Voice of The Cape exclusive interview

Voice of The Cape held an exclusive interview with Muallimah Sa’uda about The Colours of Hope campaign and the Syria Stationery Drive. The interview was presented by Gouwa Solomon today at 10:30am.

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THE COLOURS OF HOPE campaign aims at providing Syrian children with not only stationery but loads of hope, smiles and courage! With the ongoing war in Syria, 1 in every 5 schools is either damaged or sheltering the displaced.

As we already know, for more than two years, Syria has been engulfed in an escalating civil war which increasingly threatens to spill over into a larger regional crisis. According to Unicef, the number of people affected has soared with more than 6.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and over 93,000 people have been killed.

Over 1.8 million people, including a million children have sought refuge in the surrounding countries of Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt – with the numbers of those leaving Syria projected to reach 3.45 million by the end of 2013.

According to Unicef, one in every five schools in Syria is either damaged or sheltering the internally displaced, impacting hundreds of thousands of children whose schooling has been disrupted, or even halted. While we encourage our children to a better education, thousands of Syrian children’s schooling has been halted. Playing with friends and simple things such as a set of paints or a colouring book have become a rare commodity.

A UNESCO report, released in July of this year, underscored the impact of ongoing conflicts in the region on education. Half of the world’s out-of-school children- 28.5 million primary school-age children live in conflict-affected countries. Of these 28.5 million school-age children, 4 million live in the Arab States.

An entire generation in Syria will grow up illiterate as a consequence of its bitter civil war, in which both sides have committed atrocities against children. Leila Zerrougui, UN special representative for children and armed conflict warns. “[We] will have to face a generation of children who lost their childhood, have a lot of hate and are illiterate.”

WHAT IS THE SYRIA STATIONERY DRIVE?
The Colours of Hope Organisation (a Madrasah Ummul Hasanaat Initiative) in association with Gift of the Givers, the largest disaster response NGO of African origin on the African continent, has taken the initiative to launch a stationery campaign for the Syrian children (refugees), called the “Syria Stationery Drive”.

Visit these links to keep yourself abreast of whats happening…

http://www.ummulhasanaat.co.za/education-crisis-in-syria and

http://www.ummulhasanaat.co.za/no-school-for-many-syrian-children

https://www.facebook.com/ummulhasanaat

OUR AIM
With only a few teaching props, such as crayons and markers, it’s no easy task for the few who are able to teach Syrian refugee children. With your help, we would like to equip as many Syrian school-aged children as we can with education supplies/ stationery. Help us to collect education aids/ stationery in as many places as we can. Let us open our hearts .. colour smiles on the faces of these children and paint a brighter future for them. It might seem an intangible task but with du‘ā; hope; effort; and most importantly, the help of Allah- the endless possibilities may become realities!

The following items are needed:

*Retractable Wax Crayons
*Felt tip pens
*Colouring pencils
*Pencils
*Erasers
*Sharpeners
*Rulers
*Scissors
*Pritt glue sticks
*Pencil cases
*Pens
*Fancy pens
*Glitter Glue
*Mini whiteboards and whiteboard markers
*Stickers
*Playdough
*Paints and paintbrushes
*Sketch books
*Feint and Margin exercise books
*Colouring books
*Simple picture books with numbers,etc.
*Clay/Plasticine
*School bags

IMPORTANT: Please donate new and unused items of good quality. These children are really in dire need of these items. Whats the use of sending pencils, only to break each time the child sharpens it, or the glitter glue is dry when opened? What a waste that would be. So please buy good quality products. After all, you are securing your reward in Aakhirah with these items. It is a sadaqah (charity) stored for you in the life Hereafter. I am certain that we all would want it to be a good investment in Aakhirah and that depends on our sincerity of intention and that what we are giving is of good quality.
Also, we would appreciate it if the crayons, colour pencils, felt tipped pens and retractable crayons could be in packs of 12 and not loose.

Spread the word through your family, friends, neighbours, schools, Maktab Madrasahs, Masjids, Darul Ulooms, businesses, etc. If you require posters, please let us know and we will try to the best of our ability to get it to you. Download our poster from here.

Please look out for more info on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ummulhasanaat

DONATION
Any donation in the form of cash may be deposited or electronically transferred (eft) to:

Madrasah Ummul Hasanaat
Bank: First National Bank
Account TYype: Business Cheque Acc
Account Number: 62342996800
Universal Code: 250655
or Branch Code: 270324
Ref: Syria Stationery

LAUNCH AND CUT-OFF DATE
Launch date is: 22 October 2013 / 16 Dhul Hijjah 1434
Cut-off date is: 25 February 2014 / 24 Rabi’ul Aakhir (Rabi’uth-Thaany) 1435 AH

We are excited about this project and we look forward to working with you. With hard work, prayer, hope and big hearts – NOTHING is impossible!

Colours of Hope Team (Madrasah Ummul Hasanaat initiative)

Sauda Ismail – email: sauda@ummulhasanaat.co.za
Kaashifa Jamal – email: kaashifa@ummulhasanaat.co.za
Zakera Sahib – email: zakera@ummulhasanaat.co.za
Yasmin Ismail – email: yasmin.ismail@ummulhasanaat.co.za