RELIEF REPORT - ALI ASGHAR WATER APPEAL 1430
09 March 2009 06:53
“And inform them that the water is shared between them, every share of the water shall be regulated.” (54:28)
Water is one of the most basic human rights, recognised by the majority of this Earth’s nations. And yet it is a resource that falsely appears to be dwindling in many parts of the world, a resource that is at the basis of many wars –both civil and national, and a resource that the lack of which is the cause of death of 1.8million children every year.
And we? We are Muslims. We are a people who grieve the heinous deprivation of water from the holiest of people on this Earth. We are a people who answer the call of our Imam Hussein (as) on that day in Karbala, that we will heed his message and defend the principles of the religion of his grandfather that he died for.
Water is a blessing of Allah (swt) and it is our duty as simple men and Muslims to ensure it is shared amongst all the creations of Allah (swt).
It is on that basis that we as Stanmore Jaffery’s undertook the Ali Asghar Water Appeal (AAWA) this Ashre Zainabiya 1430 at our Hujjat Stanmore Jamaat. AAWA, an initiative of the World Federation in partnership with the Council of European Jamaats, aims to provide clean water and adequate sanitation facilities to our brothers and sisters in India, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. It aims to do this through 5 key strategies:
1. Building wells & water pumps,
2. Setting up water tanks,
3. Water Testing to ensure water safety,
4. Providing chlorine tablets and
5. Installing latrines and other sanitation services.
We strove with this appeal through a series of initiatives and schemes to help our community, and those of our fellow communities around the world, to not only fundraise for this cause but also help us to build awareness of the importance of Water Conservation and Asraaf, the plight of our brothers and sisters across the world, and recognition and thanksgiving or the blessing we have received from Allah (swt) for our ease of access to clean and safe water.
We accomplished this through the following:
- The CoEJ Madressa Students Ali Asghar Water Bottle Scheme
On behalf of CoEJ, we provided the students of Hujjat Saturday Workshop and Shia Ithna’asherie Madressa with a yellow water bottle each to collect donations for the scheme. This scheme was highly successful in encouraging the younger youth in our Jamaat to take an active role in this appeal. There was barely a day in the mosque were you did not see youth carrying their water bottles.
- The creation of Video Appeals
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14jYarAXnXo
For the CoEJ Madressa Students Ali Asghar Water Bottle Scheme, some youth in our community produced the above video appeal. This appeal has been used across Europe by many other Jamaats.
- Stanmore Jaffery’s One-Day Sponsored Water Fast
We organised and initiated a One-Day Sponsored Water Fast amongst the older youth in the committee for a number of reasons: to encourage greater participation in the appeal from the community, to raise greater funds and more importantly to develop our ability to empathise with the suffering of our brothers and sisters around the world. This scheme was taken up by many youth in the committee, and was highly successful in motivating our youth and building their capacity to recognise and respect the blessing of water from Allah (swt).
- Method Sheets on Easy Water Conservation
o http://www.jafferys.org/ViewNewsItem.aspx?NewsItemID=449
We produced the above sheet as part of the awareness side of the appeal. It gives short easy ways in which we can prevent the useless asraaf of water we might make.
- Speeches on the Plight of our Brothers and Sisters around the World
o http://www.jafferys.org/ViewNewsItem.aspx?NewsItemID=448
We also gave speeches within the community to develop an understanding of the plight of our brothers and sisters without water and to raise awareness of the AAWA.
Our community in Stanmore, and all praise is to Allah (swt), came together in strength to fundraise and build awareness for this appeal. Together we raised an amazingly substantial amount of money for the appeal in our attempt to recognise and help our brothers and sisters around the world.
All praise is to the Almighty, and InshAllah He will accept our efforts to please and serve Him.
Further information on Stanmore Jaffery’s AAWA fund-raising:
AAWA 2009: Stanmore Jaffery’s hold one-day water fast to fundraise – London, UK
http://www.world-federation.org/Relief+and+Economic+Development/Articles/AAWA_2009_Stanmore_Jaffery%E2%80%99s_hold_one_day_water_fast_to_fundraise_London_UK.htm
AAWA 2009: Stanmore Jaffery’s share ways to conserve water – London, UK
http://www.world-federation.org/Relief+and+Economic+Development/Articles/AAWA_2009_Stanmore_Jaffery%E2%80%99s_share_ways_to_conserve_water_London_UK.htm
