Blog entries

I have exams... and I'm living on baked beans

MADEadmin — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:20:39 +0100

Halfway through Live Below the Line week, 19 year old Razzan Saffour shares her experience of living on just £1 worth of food a day... during exam time.

Speaking about poverty is one thing, but experiencing it is another thing. Of course I am yet to experience what real poverty feels like, bu...

Why I'll be Living Below the Line for 5 days

MADEadmin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:10:21 +0100

20 year old Ola Ashi, a student at Cardiff University, explains why she'll be living on £1 a day for 5 days to raise money for MADE in Europe

When I first received a message from someone doing the ‘Live Below The Line’ challenge, I thought wow that’s such a cool idea….for you maybe , but not for me. It seemed like a bril...

The Siege of Sarajevo

MADEadmin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:18:55 +0100

Halima Begum went to Bosnia with MADE in Europe in 2011. Here, she shares what she learnt in Sarajevo...

Landing in Sarajevo,we were greeted by our hosts from the University of Sarajevo, we drove through the suburbs, passing colourful homely houses and apartments, eating our first meal in the city...immediate first impressions that were not so different from London, although we found them more beautiful!

But the next morning, the gunshot marks embedded i...

Campaign Training in Cardiff

MADEadmin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:50:57 +0100

19 year old Khadija Sesay, a medical student at Bristol University, shares what she learnt at the Be The Change campaign training weekend held at the end of March in Cardiff

The Be The Change training weekend was a unique and memorable experience. I went to the training thinking it would vaguely be about leadership skills. It was incredible when I got there to find that MADE principles fitted so perfectly with all the ideas I had bouncing around my head about justice, development, c...

Live below the Line

sarah — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:23:29 +0100

MADE in Europe Project Officer Sadia Kidwai reflects on how living on £1 a day for food - the UK equivalent of the poverty line - for just 5 days can help us to understand a little about the experience of the 1.4 billion people around the world, who have to survive on this amount or less every single day.

1.4 billion people around the world survive on less than £1 a day.
Could you?

In Surah Ar-Rad, Allah (swt) tells us that “God will not change the conditio...

Everyone can campaign!

sarah — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:15:48 +0100

MADE in Europe's Vodaphone Volunteer Lamees Hafeez shares her experience of running a campaign training session on her own for the first time!

On Friday 30th March, I ran my first Campaign training session on my own. It was at the Manchester Islamic High Schools for Girls. I ran a series of sessions teaching them about the his...

Welcome to the I Drink Tap! campaign

sarah — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:39:00 +0100

Abi Lee-Carter explains why MADE's newly launched I Drink Tap! campaign is so important in preserving the environment by reducing the wastage caused by plastic bottle production

Each year the 22nd March is designated as International World Water Day by the UN so what better day for MADE in Europe to announce the official launch of their ‘I Drink Tap!’ Campaign.

Water plays a central role in Islam and its importance is emphasised in a number of Quranic chapters and Propheti...

Building a Community Garden at Palmers Green Mosque

sarah — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:41:26 +0100

Volunteer Sadiqa Jabbar takes us step-by-step through the process of building a raised bed for our community growing space at Palmers Green Mosque. Massive thanks to Bernie, our gardener from CEPO, for all his help and advice!

The last time I did any form of gardening was almost six years ago when I redesigned my back garden and planted four or five shrubs. These are now wonderfully tall and surprisingly healthy with only the need for weeding and pruning! Mashallah.<...

Fairtrade Fortnight: Take a Step in 2012!

sarah — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:38:13 +0100

Sadiqa Jabbar shares her inspiration for getting involved in Fairtrade Fortnight 2012 and spreading the word about fairtrade and ethical consumerism over the next 2 weeks and beyond.

2011 was the year of people’s revolutions. People in various parts of the world took to the streets in mass campaigning or protesting against the breach of human rights, dirty politics, or the impact of the economic crises on the ordinary citizen, or, all of the above. Coming into 2012 this seems to hav...

MADE in Manchester!

sarah — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:10:48 +0100

Nasira Mohamed, one of MADE in Europe's new Regional Campaign Leaders in Manchester talks about MADE's upcoming plans in Manchester.

Since it was first founded in 2009, MADE in Europe has given young Muslims great opportunities to come together and make a difference. Their many volunteers are responsible for the success o...

Making a splash at the European Parliament!

sarah — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:13:16 +0100

Shabana Abdool shares her experiences of lobbying the European Parliament on the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement which causes vast environmental damage in north-west Africa...

