Annual Summary Report 2015 - Minhaj Welfare Foundation

Building a Sustainable future Annual Summary 2014-2015

minhaj Welfare foundation www.minhajwelfare.org

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Contents 04

Founder’s Message

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Education for All Building Schools for Quality Education Every Child has the Right to Education Aghosh: Orphan Care Home Bait-uz-Zahra

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Minhaj Model Village in Kenya

Water for All Water for All in Asia Water for All in Africa

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Emergency Relief Pakistan Indonesia Syria Gaza

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Collective Marriages: Empowering Women

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Empowering local communities in the UK Projects

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Achievement: 2014/2015

Š 2015 Minhaj Welfare Foundation.

Registered in England and Wales 1084057 and in Scotland SC043566.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation, 298 Romford Road, London E7 9HD.

In a year of challenges, a very warm and heart-felt welcome from our founder Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri.

In the Name of Allah,

the Most

This is an indeed an exciting and

Merciful and Most Compassionate.

challenging moment for Minhaj

I greet you with the Islamic greetings

Welfare Foundation. Even during

of peace.

this time of austerity, it is crucial to

Firstly, I want to thank the Minhaj

wellbeing of humanity is a concern

Welfare Foundation team, staff

for all and a responsibility for every

members and volunteers for all

individual to tackle.

keep reminding ourselves that the

the work they have done over the past year.

Despite the difficulties we face,

In all of our work, our primary

a recognised organisation worldwide.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation remains accountability remains to the

I pray for the solidarity of all those

children, women and the old who

who continue to support this

live in extreme poverty. Minhaj

effort and remind ourselves of the

Welfare Foundation will continue

Prophetic example: “The righteous

supporting the destitute in society

in society is the one whose action

and help provide orphan and

benefit others.�

vulnerable children with quality education. As we believe that

Yours Sincerely

education is the only means to

Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri

end the cycle of poverty.

Founding Leader

Minhaj Welfare Foundation believes that only through education, we can end the cycle of poverty.

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Children from a school in Sialkot enjoying a good day

education for all minhaj Welfare foundations’s education up the largest area of our work and supporting poor and needy children, and re-developing schools is a major part of the effort.

minhaj welFare Foundation is supporting Education for All in the following areas:

Re-development of schools

Sponsorship of orphans and needy children

Sponsorship of School students, Hafiz children and University students

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with your help we have supported:

630 SchoolS

We have built 630 primary and seconday schools in Pakistan and Kenya, 40 IT colleges and 1 university.

145,000 StudentS

Each day we provide more than 145,000 students with quality education at a Minhaj school, college and university.

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Building Schools for Quality Education Construction has completed on more than 10 schools which donors of Minhaj Welfare Foundation contributed towards in helping to rebuild schools and provide quality education to poor communities in Asia.

More than 300 teachers and 12,000 students will now walk from their old school to the new classrooms, carrying their books and school supplies. Lining up by the doors, a number of excited students peek over each other’s shoulders to get their first glimpse of their new classroom, IT and science labs.

Communities were excited to see the newly constructed school for primary and secondary students.

With the building of these new facilities, parents are now hopeful for a better future.

Children studying at their new classroom in Safdarabad

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We have rebuilt schools across Pakistan

Jhelum Sialkot Gujranwala Lahore Safdarabad Manawala Mamukajan Haveli Lakha Arifwala

minhaj model sChool saeela, jhelum (Case study)

Sometimes a classroom is more than a classroom. For the children of Saeela, Jhelum (Pakistan), many of whom have never been to school until today, the recently constructed facilities marks a new beginning.

The community also understand the power of education and is fully supporting this new initiative Minhaj Welfare Foundation started an outreach program and began talking to local community members to send their children to school.

This is Amna’s first year at the Jhelum Minhaj school

Alhamdulillah! we have helped families understand the importance of sending their children to school.

They are more than 50 children who have enrolled to a Minhaj school.

Bilal is one of leading pupils at the Jhelum school

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Every Child has the Right to Education Minhaj Welfare Foundation supports hundreds of poor and needy children through its Child Sponsorship program. We provide quality education to children from marginalised areas so that they can compete with others in getting the best results.

10 school Mamukanjan Children studying at one one newly built libraries at the Minhaj Model

“I am so grateful to Minhaj for building a school in my area, I just love going to school.

Now I am determined to go college and then university.”

Habibah Aslam of Minhaj Secondary School Sialkot achieved a remarkable 90% pass rate and came on top of the district examination boards.

