This Arba'een, Alia, Eram, Nadia and Mohammed Chatoo will be joining thousands of individuals from across the world as they walk 80 kms from Najaf to Kerbala.

 

 

“If someone sleeps hungry it is because another person has deprived him a share of his wealth.”

 

The grandson of the last messenger of God Hussain ibn Ali, refused to bow to tyranny, (a virtue that is so apt today given the global uprisings we have recently witnessed) and was martyred along with 72 members of his family in a dessert land, having been deprived of water for three days. Since then, a walk from Najaf to Karbala (the land where he was slain) is customarily undertaken by millions of people annually (40 days after the day of his death) to commemorate his great sacrifice.

 

In December of 2012 by the grace of God, a group of individuals from different parts of the world will unite to complete an 80km walk through war-torn Iraq from the holy city of Najaf to the land of Karbala. They shall walk for three days during the daytime with the scorching dessert sun bearing down upon them and they will rest in the evenings in makeshift tents, when the blistering cold takes over as temperatures rapidly plummet.

 

The money you sponsor will bring light into 4000 homes in villages around Karbala who currently have no access to electricity. The lighting of their homes will enable the family to be safer in the dark, avoid inhalation of diesel fumes indoors, burns due to naked flames and allow children to study after dark. Through Lady Fatemah Trust (a UK based charity who take 0% commission) all your donations will go directly to funding this project:

 

£150 (approx $240) helps in fabrication and maintenance of one solar lantern in a poor rural household – that’s just £2 ($3) per kilometre of the walk.

£300 (approx $470) pays for the installation and maintenance of one fixed solar lighting unit in a rural non-electrified household – that’s just £4 ($6) per kilometre of the walk.

£600 (approx $950) trains 4 people to install and maintain solar panels for households in 6 months – that’s just £8 ($12) per kilometre of the walk.

 

 

"Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life."

- Nelson Mandela