Hi everyone! my name is Youssef and I'm a 9 year old living in the UK.

One week ago, on the 4th August a disaster took place in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon which is my mum's home city. Nearly 2,800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that was stored unsafely at the port of Beirut exploded! Over 200 people died, 6,000 injured, 300,000 were left homeless and over 100 victims are still missing.

Lebanon was already struggling with an economic crisis that has pushed many families into poverty before the coronavirus and the explosion. The explosion caused more than £2 bn of damage and Lebanon's collective economic losses are now up to £ 11bn.

Since this terrible tragedy, i have been wanting to help my mum's country. I am a massive football fan and i wanted to use my passion to raise money. I am going to do a football challenge on the 28th of August and my aim is to do 3 crossbars or more. I am raising money to the British Red Cross Beirut Emergency Appeal who are working closely with the Lebanese red cross, which is the main ambulance provider in Lebanon.

Your help will be really appreciated and will make a big difference in rebuilding the country and its people.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and contributions advance!