The past weekend has been a very busy one for me. I had to present my eye-witness account of Pakistan floods and fund raise in Edinburgh and Lanark during 2 fundraising dinners. Over £115,000 were raised from the 2 events.

On Saturday evening the fundraiser dinner for the Pakistan flood victims was in Edinburgh (Royal Highland Centre). The event was organised and hosted by the community of Edinburgh. It was truly inspiring to see that local Edinburgh organisations came together and were united to raise funds for the flood victims.

I had the pleasure of listening to speeches by Kenny MacAskill Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Sarah Boyack MSP, Anas Sarwar MP, Osama Saeed ex- CEO of the Scottish Islamic Foundation, and of course the founder of Islamic Relief, Dr Hany El-Banna.

I remember Sarah Boyack saying “she does not believe in donor fatigue here in Scotland as the public have been very generous since the floods have started”. Sarah Boyack also mentioned that she believes the Scottish public will support the Pakistan flood victims for months to come. I agree with Sarah, people are still giving generously even at this difficult time here in UK.

During my eye-witness account I noticed the audience were moved by the photos and the fundraising video and felt the pain, realised the agony and scale of this disaster, the challenges flood victims are facing and will unfortunately face in the coming months during winter period. These feelings were expressed by the audience through amazing donations during fundraising and auction sessions resulting in £60,000 in the donation pot!

Islamic Relief will be using this money for their ‘early recovery activities’ such as building houses and water wells throughout Khebar Pakhtounkhawaa, North-west of Pakistan.

Thank you- the organisers, all the volunteers, the guest speakers and those who attended. Edinburgh you’ve answered the call of the flood victims!!

Lanark event blog post to follow next........