Ucare’s care recognised

Ucare Foundation was one of the nominees for the community category at the Scottish Asian Business Awards held this week in Glasgow. Their work for healthcare and in the recent floods in Pakistan was acknowledged and their contributions recognised. They have sent a special ‘thank you’ to all their donors, supporters and well wishers. To contact the charity tel: 0141 423 4242 mail@ucarefoundation.org or visit the shop at 320 Victoria Road on Glasgow’s Southside. Donations can be made by phoning 0300 111 4242.

There are still 6 million people homeless after the floods in July.  Glasgow Central Mosque and Ucare Foundation have already raised half a million pounds. This will enabled 600 homes to be built. The first 20 were up and occupied within three weeks of the funding being available in what will be known as the Glasgow Village. But more money is needed to house more people and the Mosque and Ucare charity aim to raised £1million and built 1000 homes.

Muslims celebrate Eid-al-Adha

By Amir Rashid

GLASGOW’S Muslim community were celebrating on Tuesday 23 November at the advent of Eid-al-Adha.

The ‘Festival of Sacrifice’ marks the end of Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, and commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God. 

Muslims around the world celebrate this day by imitating this and sacrificing animals, known as Qurbani, and distributing the meat among family, friends and the poor.

Many from Glasgow’s community have donated the meat to help victims of the Pakistan floods, which devastated that country recently and still leaves millions of people homeless.

‘This is a great day for Muslims in Glasgow and around the world,’ said Dr Mohammed Kausar, the general secretary of Glasgow Central Mosque. ‘It is an obligation on every adult as long as they can afford to, to sacrifice an animal and distribute the meat in three parts. One part is for family, another for friends and neighbours and one third for poor people.’

‘It is great to involve our friends who are non-Muslim as well and those from the wider Glasgow community when we have our individual parties. The day is really about simplicity, coming for the prayer in the morning and giving thanks. Aside from the Qurbani, there are no other requirements.’ He said.

In Glasgow’s Southside, youngsters from the Muslim community gather on the streets to celebrate with friends.

Adnan Ullah, 26, from Newlands, thinks the day can help bring communities closer together.

‘I held a party for a lot of my mates who come from different backgrounds and it was great to see everyone getting along and having a good time. There were a lot of dishes because everyone brought something that they had prepared themselves,’ he said.

‘Getting together like this can only help make our community stronger and break down barriers.’

Eid-Al-Adha is traditionally celebrated over three days unlike Eid-ul-Fitr, which is only one day and comes at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Isa’s Shawl

An intricate hand-knitted shawl from an 87- year-old Gorbals lady will be used to keep an infant survivor of the floods, alive and warm in the encroaching winter in North West Pakistan.
Islamic Relief’s Habib Malik collected the shawl from pensioner Isa Barr on Monday 4 and said he, personally, will take it to a child in Pakistan.
Isa, who began the Gorbalites Club for the elderly 10 years ago, had donated the shawl to a local jumble sale organised by Anna Malone. The jumble raised over £1500 but Anna thought the quality of Isa’s knitting set the shawl apart for a special mission.
Habib Malik is head of Islamic Relief Scotland, a charity that sends emergency aid teams to disaster areas worldwide. He has already been to Pakistan twice since the floods and will go again in two weeks, taking Isa’s shawl with him.
Habib said: ‘Someone like Isa is making a massive contribution because she is giving from her heart and feels the pain of others. The people who receive her shawl will thank her.’
Isa herself is happy to be able to help. She said: ‘The shawl looks like a spider’s web. It’s great that it’s going to a needy child. If it keeps a baby warm, then I am glad.’
Anna, a humanitarian worker who has spent time in Bosnia and Romania, believes Isa typifies the giving spirit of the Gorbals. Said Anna: ‘The people of the Gorbals brought an incredible array of stuff for us to sell. Three local newsagents raised over £1000 for Pakistan through collecting cans on their counters. And, through another local Gorbals person, bank Santander has agreed to match the total amount raised by both efforts making the final donation to Islamic Relief £5000. This was a great effort.’
Said Habib:’There are no words to describe the suffering. This began as a natural disaster but has become a man-made disaster because the world is watching and not responding. However, the Scottish community as a whole has understood the scale of the disaster. Of the £10 million given to Islamic Relief in the UK, £1 million came from Scotland’
As well as the white shawl, Isa also donated a box full of hand knitted children’s cardigans. She plans to keep on knitting for the children of Pakistan. Follow the ongoing relief operation on website: www.islamic-relief.org.uk/Pakistan_Floods.aspx or contact Habib personally: www.habibmalik.com/

