London: A campaign started by kids in the British capital of London to raise money while fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan has come to an end, organisers said, raising £34,000 ($42,000).
The three-year-old Ramadan Kids initiative chose this year to raise money for the orphans and kids affected by the devastating Turkiye-Syria earthquakes that occurred in February and left more than 59,000 people dead.
Zaavier Khan recently told Arab News that "this year we (did) a sale where all the restaurants that we've cooked with for the past two years are sponsoring us and giving us food to sell for charity."
In order to raise $5,000 for food parcels for the UK-based charity Human Appeal and raise awareness of food poverty in the UK, the 12-year-old started the campaign on his own in east London in 2021. The following year, he was joined by a 15-person squad to help raise funds for the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on children's mental health.
In order to raise money, Khan said, "we went to various restaurants while fasting and cooking. We also had trips and workshops for the kids, which gave them a good time."
Muhammad Zidane, age 9, stated that this was his second time taking part in the Ramadan Kids campaign and that he was eager to assist the children and families in need in Turkey and Syria.
"People gave money, and we sold all the sweets, khujools (dates), and everything, so I think I made a lot of money. They've all left, so," Zidane said.
Aiza Khoda, 8, who was participating in the campaign for the first time, claimed that because her family was actively involved in charitable work, she was not new to it.
"I feel really happy that I'm a part of it because I saw that when we send the money to the orphanages, I think they'll feel really happy because they're going to get food and nice things to do," she said.
Khoda continued, "Some kids have lost their parents, some have lost their entire family, and some don't even have anyone to turn to."
She expressed her desire for more kids to participate in the initiative so they can raise more money for their plans for the following year.
The oldest participant, 12-year-old Zahra Patel, said the situation in Syria and Turkey was "quite sad" and it felt good to raise money to help them. She was also participating for the second year.
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"I'd like for it to be a more famous thing," she continued. "I'd like for more people to know about it, for more kids to get involved in helping in the charity, and I'd like for it to be a more famous thing."
For those who lost their parents, grandparents, and siblings, Alayna, Khan's younger sister, said she enjoyed selling food, sweets, cakes, and hamburgers.
"My brother started this Ramadan campaign when I was like four, and when my mum first took me to (do) charity, I was so surprised because I thought she could never do this much work," the 6-year-old recalled. "But then she allowed me to participate as well, and I began to get used to it."
The campaign collaborated with Help Yateem, a non-profit international group devoted to aiding orphans, and the UK-based mental health and bereavement charity Supporting Humanity.
Imtiaz Patel, international project manager at Help Yateem, said, "We've been working with a lot of orphanages throughout the African region, but this will be an opportunity to help Supporting Humanity deliver their aid in Turkey and Syria for the kids who have been really enormously affected by the recent earthquake.
In collaboration with the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, which oversees the two orphanages, he said that this was just the beginning and that they would travel to both countries to personally deliver the aid to the two institutions.
He stated that 990 orphans who have been impacted by the Syrian war are housed in one orphanage, which is one of the biggest in the entire world.
He also commended the locals for their overwhelming outpouring of support, saying it showed "how passionate they are and what the orphans actually mean to us."
Idris Patel, the CEO of Supporting Humanity, stated that they are examining how the earthquakes have affected children and orphans in both a mental and physical sense through this project.
Idris, who is also Khoda's uncle, said: "It is unbelievable because we will be able to work with them on mental health issues, could even be clothing or anything. "But we work in a way where we can try and change their life around, understand the problems and the impacts of either the war or the earthquake or anything else," the speaker continued.
As per usual, Zaavier and Alayna's mother Tahreem Noor said the idea was kids raising money for kids, and this year they hope to impact over 2,000 kids.
According to Noor, who is also the organization's head of operations and communications, "there are so many kids out there who need to become more humanitarian, interested in what's going on in the world, and give back — something that a lot of families don't teach their children from a young age, they start teaching them a little later."
The mother of two continued, "You can see that they've become, they're forming into good charitable humans who, in the future, I can see moving on to doing great things for the world, for charity, and for humanity.
According to her, children are becoming more aware of global issues as a result of accessibility, modifications to social platforms and engagement methods, and, most importantly, their ability to access information.
Since the campaign's inception, Noor said it has "taken a different twist or turn every year. Next year, I would like to propose to larger communities to participate in Ramadan Kids in their communities to support causes.
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Ramadan Kids, she continued, "will continue forever and ever as long as we have Muslim kids who are fasting, and there's no limit to how many kids we can have or what city or country they can be based in."
