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I lived in Doha, Qatar with my family when 1991 Gulf war broke out. Although Qatar was not directly impacted like Kuwait and Iraq, it was one of the air bases for military actions and hence was on high alert. We were told to seal our A.C's as there was fear of chemical attack, stock up on food and water just in case there was a curfew, have enough fuel in case you needed to flee. One thing that I clearly remember was during air strikes, when combat aircrafts would take off and land there were these deafening sirens that went on. We could be playing football on the playground or having our assembly in the school...we were all rushed back to our classes and were asked to stay under the desk. Things were all so uncertain and terrifying...I have very frightening memories from that time. As soon as we finished school that year, we left Qatar for good to return to India (my home country). Horrifying images from the newspaper and news channels haunted me for a few months upon our return and got better once I got busy with schooling again. I was lucky that I could fall back to my home country in such crisis...but not all are fortunate. Now that I am a mother, I can only imagine what parents must be going through in such time of crisis and see their children suffer. We need more LOVE than war.

On the weekend of the 10th June 2017 I'll be walking a marathon for "Race to the Tower" in the beautiful Cotswolds - to raise money for the Vodafone Foundation's 'Choose Love' campaign in support of refugees. With one in every 113 people in the world currently forcibly displaced from their home due to conflict or natural disaster, we are experiencing the largest refugee crisis since the second world war. Through 'Choose Love', we want to show our support for families and individuals in need. All funds will go to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Europe's largest grassroots distributor of aid, Help Refugees.

Please donate generously and support me!! You can also donate by texting. For e.g. if you would like to donate £10 then simply text "RTTT50 £10" to 70070.

I am also doing this for my daughter who is growing at an alarming rate and is closely watching me. Living by an example to show that this is one way to give something back to the community :))

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