Hit for Six

The cricketers who batted for the survivors of the floods in Pakistan have now raised £9197.44 and still hope to reach their target of £10,000. Said Raza Sadiq, Chairperson of the Active Life Club which helped organise the Super Sixes event: ‘This was a collective efforts to help the most needy and to show that Glasgow cricketing community and local individuals and businesses are united to support such a noble cause.’

The cricketers have teamed up with the UCare Foundation which is building 600 houses in five affected areas. The funds raised from the Super Sixes will go towards building two primary schools. One will be in Charsada where an Edinburgh Village of 100 houses is being created by Ucare. The second school will be in Muzaffarragarh where Ucare is building 200 houses to be named the Glasgow Village.

Added Raza: ‘This is a great effort. We are part of the bigger picture. By showing solidarity and having 100 sponsors we are helping to create schools which will provide education for coming generations.’

He invites anyone with further ideas for support or who wishes to donate to contact him at Active Life which empowers young people through sports. tel: 07791896634 website: www.activelifeclub.org

From an earlier report by Elyas Hussain

The Super Sixes fund raiser was held at Clydesdale Cricket Club and was organised by Active Life Club, Hamilton Cricket Club and Clydesdale Cricket Club.

Around 700 people attended to watch the 16 West of Scotland teams of six players, aged from 12 to 60 battle it out among them.

The winning team was Clydesdale which beat Drumpellier 88 runs to 57.

The Active Life Club’s own team was knocked out in the semi-finals.

Trophies and medals to all participants were presented by MSP Nicola Sturgeon who is Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing assisted by Mohammed Razaq, Glasgow City Councillor for Maryhill/Kelvin.

Individual awards were: Best Bowler, Mohammed Ali Clydesdale CC. Best Batsmen, Mohammed Kamran, Queenspark CC. Player of the Tournament, Omar Hussain Clydesdale CC.

The funds raised by the day will go towards two primary schools which will be called Active Life Club Primary Schools and built in two of the areas where Ucare Foundation are building houses.

Harminderjit Singh, captain of Clydesdale CC said: ‘It feels really brilliant to have reached the finals and to win. We are really delighted. The money raised for the victims of the floods in Pakistan has made it worthwhile.’

Nicola Sturgeon told the LOCAL NEWS: ‘I am honoured to be here on this very important day to support the cricketers in raising money for the people affected by the floods in Pakistan. They have done a wonderful job and raised a fantastic amount. Hopefully, this will help ease the pain and suffering of the victims.’

Raza Sadiq, founder and Chairman of Active Life Club said: ‘We are really delighted with the day and the amount raised and we were really humbled by the response.’

He extended his thanks to everyone who took part, everyone who sponsored and supported and everyone who donated.

Thousands raised for flood victims

A 6-a-side cricket tournament at Clydesdale Cricket ground  raised around £8000 for the victims of the monsoon floods that have ravaged Pakistan.

The event, organised by Active Life, saw 16 teams battle it out on Sunday 12 September. The first ball was hurled towards the wicket at 10am, and had a well weathered seam by 7pm, when the last two teams emerged from the changing rooms and strode out towards the crease, the MC announcing them to the hundreds watching from the stands.

In the final, hosts Clydesdale Cricket Club finally met their match against Drumpellier Cricket Club. The latter team’s bowling was imperious, and they batted the ball into the boundary time and again, running away with victory by 19 runs, their total of 58 just too good for Clydesdale.

Perhaps the hosts struggled to keep their concentration: the aromas wafting from the curry stall were very seductive indeed. All proceeds from curries sold and entry fees from the 16 teams will be spent assisting the victims from the catastrophic floods that have shocked Pakistan in recent months and inspired one of the greatest global aid efforts ever launched.