“Every year I come top of the class, I want to become an engineer and support my parents and brothers and sisters.”

Umar is from Haveli Lakha, both of his parents are unable to work due to old age. Minhaj Welfare Foundation has been supporting the child in his education since 2009.

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aghosh Orphan Care Home Minhaj Welfare Foundation completed Aghosh in Lahore, one of its key education flagship projects to date – a large Orphan care home providing a safe environment and education to Orphans or those that have lost parents in a disaster situation. the orphan Care home inCludes

Nursery and Foster Home

Grammar School

Mosque

yuSuf’S fatheR left hIm

when he was really young.

His mother cannot afford to pay for his study.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation took Yusuf into Aghosh and he is now one the best performing students in his class.

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Facilities to house 500+ orphans

“When I grow, I want to become a doctor.

I just want to support my mother and three sisters.”

Foster mother feeding young children at Aghosh

Morning assembly at the courtyard of the Aghosh premises

Support an orphan child from only ÂŁ35 per month

make a donation www.minhajwelfare.org 0300 30 30 777

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Educating Women Bait-uz-Zahra Minhaj Welfare Foundation completed another key flagship project in 2014 with the completion of Bait-uz-Zahra (a female student home). We read the story of Sayida Bano who is being supported by Minhaj Welfare Foundation, she is completing her higher education.

For young women like Sayida Bano, being far away from home is really difficult. Bano is studying at the Minhaj Girls College in Lahore and is almost ready to complete here Masters and higher qualification in Islamic Studies.

“There was times when I was helpless, my uncles and relatives did not want me to study in Lahore, they told me to stay at home. If it was not for Minhaj Welfare and the Bait-uz-Zahra hostel I would have left studying at gone back home to Chakwal.”

Bano explains.

Bano’s father passed away when she was young, her mother is very old and the family does not have any other means to support her studies. Bano know if she gets the right qualification, there is hope for a good job and the chance of providing a better life for her family.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation supports young women through sponsorship in its Educational establishments and providing them with a safe home at the Bait-uz-Zahra.

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Aerial shot of the Bait-uz-Zahra female hostel

Support an Orphan child in Bait-­uz-Zahra from only £35 per month

Make a donation www.minhajwelfare.org 0300 30 30 777

Khadija is being supported through the student sponsorship program

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minhaj model village in Kenya, Africa In 2010, minhaj Welfare foundation first visited Kenya. during its visit the mWf team travelled almost seven hours by road to a remote village in tana River district. sinCe 2011, Minhaj Welfare Foundation has built the community of Kitere:

a medical centre

a secondary school

provided them with access to clean water

All projects are owned and maintained by the community and are self-sustainable.

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there are almost 1000 people

that live in the remote village of Kitere; it is the centre location for surrounding villages of the Sub-Baomo location a total of no more than 12,000. Majority of the people are subsistence and petty traders whose income is relatively low (the average earning is ÂŁ65 per year). The level of poverty is extremely high.

By adopting a holistic approach and giving poor and needy communities access to education, clean water, food security and health care will empower them and lift them out of poverty.

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Minhaj Secondary School

The Minhaj Secondary School Kitere,

At the opening ceremony, Dhadho Iddi (MWF Kenya co-ordinator) appreciated the efforts of those who supported the school: “Words cannot describe how grateful we are to Minhaj Welfare, we are able to educate the children and begin to change the face of a nation,� he declared.

Kenya was completed in January 2015.

The school has already selected children who have completed their primary education and whose family income is less than ÂŁ35 a month.

The Minhaj Secondary School Kitere will cater for more than 100 students who show outstanding promise but whose families cannot support their education.

The school incorporates 3 classrooms, principle office, science laboratory, sanitation facilities and a room in which it is hoped computers will be put in place for the students.

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Minhaj Medical Centre

Students at the Minhaj school lining up to collect their lunch

For many living in Kitere, it is very common to hear cases of women dying at child birth due to inadequate health care. Unfortunate circumstances meant that when someone fell extremely ill, the people of Kitere had to travel at least 50km to the nearest hospital. The village is about 10km from the main road and in most cases, majority of the patients did not reach the referral centres.

Since 2012, Minhaj Medical Centre Kitere has been operating with the help of an onsite doctor and two

female nurses. Currently the medical centre is supporting basic health care, preventing diseases such as malaria and malnourishment from spreading.

The community has seen a great improvement in the number of fatal cases reducing. “Our next step is to provide a proper maternal ward, women are highly at risk especially when giving birth at home. With the help of donors, we can prevent many children dying at birth�, said Dr Badwi.

