British Muslim children have raised more than $132,000 in a cooking campaign to help displaced families and children in Palestine and Yemen.
The humanitarian campaign, Ramadan Kids, was first launched four years ago by then 10-year-old Zaavier Khan from East London.
Dubbed the “Ramadan Kid,” Khan began the campaign on his own during Ramadan 2021 to collect £5,000 for UK food parcels.
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The following year he raised £10,000 with the help of a handful of children, and last year he began touring restaurants and homes, and cooked with a 15-member squad, raising more than £42,000.
This year, the campaign involved 23 children touring restaurants across the UK capital.
“It was just a grassroots initiative that started in my kitchen because my son was supposed to embark on his journey of Ramadan, and as a British Muslim, I thought I wanted to really mark this occasion for him,” his mother, Tahreem Noor, told Arab News.
“Every year since then, we’ve done the Ramadan Kids campaign (and) every year the team has grown by a few children,” she added.
Great Effort
This year, children aged four to thirteen dined at four restaurants and shared their own cooking experiences at home on social media. They appealed for financial support from donors through an online donation link.
“They were cooking in their own kitchens and sending us videos for us to upload to promote the concept of Ramadan Kids, but at the same time, fundraising for their own sub links as well,” Noor said.
“This year, we decided to give all the kids that took part in the campaign a Ramadan Kids pack that had lots of Islamic resources,” she added.
The children received a 30-day journal to explore the Muslim faith during Ramadan. The package contained religious educational resources, Eid decorations, balloons, and personalized pens and hoodies.
“As Ramadan Kids progresses, I feel like we should involve more kids from all over England, cooking food in their own houses and (holding) much bigger events to influence children to make a change during the holy month of Ramadan,” Khan added.
Khan is not the only young Muslim who has been making efforts to support the needy.
In 2022, Priya Hoq, a 6-year-old Muslim primary school girl raised £550 for flood relief efforts in Bangladesh by designing and selling T-shirts in her school.
13 young members of the Muslim community in Derry, North Ireland, also led a similar initiative, successfully raising about £800 to help a local food bank during Ramadan.