{"id":2055,"date":"2011-09-26T10:07:10","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T02:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muzlimbuzz.sg\/?p=2055"},"modified":"2011-09-26T10:07:10","modified_gmt":"2011-09-26T02:07:10","slug":"ease-africa-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/ease-africa-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Ease Africa 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

16th<\/sup> September was an exciting day for a group of young men and women, who\u2019ve dedicated their hearts and souls into humanity. Ease Africa 2011<\/a>, a joint-tertiary effort between Muslim students from various societies and bodies to help raise funds as well as awareness with regards to the famine crisis in the East Africa region was successfully held beyond its expectations.<\/p>\n

With little time, these energized souls came together to brainstorm and commit themselves for the sake of their brothers and sisters in crisis. The event was held on a Friday night, at Masjid Ar-Raudhah<\/strong> which spontaneously offered their services and location for this cause.<\/p>\n

The event kick-started with a dinner session which was sponsored by Afghanistan Restaurant, Victory Restaurant and As-Sufi Islamic Food Industries. Following Maghrib prayer, there were performances by Madeehul Mustafa and Brother Syamil of which Qasidahs embraced serenity from within the audiences. On top of that, winner of the Ease Africa poetry competition recited a powerful poem with a merciful message for mankind alongside the team\u2019s project director, Sumaiyah Mohamed, known for her flair in poetry who also recited a poem in her opening speech.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sumaiyah\u2019s Poem:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>
\nWhat does the worst drought
\nin sixty years mean
\nwhen you have never ever been
\nto a place where you fought
\nfor even a glass of water? No, not even a single drop
\nyou ever had to yearn for\u2026
\n\u2026 And right now as you talk
\nhow do you even begin to imagine
\nmothers carrying children because they\u2019re too weak to walk
\na thousand miles across borders
\nall in order
\nfor a chance to live, for hope,
\nthat there could be the rope,
\nprovided by people all over the world who can\u2019t cope
\nknowing they\u2019re doing nothing
\nwhile Allah\u2019s beautiful creations die,
\nand I mean the sons and daughters of Adam,
\nand I mean our brothers and sisters,
\nand I mean people who could have been us.
\nWe could have been that father
\nwho had to leave his son behind while on the way
\nto a campsite far-away
\nbecause the son did not make it.
\nNow the father can\u2019t take it.
\nOr we could have been the mother, who watched slowly as her daughter
\nshrunk in size, except for her stomach,
\na sign of an unimaginable hunger,
\na sight if you saw, you\u2019d never wish to remember.
\nSo instead, remember this –
\nthat our Prophet PBUH taught us this:
\nThe believers are one body –
\nwhen one limb suffers, the whole body
\nhas to respond with fervour,
\nwith wakefulness.
\nSo let us wake up
\nfrom any apathy,
\ndo more than just feel sympathy,
\nbecause seriously,
\ntoo many are suffering.
\nLet\u2019s ease their pain
\nby deeds small but on the Day of Judgement, might not be in vain,
\nour intention only to gain
\nthe blessings and favour of Allah,
\nto whom we pray
\nthat East Africa sees a better day.
\nAmeen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Dr Albakri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

After the performances, was a short video-sharing session by brother Firdaus Hamzah, who got his Somali friends who currently reside in the States to share their hopes and fears with regards to their motherland. The Somali brothers spoke with passion and introduced the audience to an eye-opening reality of the proceeds that reach Somalia from all over the world.<\/p>\n

Following after was a light-hearted forum session with panel speakers Ustadh Haron Hassan Akhtar and Dr Albakri Ahmad, who enlightened the audience with a profound explanation of understanding Allah\u2019s mercy. Donations were collected while the Selawat recitation takes place shortly after a video showcasing a photo montage of the crisis was shown.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>At the end of the day, alongside financial collation of which were intended to provide if not much, some form of aid to those facing this crisis, a greater achievement and objective was to ignite that spirit of humanity in these young lives of today as well as to empower them to understand their capabilities and talents to better the condition we live in for the sake of mankind.<\/p>\n

Ease Africa 2011 has helped open eyes to what Africa is facing and also made us understand why it is necessary that we make an effort to help those in need.<\/p>\n

A beautiful hadith was reinforced throughout this event for the message it brings and aims to bring upon a realization in ourselves with regards to our obligations as Muslims.<\/p>\n

Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (May peace and blessings be upon him) said:<\/p>\n

[quote]\u201cNone of you will truly believe until you love for your brother<\/strong> what you love for yourself<\/strong>\u201d. (Al-Bukhari)[\/quote]<\/p>\n

Project Director of Ease Africa spoke about how Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) served as the best example of a giver and how\u00a0 this idea of the event and the people involved in it were driven by him as an inspiration.<\/p>\n

She said:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI really saw how willing the Muslim community in Singapore cares so sincerely about their brothers and sisters in need – from the way the guests (mostly made up of students) were so willing to give still, from the way people were moved by the videos screened, from the du\u2019as we made and from how people stayed till late to perform Hajat prayers for them. I’m just thankful that Allah sent us a Messenger that inspired us to move.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ease Africa was a simple example of empowered young Muslims who gave out of nothing but as Muslims, and more importantly as those who cared for those who needed to be cared.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By the Grace and Will of Allah, the event managed to raise a total of $22,121.73<\/strong>, an amount that exceeded their estimated target of $15K.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They\u2019ve done it, and done something for humanity.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

When\u2019s your turn? <\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nazeera Mohamed<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Pictures are courtesy of Alia Abdullah from Ease Africa<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16th September was an exciting day for a group of young men and women, who\u2019ve dedicated their hearts and souls into humanity. Ease Africa 2011, a joint-tertiary effort between Muslim students from various societies and bodies to help raise funds as well as awareness with regards to the famine crisis in the East Africa region […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113],"tags":[784,811,815,814,812,816,241,819,818,813,701,817],"class_list":["post-2055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-event-review","tag-africa","tag-ease-africa-2011","tag-humanitarian","tag-humanitarian-aid","tag-muslim-activism","tag-muslim-activist","tag-muslim-youth","tag-singapore-muslims","tag-singapore-youth","tag-singaporean-muslim","tag-somalia","tag-youth-acitivist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2055"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2063,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2055\/revisions\/2063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}