17%
cent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, varying considerably across regions from 20 per cent or less in Latin America to 50 per cent or more in parts of Asia and Africa. Despite the regional and sub-regional variation, women make an essential contribution to agriculture across the developing world. Yet Women farmers control less land than do men, and also have limited access to inputs, seeds, credits, and extension services. Less than 20 per cent of landholders are women. What are Muslim Aid doing to ensure gender equality is part of its programmes? Nearly 98% of all microfinance loans are given to women in Bangladesh and in other countries. This ensures women are economically empowered to earn an income. There have been thousands of Muslim Aid success stories where woman have been given loans and have started a business. They are then able to earn an income to feed the family and send their kids to school.
Why is gender equality important for development? Women are an integral part of the peace process and economic development in post conflict and developing nations. When women work, economies grow. Increasing women and girl’s education contributes to higher economic growth. Statistics from UN Women show that when girls and women are educated, 50 per cent of economic growth can be accredited to this. What are the concerning issues? Women and girls in the developing world have less access to education, healthcare, and formal financial institutions and saving mechanism. While 55 per cent of men report having an account at a formal financial institution, only 47 per cent of women do worldwide. This gap is largest among lower middle-income economies as well as in South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (www.unwomen.org).
Muslim Aid also provides programmes for women in skills training in areas such as tailoring and sewing, agricultural production, business management and accountancy and even bee keeping to name a few. Muslim’s Aid formal and informal education ensures that girls get the chance to go to school and its maternal health care programmes delivers pre-natal and antenatal healthcare to women in rural areas with no access to clinics and hospitals. This ensures that women have access to basic healthcare which in many cases, can be life saving.
Gender inequalities is still persistent in all countries. When paid and unpaid work are combined, women in developing countries work more than men, with less time for education, leisure, political participation and self-care.Women comprise an average of 43 per
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Muslim Aid News: Overseas Update
[ Rahima, a widow, learns to sew through MA’s Livelihood Programme, Bangladesh. ]
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[ Thabrez with Kainat and her sisters who are attending school ]
Hope For Pakistan’s Street Kids
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Muslim Aid News: Overseas Update Muslim Aid’s Street to School project in Pakistan began in 2013. Since then, hundreds of street kids have had the opppotunity to get back into the classroom. Sadly over one million children in Paksitan live and/or work on the streets. Some are forced into prostitution and many are used for child labour. Families are too poor to send their child to school and quite often children have to work on the streets to help support the family. On average, a child can expect to make 100 rupees a day. That’s the equivalent of 60 pence. The abysmal reality of their poverty trap means they are denied a childhood and the right to an education. Many are subjected to unimaginable hardships and encounter violence and substance abuse as a daily way of life. The Street to School project allows children to go to school and gives them the opportunity to make a head start in life. In June this year our fundraising officer, Thabrez Khan, went to Pakistan to make a short film about the project. He vividly remembers the story of nine year old Kainat and her siblings who all work as maids. She grew up too fast and in miserable circumstances; her father is a drug addict and used to beat her mother. Kainat used to work as a rubbish collector first and then as a maid to supplement the families income: “It’s really hard, I don’t like working as a maid, I get pushed around by the families I work for.” Said a despondent Kainat. Having been on the Street to School project for over a year, she smiled with glee when she talked about school. “It’s the only time her face lit up with joy when she spoke about her life. She loves school as it gives her hope and a promise of a better future. She wants to be a doctor,” Thabrez explained. He added further: “The week before I arrived, they had been kicked out of their home as they could not afford the rent. They literally went from door to door in neighbouring villages asking for a room for the five of them to be housed in.” Thankfully Kainat and her sisters now go to school after work. The project supports kids with meals, school uniforms, books, stationary and bags. They even have monthly health checks done by a local health practitioner. Kainat’s story is tragic but not isolated. Over a million children are in the same predicament. There have been many success stories from this project. One child who used to work on the streets, went to school and later became a pharmacist. He can now support his entire family. “The biggest lesson I learnt from these kids is that opportunity and choice is something we take for granted here in the UK. The kids aren’t asking for much but to be given a chance to a better life. Basic education, and someone to show them a helpful hand to get them out of their misery”. You can watch the video on our YouTube channel: https://goo.gl/bmjgoz
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Our Draw a Smile project in Gaza left a lasting impression for over 1,620 people affected by the recent war. The project provided Eid gift vouchers for children from 270 homes in Gaza. The vouchers allowed parents to buy clothes and toys for their children for the Eid festivites. Last Ramadan Muslim Aid raised over ÂŁ38,000 for the Eid Gift project and gave gifts to children all over the world. You can watch a short video on our distribution: https://goo.gl/aR9fnG
[ Kids from Gaza receive Eid gifts ]
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Muslim Aid News: Overseas Update
Mushroom Cultivation In Indonesia
[ Indonesian women cultivate mushrooms for an incom ] Muslim Aid’s mushroom cultivation in Indonesia is helping up to 1,000 individuals and their families improve their lives through economic empowerment. Around three thousand families are living below the poverty line in West Sumatera and West Tenggara and come from agricultural backgrounds. Sadly, the effects of constant flooding, landslides and drought in the
area has had a negative impact effect on agricultural production and land. Muslim Aid delivered mushroom cultivation training and business skills and management for participants of the programme. The mushrooms will be sold in the local market and manufacturers of mushroom products enabling families to earn a living on in order to become economically self-relient.
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FREEDOM TO A FUTURE Muslim Aid firmly believes that education is a crucial tool in fighting poverty and endeavours to provide formal and non-formal education to women and children in some of the world’s poorest countries, preparing them for a better future. Our education programmes range from pre-school initiatives to adult and vocational training.
Donate Now 020 7377 4200 muslimaid.org
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Mission Muslim Aid’s mission, guided by the teachings of Islam, endeavours to tackle poverty and its causes by developing innovative and sustainable solutions that enable individuals and their communities to live with dignity and by supporting initiatives that promote economic and social justice. Vision: The alleviation of poverty, education for all, and the provision of basic amenities for those in need to create a world where charity and compassion produce justice, self reliance and human development.
Volunteer We are always looking for dedicated volunteers. If you would like to contribute and help out at Muslim Aid please contact the Volunteer Department at volunteer@muslimaid.org
Comments We would love to hear your feedback. Please send any comments about our magazine to amina@muslimaid.org
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[ Cover Photo: Abdul Razak arrived at Beity, after fleeing Syria with his mother and three siblings. At Beity, he now has a place he calls home. ]
HQ Office Tel: 020 7377 4200 - Web: muslimaid.org PO Box 3, London, E1 1WP Birmingham Office Tel: 0121 771 3372 541 Coventry Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, B10 0LL Manchester Office Tel: 0161 861 0782 557A Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton, Manchester, M21 8AN Charity Reg No: 295224
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