Two childhood friends are putting Ramadan hunger pangs aside to raise money for orphans in Iraq.
Amina Al-Ebadi,30, and Lamise Kazzaz, 23, are doing a sponsored 10km walk this Sunday (May 17) whilst fasting as part of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
All donations will go directly towards gifts for young orphans in Iraq so that they may celebrate Eid.
The friends smashed their initial target of £1,000 within 24 hours of setting up their fundraising page which has now been increased to £2,500.
Mum-of-two Amina, who lives in Honeypot Lane, Queensbury, said: “We’ll be fasting and we’ll be maintaining social distance while we’re working. We’re thinking of starting early afternoon around 1pm. We’ll walk through Fryent Country Park and head back. I’ve got an app on my phone which calculates the distance for us so if it’s not enough we’ll double up.”
Under the rules of Ramadan Muslims cannot eat between sunrise, approximately 3am and sunset, around 9pm.
“We considered doing it more towards the end of the day. We thought if we set off at 6pm at least then we can go straight into our meal when we finish but because I’ve got kids and stuff as well I have to balance it around them and I have the whole bedroom routine and all of that.”
Both volunteer for the Iraqi Welfare Association in Wembley, near to where Lamise lives, a charity which has spent the lockdown delivering fruit and vegetables to the borough’s most vulnerable residents but their chosen charity benefactors live some 4,000 miles away.
“In Iraq there are mainstream orphanages and if you put ‘orphanages in Baghdad’ into Google for example the top two or three will catch your eye and those have charities regularly supporting them,” said Amina, “Then there are orphans who are not known to the public eye. I have relatives out there who have seen first hand the slums and poor neighbourhoods, where orphans might be living with family members or friends of the family. These are the children we really want to reach. My relative will be going to purchase Eid presents and he’ll be going to deliver these to the orphans for Eid.”
To donate visit gofundme.com/f/amina039s-campaign-for-iraqi-welfare-association
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