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 collections and others are sometimes sceptical of donating to large organisations because they claim the money is misused. Many say the line “I want to make a difference” is a cliché but I really do want to make a difference but not just by calling up a number and making a donation; I want to make a tangible difference! Then the question came to me; HOW? Took me a little while to figure out the answer!

Then one day in my university prayer room, I came across sky blue and bold letters which read MADE and underneath it I saw the word Muslim, so I thought hey I am Muslim maybe this can relate to me! And this is how my relationship with MADE in Europe began! I read about the various campaigns that MADE are running and involved in and what really inspired me and grabbed my attention was that all the people involved in these campaigns are young people just like me. This gave me the motivation and push to apply for the one month post-conflict deployment in Bosnia! My main aim and passion in life is to work oversees in the developing world either in the political or humanitarian field and Bosnia being a post-war region will provide me with that setting to learn the skills in order to establish sustainable projects, which I can apply to countries across the globe, so the skills acquired in Bosnia will potentially follow me from Europe to maybe even Timbuktu Insh’Allah! The Bosnia programme fits in with my ethos of not just putting money into a bucket or account but actually being active! As active as being deep in the village fields of Bosnia learning how to build haystacks! I will go to Bosnia in June-July 2012, however up until then I shall be volunteering and getting behind some of the campaigns MADE is running. One of the many fantastic and thought provoking campaigns is At Our Mother’s Feet.

We all love our mothers and we know that we could not survive a day without even hearing our mother nag or shout at us about something or the other! This is why it is incumbent on us as individuals who have been blessed with mothers to give others the opportunity to be born in a safe environment and have healthy mothers that have access to sufficient and adequate medical care. As Muslims we all know the rank and position Allah has put the mothers on. The title of the campaign was inspired by the hadith of our beloved messenger. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said “Be at your mother’s feet, and there is paradise”. So being part of a campaign like this not only helps you fulfil the commandments of Allah but at the same time gives us the opportunity to fulfil the Sunnah of the Prophet.  If you want to follow the progress of this campaign and get involved visit www.atourmothersfeet.org.uk.

We all can make some sort of contribution to our society and the ummah at large.  I don’t like to measure the change we can make by size or quantity but rather with our intentions and our efforts; in the words of Mother Theresa “We cannot do great things, only small things with great love!”