If you look on a world map, the small, zigzagged area of land situated on the western coastline of North Africa can be easily overlooked, just as easily as many fail to realise that this strip of desert remains to this day, as the last colony of Africa. I, like many others knew nothing of the occupied territor...

I want to make a difference!

sarah — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:46:35 +0100

Nishaat Ismail shares why she has decided to volunteer for MADE in Europe...

As I sat in my living room last Ramadan watching a fundraising appeal on TV, it came to me that surely there is more that I can do as a young Muslim than merely donating some money through a channel. I thought about all the people that went out on the streets during the month of Ramadan with buckets trying to raise money; sadly there are many people who get annoyed with fundraisers that are doing street colle...

Inspired to campaign

sarah — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:22:42 +0100

Sadiqa Jabbar shares her thoughts on the recent global poverty campaign training MADE in Europe ran in partnership with FOSIS.

One of the objectives I had for the weekend campaign training workshop was to enhance my current skills set whilst also developing new ones such as actively taking part in discussions and exploring the concept of campaigning. Of course I will always hold my strong opinions and ideas about things, but unfortunately these remain just that, opinions and ideas; ...

Climate Change talks – did anything actually happen?

sarah — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:54:14 +0100

MADE in Europe volunteer Abi Lee-Carter sums up the outcomes of the recent climate change talks which took place in Durban.

Last week marked the prolonged, somewhat drawn out end to the Durban Climate Conference aka COP17. If it all seems a bit complicated, then read on because we at MADE in Europe have decided to provide you with an abridged version of the COP17’s shenanigans. Don’t worry, there’s no need to thank us, it’s the least we could do!

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Children's messages of love

sarah — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:58:57 +0100

Wasim Mir, one of the 2011 Bosnia: The Journey volunteers ran an assembly at Palmers Green Madrasah...

Volunteering with MADE in Europe certainly has its perks and on November 26th I was given the intriguing task of engaging 60 young students aged between 5 and 16 from a Saturday School in Palmers Green Mosque, North London. My objective was to update them on the project we undertook in Bosnia earlier in 2011 and raise general awareness of the plight of the Bosnian people.

...

My mother is my rock

Nadeem Javaid — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:07:33 +0100

MADE in Europe Project Officer Sadia Kidwai interviewed Shaynul Khan, Assistant Executive Director at London Muslim Centre, about why he’s At Our Mothers’ Feet. London Muslim Centre is the first mosque to host the At Our Mothers’ Feet exhibtion, which will be up in the foyer until 9 December

To the untrained eye, Shaynul Khan might just seem like another young Muslim activist – bursting with energy, and frequenting all the usual Muslim community events. But anyone who has been invo...

Got any plans for 28 November?

sarah — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:58:22 +0100

You may well have decided to stay in, feet up with remote control in hand, but while you do, the 195 governments that make up the Conference of Parties (COP), plus international charities and organisations will be meeting to discuss the problem of climate change of our planet.

It’s that time of year again and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) prepares to hold its 17th annual Conference of Parties (COP17). This year COP17 delegates are heading to the...

Toolkit time! Have we made a difference?

sarah — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:25:06 +0100

MADE in Europe intern Tamanna Ali shares her thoughts on MADE in Europe's recently launched Campaign Toolkit

On the 1st of November, I was privileged to attend the Islam in Action: Ultimate Campaign Toolkit launch, in the House of Lords. This was an exciting opportunity for me not only to come to the House of Lords for the first time but to be inspired by a room full of buzzing people and listen to three of MADE in Europe’s campaigners speak about their experiences.

Amaz...

Beautiful people. Beautiful country

Nadeem Javaid — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:08:02 +0100

2011 Bosnia & Herzegovina: The Journey volunteer Tabassam Hameed shares his thoughts on why you just can't miss next year's programme!

Before being immersed in its universe, I had an expectation that living in Bosnia would have a transformative impact on my life. I was aching to escape the confines of an everyday, repetitive, life-sapping existence; and so when the opportunity to volunteer in Bosnia came up, I felt instinctively that this was the time and this was the place.

...

You don’t need to be a superhero to save our planet!

sarah — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:42:42 +0100

Rida Hisan, age 16 from the Eat of the Good Things project talks about taking part in her first ever publicity stunt!

Publicity stunt? Seems fun, shouldn't be that hard. That was my first thought. I guess I can be forgiven seeing as I've never been to, seen or taken part in one. So on Sunday, the 'Eat of the Good Things' gang met up in the London Muslim Centre. At midday we were all ready. The placards were ready and looked wonderful. The film crew were ready and our superheroes,...