Lancashire volunteers share Palestine ‘mercy mission’ update

Volunteers from Blackburn who travelled to Palestine to distribute £139,200 hosted a special event to detail how the money was spent.

The Blackburn Community Association (BCA) collected the money on the streets of the town and also hosted a number of charity events last year.

At the Grand Venue over the weekend, volunteers spoke about how the funds were distributed and thanked all those donated, no matter how big or small.

The BCA team included Mayor Hussain Akhtar, Rizwan Asghar, Adnan Hussain, Babar Afzal, Anis Bhad, Ifraz Khan and Cllr Mahfooz Hussain.

A small group from the team headed out to Palestine and Jordan in January to help distribute the funds.

The money went to food packs, an orphanage and towards a hospital.

Cllr Tasleem Fazal who introduced the evening said: “Today was about showing how the money was spent and to thank everyone who donated towards the cause. The cause was to support brothers and sisters, regardless of religion, in the West Bank and refugee camps of Jordan.

The total that was raised was £139,200. All those who travelled there did so at their own expense. The whole of the £139,200 was donated by the people of Blackburn and that reached the purpose it was donated towards.”

Speaking on the day Rizwan Akhtar said: “Our journey began last August. We wanted to do something positive.

At the time people were shouting Palestine, but in reality not a lot was being done. We decided to do a charity walk.

We decided that we would speak to the businesses of Blackburn and ask for sponsorship. We also decided to hold three charity events. We also decided to do a bucket collection on Whalley Range.”

Razaq Hussain, known as Raz KFS to many, presented a breakdown of where the money had been spent.

He said: “We managed to do a distribution in Jordan, the West Bank and we managed to visit a hospital in Palestine. We also visited an orphanage. On our return to the UK, we were confident that the team over there was a reliable and hard-working and trustworthy team.”

We want to thank all those who donated toward the cause. We want to make a special thank you to Madina Masjid, Raza Masjid, Jamea Hasmi, the Ghosiya Masjid on Chester Street for their help.

And to all those who stood with us every Saturday.”

There was also thanks to SDP Media.

While the donations were made inside Palestine, volunteers said they were keen to support refugees who had been forced to leave their homes in neighbouring states.

Cllr Mahfooz Hussain said: “This is not the end – what I do want to say is that we want to continue in this work. A lot of our youngsters are collecting for the people of Palestine and it is our duty to support them.

I think it is very important that we do not forget our sisters who got involved. It was a team effort and people of all ages were involved in collecting this amount.

We should all continue to work together in Blackburn. Regardless of the cause may that be for Gaza or other much-needed causes.”