A 6-year-old Muslim primary school girl has raised £550 for flood relief efforts in Bangladesh by designing and selling T-shirts in her school.
Priya Hoq, who attends Gorton Primary school in Manchester, started creating T-shirts with the help of her parents Aminul and Claire, Asian Image reported.
“I want to help Bangladeshi people with food and houses,” Priya, who has seen the devastating effects of the flooding, said.
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“I am very proud of myself. I want to keep making lots of T-shirts. I want to give money to poor people so they can have food,” she added.
Individual T-shirts cost £3 in total but they sell for £10. Her parents cover the costs themselves so more money goes into the fund.
Encouraging their young girl, Priya’s parents told her teacher about the campaign he ordered some T-shirts for his nieces. They played her video in the school assembly and she spoke about it in front of her friends and made a lot of sales.
“At the end of term assembly, they played her video to parents. They were really supportive and Priya received many orders. Overall, she sold 49 T-shirts and raised £60 in donations over a six week period,” the proud mother said.
“She was coming home from school every day and would design T-shirts and used it as an excuse to stay up at night. She had a target of making three shirts a day. If the customer was local she would deliver it herself. She loved every minute and took pride in her work.”
Bigger Dreams
The money Priya raised went to Bangladesh and bought 73 food parcels that were distributed in Bangladesh.
Now, young Priya has bigger dreams than her age to help more people.
“Now Priya wants to set up a charity because she wants to do more. She wants to start raising money for school uniforms, bags and books for poor children in Bangladesh,” her mother said.
“She’s not decided on future projects and whether she will carry on making T-shirts. We are still getting orders. Going forward, she has also thought about making and selling cups.”
She added: “Her younger brother Ismail was also involved. Now when he wakes up in the morning he ask for a new T-shirt. He designs his own T-shirts too.
“I am so proud of her, I have cried so many times as it all came from her mouth and they were made by her own hands. We didn’t tell her to do it she wanted to do it.”
Priya is not the only young Muslim who has been making efforts to support the needy.
Last year, Zaavier Khan, a 10-year-old boy from London, cooked meals for the poor while fasting during Ramadan to raise money for a UK Muslim charity.
A similar initiative was led by 13 young members of the Muslim community in Derry, North Ireland, who successfully raised about £800 to help a local food bank during Ramadan.