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Water for All When Minhaj Welfare Foundation works in a marginalised community, it focuses on improving access to clean water, while also implementing programmes to increase the practice of healthy habits and clean water usage. of these activites, we begin to see long term change in our communities and ultimately, fewer incidence of water-足related disease and illness.

Through the continued implementation

Our Water for All includes:

Clean water for schools and poor communities in Asia and Africa

Water Wells for large scale communities in Africa

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minhaj welFare Foundation Continues to maKe its water For all projeCt eFFeCtive, sustainable and Cost eFFeCtive. sinCe the beginning oF water For all, mwF reports:

150,000 people

150,000 people have been provided acess to clean water

2,050 WateR facIlItIeS

2,050 water facilities built in Asia and Africa.

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Water for All in Asia Minhaj Welfare Foundation with the help of its local field officers reaches to remote areas of Punjab and Sindh in Pakistan.

Mariyam from Larkana, SIndh:

“Me and my children had to travel 3km every day in search of clean water. It became so tiring that I could not walk any more, my young children had to take the journey instead. They missed out on school.

This water project has helped us a lot, especially the children. Our children are going to school and learning so I think they are very happy. I hope my children will grow up and get educated and help this community.�

Community from Rajanpur:

The community in Rajanpur received a new hand pump system.

Along with providing the hand pump, we have also conducted maintenance training so the community could prevent any breakdowns that are very common in marginalised areas. Before the project began, the community had limited or no access to clean and safe drinking water. Now they have improved access to clean water, and a water committee trained in promoting best hygiene practices.

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Women from Thar, SIndh collecting clean water from their new hand pump

2,000

300

have been installed so far

have been installed since 2014

hand pumps

hand pumps

ÂŁ180

120,000

to build a hand pump in Asia it Costs ÂŁ180

people now have access to long term means of drinKing water

1 hand pump = 60 people (ÂŁ3 for every person) 23

Water for All in Africa In 2011, more than 11 million people were left displaced and affected by a severe drought in East Africa. Millions of people from Somalia migrated to the neighbouring country, Kenya. Minhaj Welfare Foundation initiated a clean water program in the Tana River delta, focusing on providing clean water facilities to marginalised communities.

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have been installed so far

WATER WELLS

15,000

have been located in marginalised communities of North East Kenya

WELLS

£

people now have access to long term means of drinking water

to build a water well in Africa it costs £3,000

1 well = 1,000 people (£3 for every person)

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Water changes everything Amna’s story

“ clean

water is important to our health, we now can think about going to school.”

The community of Adadu, Kenya enjoying clean water

in Kenya, 15 year old Amna is responsible for collecting water for her household, her parents and three sisters.

But the water Amna drinks from Minhaj Welfare Foundation’s well is clean and suitable for drinking, cooking, laundry and other domestic uses.

liKe most young girls

Before Minhaj Welfare Foundation built a well in the Sub-Baomo district, fetching water was a difficult, even dangerous task for Amna.

Amna’s family are not the only ones benefitting from the well dug by Minhaj Welfare Foundation. Poor and needy communities can also gain access to fresh water.

The North Eastern region of Kenya’s water system was very severly affected during the drought in 2010. Water is still very rare and the access to water, is that which is contaminated.

Amna is grateful to Minhaj Welfare Foundation for providing her and the family a solution. She is ready to ‘end the cycle of poverty”.

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emergency relief Responding in disaster aected areas

bosnia syria

aFghanistan

palestine libya

iran

gaZa

Kashmir paKistan

iraQ

india somalia Kenya

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ba

japan

bangladesh

indonesia

Minhaj Welfare Foundation promotes an effective humanitarian approach to tackling the escalation of disasters focusing on both the short and long term needs of those affected in disasters.

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MWF volunteers establishing a relief camp after the floods in 2010

Adnan at a flood relief camp in South of Punjab, Pakistan

paKistan: ongoing disaster

2005 Kashmir earthQuaKe

assisted in rescue operations

Pakistan has been affected by drought, earthquake, epidemic and floods over the past three decades. It is estimated that more than 48 million people were directly affected after facing disaster situations, taking away more than 78,000 lives.

