| Oh what a day for Mali Orphans | |||
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Oh what a day! What an absolutely fantastic day. 13th September 2008, a day I shall definitely remember for many years to come. The day we raised £50, 000 for Mali Children’s Village! Easy Talk’s charity project was officially launched today via MCR. ET is raising funds for Mali Children’s Village, a project of The Development Trust. The Village will cater for the needs of orphaned children and provide services such as a housing complex, education, health clinic etc. Easy Talk has made an intention to raise £100, 000 over a year to help contribute to the constructions of some houses. So on 13th September 2008, the Mali fundraising day began.The day started off quite slow, as I sat and waited for people to phone through to the donation line. Sitting and listening to the radio, I can hear the presenters building up the momentum. I sat and eagerly waited for the ball to get rolling. Not long before we got our first phone call, and then our second, our fifth… our tenth…I had lost count. Alhamdulilah the fundraising was well on its way. Just after Zuhr salah, some sisters hit the streets of Whitechapel to do a bucket collection. Wow what an experience. Stall holders, shoppers, passer bys, from young to old, all stopped to contribute to the collection. I remember an old lady in particular. She approached us; donated generously. Turned to go back but then put her hand in her bag and donated some more. Then two minutes later, as we were walking down the street rattling our buckets, we heard a call behind us. The lady had returned to donate some more. May Allah bless her for her generosity. £12k. Just past 3pm and we had raised this amount. And this was excluding the bucket collection figure! We were still at that. Alhamdulilah things were going well. As I continued walking down the streets of Whitechapel, I had a look at the children around me. I thought about my nephews and nieces. How lucky are they? They have everything they could want and more- a family, a comfortable house, constant meals, education etc. Yet they complain! I try and imagine the most worrying thoughts they may experience, the most troubling ordeal they may be going through…and I compare this to the children of Mali. What are their thoughts, their worries? I have to be honest- at one point (after Asr time) I thought we wouldn’t do it, we wouldn’t raise our targeted amount. There are only a couple of hours left and we're on £14k. What are the possibilities of us raising £11k in the remaining few hours we have. But Alhamdulilah, as swiftly as the thought came into my head, it disappeared just as fast. It was all about making dua. Only Allah can grant us success. Making dua and hounding family and friends to donate was the way forward. And Subhanallah did it pay off. Phone lines constantly ringing, brothers and sisters donating…we were getting closer to our target. And then it happened! Frederic Kanoute! One phone call one message, and that was all it took to drive the brothers and sisters into frenzy. The aim to raise £25k was more important now than ever. For Kanoute, Seville and Mali footballer had pledged to donate €25,000 (roughly £20k) if we could raise our targeted amount of £25k. Subhanallah! I was overjoyed. What more could we want? Almost time for tarwih and we were still getting donations coming through….£200….£50…£500.. Until at 9.10pm the presenters made an announcement. Easy Talk had raised £45,000 for the Mali Village. Allahu Akbar!! We had done it! Subhanallah! What a moment. If I had thought I was ecstatic when Kanoute donated earlier, well it was nothing compared to what I felt now. The feeling was overwhelming and no words can describe the moment. It was amazing. But that was not the end. The fundraising once again picked up its momentum at 12am. It may have been midnight, the presenters may have been tired and the listeners may have wanted to hit their beds, but the spirit of wanting to raise money for Mali Children’s Village was still there. And in those two hours, Easy Talk managed to raise a further £5k. This brings our grand total to £50k - £30k from our listeners and €25k! Allahu Akbar! Alhamdulilah! WE HAD DONE IT! This charity project is a community project, and together we had raised this amount. Ecstasy, joy, happiness are some words to describe how I felt. As well as tired and wanting to go bed! The thought of helping to raise funds for the orphaned children of Mali is rewarding. We are helping to provide shelter, security and comfort to these poor children. Something that some of us take for granted. Of course this is just the start – so far (excluding Br Kanoute’s contribution) we have raised £32,000, only another £68,000 to go! The Prophet (peace be upon him) has said, ‘I and the guardian of orphans are like this.’ He raised his forefinger and middle finger to illustrate the closeness (Bukhari & Muslim). _________ To comment please click here http://www.easy-talk.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=5111
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 17 September 2008 15:17 ) |
