Islamic Relief has been the charity of choice for Charity Week (CW) in Scotland for many years and this year was no different. Students from all over the country from 1^st November to 7^th November undertook different ways of fundraising from bucketing on the streets, family fundraising days, doughnut sales, and charity dinners.

I was also involved, fundraising on Saturday 6^th November in the Dundee dineer which was organised entirely by students who at this time of year are also very busy with exams and university assignments; however the support they have given to charity week has been amazing. Dundee managed to raise over £6,300 in just 10 minutes.  Thank you to Dundee CW team for inviting me to this heart warming event and thank you for supporting orphans and the needy children through Islamic Relief.
 

On Sunday 7^th November I attended the final CW fundraiser dinner in Edinburgh at St Thomas of Aquin’s High School, where students from Islamic Societies of Edinburgh Napier University, University of Edinburgh and Herriot Watt University were all present.  The night included an auction, recitations from the Quran and the audience had the pleasure of listening to beautiful nasheeds by Kamal Uddin who came here from Manchester.

Charity Week raises money for orphans around the world and the money raised around the UK will be going towards Islamic Relief’s orphans projects around the world. The main focus of my eye witness account which I presented on this night was on the Pakistan flood victims where many children have lost their parents due to the disaster and are in great need of our support.

Again as I was delivering my talk I could sense the emotions of the people in the audience and the passion could be witnessed during the auction, a health competition was created by men and women who kept bidding higher and kept increasing the bids, well done everyone!

Year after year, it has been truly inspirational to see students doing so much for CW dedicate their time by taking time out from their busy schedules to organise events for this great cause.

I spoke to Ahthsham Ashraf from the Islamic Society of Edinburgh Napier University, who coordinated this event on his thoughts and feelings of the whole week and he said ‘it has been fantastic, and in fact  a part of me is going to miss charity week , it has been fantastic, and if I get the opportunity I will be doing this again next year.’  Mr Ashraf was also proud of how his team were bucketing in princess street in the rain and cold, this shows the true dedication of the students. By the end of the night the CW Edinburgh dinner raised over £8,300 which gives overall CW in Edinburgh a total of over £9,000 which I have been told by Ahthsham is more than previous years, the figure keeps increasing each year.


Thank you and congratulations all the CW volunteers, particularly those on the CW management committee thank you for choosing Islamic Relief; we recognise your efforts and support towards the charity and wish you all the best in your studies. Your donations will be going to the children who need it the most.