2009 swat

Thousands of people displaced 2010 Floods

Set up relief camps across Pakistan 2012 baloChistan earthQuaKe

MWF has supported more than 1 million people in Pakistan providing both short (food, water and medical aid) and long term support (rebuilding homes, schools and supporting families). An overview of MWF emergency response in Pakistan:

provided emergency aid 2013 badami bagh

Provided food and water to victims 2014 thar, sindh

Provided emergency aid and established long term projects

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MWF volunteers provided emergency relief to victims of the Tsunami in Indonesia

tsunami: indonesia

The Indonesian province of Aceh, was heavily affected in 2004 suffered the heaviest loss of life and the most widespread destruction.

An estimated 169,000 people either died or are missing and almost 600,000 were displaced.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation (MWF) assisted thousands of affected people in the Ache region to achieve their rights to shelter, to livelihoods and a say in the decisions that affect them.

In some locations, particularly on the east coast of Aceh, MWF met its objectives and is working to ensure a responsible handover to communities.

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With the current situation in the Middle East worsening, millions of lives are constantly at risk in the region.

Children at the orphanage in Gaza provided with gifts

gaZa: rebuilding lives

Minhaj Welfare Foundation (MWF) has been supporting various programs in Palestine and in the Gaza strip since 2008. In addition to its emergency relief, MWF is currently providing higher education to students who have directly been affected by the constant attacks.

In June 2014, local field officers in Shujaiyah set main points for collection of aid in which families were provided sacks of rice and food ration. Our implementing partners personally went to the nearby neighbourhood to provide clean water to homes of the affectees.

MWF’s main focus has been to provide Food Security for families in Gaza ensuring they have access to both food and clean water for two or three months.

MWF will be further expanding on a larger scale food and clean water project with a long term Education plan.

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syria Crisis sinCe 2011

MWF volunteer Faisal Mirza travelled to Syria to help distribute vital aid to the Syria refugees

More than 3 million have been left displaced from the conflict in Syria since 2011.

In December 2013, Faisal Mirza (Holland) a volunteer of Minhaj Welfare Foundation travelled to Damascus, Syria to assess the humanitarian situation after almost two years of internal unrest. In addition to meeting with local NGOs, MWF team distributed winter warmers and food packs to families living in temporary make-shift shelters within schools and buildings.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation volunteers distributed Food packs, including a number of important items to support the people of Syria 2013. More than 1400 people beneďŹ tted and were provided with monthly food ration.

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Collective marriages Empowering Women many CitiZens From rural areas are unable to enjoy the prospect of marriage and beginning a family.

Ignorance and back-breaking cultural constraints such as ridiculously high dowries and extortionate demands from the grooms side alienate some families of ‘brides to be’ from marriage. The lives of parents are consumed by earning in order to meet a large dowry for their daughters, but even they fall short.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation provides a full a ceremony planned to include all the ingredients of a joyous occasion. This includes a religious ceremony (for all faiths), full bridal gift for the newly married couple and an opportunity to feed at least 50 guests.

MWF was the first NGO in the history of Pakistan to initiate this program, whereby couples lacking the financial means to get married are funded.

The desperate need to resolve this crisis has persisted for many years. MWF has begun this project in 2005.

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“ I was 25 when my marriage took place, me and my husband have two beautiful children. I don’t think I would have ever got married if mWf did not support me and my family.” in the Collective Marriage ceremony in 2005.

aisha was married

600+

£1,500

since 2005 more than 600 Couples have been married off

it Costs £1,500 to

cover the costs of one marriage

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Empowering Local Communities in the UK Minhaj Welfare Foundation (MWF) remains ever committed in its fight against global poverty however it also understands the growing concern of the need to tackle issues closer to home which require an equal time in addressing them.

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A group of young children 37 walking in the streets of London, campaigning against global hunger

Community Spirit Helping deprived communities in the UK on Christmas Minhaj Welfare Foundation’s initiated a community ‘Food Bank’ on Wednesday 24th December 2014 (Christmas Eve). The aim was to highlight the ever growing concern of extreme poverty in the UK.

“ We are ever grateful to the Minhaj Welfare Foundation for providing this opportunity to our group, it is really a community spirit.”

— Mary Barrow, of the refugee group

Dawood Mash’hadi, Managing Director of MWF said: “we hope that this could be the stepping stone of many more food banks to come.”

a cooked meal on Christmas Eve outside the Minhaj-ul-Quran mosque in Forest Gate and also distributed food (tinned) items.

Working with a local charity based in East London who work particularly with deprived communities of all faiths and backgrounds, MWF provide

Lyn Brown MP of East Ham showed her appreciation and said that “more of these food banks need to be setup across London”.

