After establishing a worthy cause for the piece of coursework we set about finding a way to raise money. We discussed many things, including sponsored runs, sponsored silences and a sponsored raffle. All these ideas were feasible but we eventually decided on a sponsored fast. We came to this decision because we felt it was very topical, by fasting we were experiencing what it is like every single day for those who have lost everything due to the earthquake. At the same time it is the Islamic period known as Ramadan where Muslims fast in order to strengthen family and community ties by experiencing what it is like to be less fortunate. During Ramadan Muslims are also encouraged to carry out charity work and focuses on self-sacrifice and devotion to Allah (The Islamic God). Ramadan is held in the ninth lunar month of they year as that is the Islamic calendar. Once Ramadan has finished the Islamic day known as “Eid” is held, where Muslims gather at mosques to pray. Myself and Louis were both interested in experiencing what it’s like for Muslims to fast, as we both have friends who are Muslims and fast every year, yet we have never experienced going without food for so long.
We aim to raise money for the Asian earthquake appeal, in order to help the relief effort. The British Red Cross are currently doing everything they can to supply Pakistan and India with equipment to evacuate those injured, centres to treat the injured, temporary shelter for those whose homes have been destroyed and make shift kitchens to prepare food. The money we donate will help the British Red Cross in their efforts to help the affected countries.
When the Asian earthquake first hit, the British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Unicef and Oxfam were among the first to respond, supplying immediate, emergency aid to all the affected countries. The initial effort consisted of trying to rescue as many of the injured as possible by moving away any rubble or remains of buildings that had trapped people. These charities also supplied emergency medical supplies and doctors to try and save as many lives as possible in the early stages. The epicentre of the earthquake was close to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Kashmir. Over 70 percent of Muzaffarabad was devastated by the earthquake. Mud slides meant that the area was cut off, while electricity and communication lines were severely disrupted. This made the initial relief effort even more difficult as before the various relief workers could begin to help those who were injured, they had to get into the city by fighting through huge mud slides. Unicef have estimated that over 50 per cent of those dead are children, with some people even claiming that a whole generation has been wiped out.
The relief attempt is being co-ordinated by the Red Crescent (Equivalent of the British Red Cross) societies in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India as they were closest to the disaster and therefore have the most man power. The relief effort will now progress from emergency aid into long term aid. The initial need was to save as many lives as possible, but now it has progressed onto helping these communities to rebuild. Millions of pounds worth of damage has been done to people’s homes and communities, and in order for these societies to begin to function again it is crucial that enough long term aid (Building materials, builders, architects) is supplied to the affected areas.
We have been researching different ways to donate money to the appeal; we are planning on using a debit card to donate money online to the appeal via the Red Cross’ website. We also looked into how much money we think we will be able to raise by enquiring to how much people are willing to give. We found that most people are prepared to give generously for such a worthy course and expect to raise in the region of £100. There were no problems between myself and Louis through the planning stage as we were able to co-operate easily with each other due to our similar personalities.
To help us in planning the activity we constructed a questionnaire concerning our activity. The questionnaire was made by a combined effort between myself and Louis, it contained 5 questions and was handed out to 30 people. The questionnaire was useful as it helped us decide what activity to do, gauge the general opinion of our activity, how long to fast for and how much we could expect to receive in sponsorship. The results of the questionnaire are enclosed with my coursework, with detailed evaluation of each question.
The activity itself will take place on Wednesday the 26th of October 2005. We will be fasting from the moment we get up (8am) to 8pm, a total of 12 hours. The event will take place at my house. Before the activity we will be collecting sponsorships from various people. From Tuesday the 11th of October to Tuesday the 25th of October we will be concentrating on securing sponsorship for the activity. We plan to secure sponsorship from 3 different places; family, neighbours and school. The sponsorship information will be recorded on a sponsorship form that I created using a computer spreadsheet and will be enclosed with this project as evidence. We will be phoning family members, knocking on neighbours doors and asking friends and teachers from school for sponsorship over the 2 weeks. By doing this we hope to reach our target of £100. From Thursday the 27th of October to Thursday the 24th of November we will be collecting the sponsorship money in the same way we secured the sponsorship; phoning family members, asking friends and teachers at school and knocking on neighbours doors. We will then be hoping to make the donation via the British Red Cross website sometime within the next month (November 25th to December 23rd).
- 11/10/05 – 24/10/05: Collecting sponsorship by knocking on neighbours doors, speaking to family members and asking friends and teachers at school
- 25/10/05: Fast takes place at my house, lasts for 12 hours from 8am to 8pm.
- 26/10/05 – 24/11/05: Sponsorship money is collected by knocking on neighbours doors, speaking to family members and asking friends and teachers at school.
- 25/11/05 – 23/12/05: Sponsorship money is donated to the British Red Cross via their website in order for them to help the relief effort in Pakistan and India.