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Let’s Revive Under the Lets Revive project, MWF has developed some key educational and intervention programmes to help both Muslim and Non-Muslims with the true message of Islam.

This is one of MWF’s flagship projects here in the UK, we rely very much on kind donations and contributions from our donors to help us propagate the true message of Islam.

“ I really enjoyed the Seekers course, the seminar dealt with some pertinent issues and it was very informative.”

— Mariyam ali, a student who attended the seekers seminar in london

Seekers Academy

Translation of Islamic Literature

As the key supporter of this project, Seekers has delivered educational resources for higher education Islamic seminars in universities across the UK.

We have a dedicated team that translates Islamic literature from Arabic and Urdu into the English language. The books are authored

by Shaykh-ul-Islam, Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul- Qadri, some of the books translated include:

More than 150 participants from a network of universities and professionals have attended seminars in Sheffield, Birmingham and London.

The following three courses have been delivered from 2014/2015

Muhammad the Merciful, The Teaching Islam Series, Mawlid-un-Nabi, The Supreme Jihad, Islamic Curriculum on Counter-Terrorism, Peace, Integration & Human Right and Muhammad the Peace Maker amongst others.

–– Bid’a (Innovation in Islam) –– Shirk (Monotheism and Islamic Creed) –– Jihad or is it?

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“ There is no doubt that women are key in educating their children about the peaceful message of Islam, and preserving the faith of their children.”

— FATIMA MASH’HADI, PRESIDENT, IRFAN-UL-QURAN COURSE

Irfan-ul-Quran course: Islamic Education for Women

Minhaj Welfare Foundation is supporting the Minhaj Women League (UK) who successfully ran the Irfan-ulQuran programme which was being delivered for the first time in major cities across the UK.

Fatima Mash’hadi who is the President and lead instructor of the course commented: “It is really important that women from hard to meet communities have the opportunity to study in a free and open environment and learn about their religion. There is no doubt that women are key in educating their children about the peaceful message of Islam, and preserving the faith of their children.”

The course which are taught in community centres, mainly targeted women whose first language was not necessarily English. Experience instructors provided an extensive meaning of the Quran relating it to both the spiritual and modern needs of females living in the west.

The turnout has been amazing, on average more than 75 women from each city attended these courses.

We are now hoping to run this throughout the country and make it a continuous thing”, she added.

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“ The Radio brought a wide number of people together, it created a real family atmosphere throughout the holy month.”

— adnan sohail, station manager

Radio Ramadan organised an Iftar Festival in memory of those who lost their lives in Gaza attacks in 2014

On the airwaves: Radio Ramadan

Minhaj Welfare Foundation launched Ramadan 87.9FM in East London during the holy month of Ramadan 2014.

Adnan commented: “The Radio brought a wide number of people together, it created a real family atmosphere throughout the holy month.

The station hosted Sadiq Khan MP, Labour’s shadow justice secretary, councillors and campaigners to discuss topics, ranging from international issues such as Palestine and local NHS issues.

Everyone was really excited and wanted to be a part of Radio Ramadan. Shows were broadcasted in Urdu, Bengali, Arabic and English, it reflected the strong culture in the capital.”

The station’s manager Adnan Sohail said one of the aims of the Radio was to educate both Muslims and NonMuslims about the true message of Islam and to highlight the virtues of the month of Ramadan.

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Achievements see how much your donations helped in 2014 Minhaj Welfare Foundation truly believes that without the support of its donors, supporters and volunteers worldwide, it would never be able to poor and needy around the world. In 2014, MWF was able to expand on sustainable programs and in particular focus its efforts in Education, Water and Emergency Relief.

250 1

st

water facilities built

in Africa and Asia.

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The first ever

Minhaj Secondary School

in Africa

100 1,000 provided to 1,000 families in Gaza

children ready to study

Emergency relief

at our school in Kenya

3,000 students have access to quality education in 2015

1,000 10 poor and needy children supported

through MWF sponsorship program

were rebuilt in Pakistan

schools

20,000

people have

been provided long term access to clean water

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to maKe a donation direCtly via banK transFer For UK (GBP - ÂŁ) BANK NAME: HSBC SORT CODE: 40-15-17 ACCOUNT NO: 21 65 18 03 International donations: IBAN: GB95 MIDL4015 1721 6518 03 SWIFT: MIDLGB211 4H

minhaj Welfare foundation 298 Romford Road London E7 9HD www.minhajwelfare.org @minhajwelfare MinhajWelfare 0300 30 30 777

Registered charity numbers: England and Wales 1084057. Scotland SC043566.