MOSQUE RALLIES TO HELP VICTIMS OF FAMINE

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Mosque rallies to help victims of famine

An MP has visited one of the places of worship which rallied to his appeal to raise money for famine-struck Somalia.

Jon Ashworth, Leicester South MP, received a £500 cheque from the Darus Salam Mosque, Highfields, Leicester, in front of about 100 worshippers.

The money will be used towards the cost of a £3,000 ambulance.

Last year, Mr Ashworth encouraged all places of worship to raise cash to help the humanitarian efforts.

He said: "I am very pleased Darus Salam Mosque raised over £500 towards the cost of the ambulances for Somalia following my appeal to places of worship to raise funds for humanitarian efforts following the devastating famine in Somalia last year."

He said Leicester had close ties with Somalia so it was heartwarming so see such a good response.

Nizan Chowdhury, a trustee and general secretary of the Darus Salam Trust, said: "Darus Salam Mosque was honoured to be able to assist in this crucial appeal.

"The ambulances purchased will provide essential care to the citizens of Mogadishu."

CITY AID WORKERS HEAFING FOR AFRICAN DROUGHT ZONE

This article is published in today's Leicester Mercury:

City aid workers heading for African drought zone

Two volunteers from Leicester were travelling to East Africa today to distribute food to starving families.

Shabir Sacranie and Harun Lambat will visit El Wak and Wajir, two areas in Kenya that have been badly affected by the worst drought in 60 years.

The pair, who volunteer for Highfields charity Caravan of Mercy, plan to deliver hundreds of food parcels and clean water to families in need.

They are taking £50,000 – raised in just a fortnight, mainly by Leicester's Muslim community via door-to-door collections and bucket collections outside mosques – to spend on the needy.

Father-of-two Mr Sacranie, who is taking time out from running his grocery store in the city to spend 12 days in the crisis zone, said: "People have been really generous – some have given £100, £200 at a time."

The drought affecting Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia has devastated cattle and crops, leaving millions of people starving.

The price of the little food that is available – mainly in richer areas such as the Kenyan capital Nairobi – has soared.

Mr Sacranie and Mr Lambat will be accompanied by a Kenyan charity worker, who will help negotiate a fair price when they are buying food and supplies.

Mr Sacranie said: "We will have to see what the situation is when we get there, but we hope to be able to fill eight to 12 trucks with food and gallons of water."

The 43-year-old travelled to Pakistan to help victims of the floods in 2010, and also volunteered in Kenya four years ago.

He said: "What makes me happy is when you give a food parcel to someone. All the difficulty you have with getting from A to B and driving thousands of miles is worth it when you see people's faces when you hand them some food.

"I really can't describe it, just to see a little smile on their faces."

The charity's contact in Kenya is arranging a police escort to accompany them as it is likely their vehicle will be swamped when they arrive.

The volunteers will also be looking in to the cost of installing hand water pumps during their time in Kenya.

The charity is hoping to return there in mid-August.

Mr Sacranie said: "It all boils down to funds, but hopefully we can raise enough money to go again. We can't feed everybody, but we do our best."

The Leicester Mercury is calling on readers to give what money they can to help save hundreds of thousands of children facing starvation on the Horn of Africa.

Since we launched our appeal with UNICEF on Monday, a state of famine has been declared in parts of Somalia by the United Nations.

Half-a-million under fives are suffering from life-threatening malnutrition.

UNICEF will use the donations to buy food, medical aid and clean water.

To donate to our East Africa appeal fill in the form below, call 0800 316 5353 or go to: www.unicef.org.uk/leicester

KELVINGROVE: LAFARUK MADONNA

This exhibit in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum reminded me of the story of the Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm in the Orkney Islands (which is still standing, a little closer to home and which I've had the pleasure of visiting on two occasions, more than 20 years apart - first time for a few blessed hours entirely on my own on a wet and blustery day in the autumn of 1984, the second time as part of a hot and harassed coach party on a day trip in the summer of 2008).

This is a story about three religious paintings that were made by an Italian prisoner of war – Giuseppe Baldan – for a mud chapel. Find out how pictures painted on the back of old flour bags gave prisoners hope during World War II.

The paintings show the Virgin Mary holding her son, the baby Jesus, with angels on either side of them. In the background are views of the Lafaruk prisoner of war camp, where the Italians were held.

The camp was set up near Berbera, in what is now Somalia. The British built it to hold Italian prisoners of war during the war in North Africa.

How did the paintings survive? When the camp was disbanded, Somali soldiers, who were at the camp to keep order, destroyed the chapel and slashed the paintings. The Italian solders rescued the paintings and gave them to Captain Alfred Hawksworth – the British officer in charge of the camp – to look after. In 1965 he tried to give them back. A letter from Luigi de Giovanni, the camp interpreter, explained why the prisoners told Captain Hawksworth to keep them.

“I have appreciated your idea of bringing back to Italy the sacred paintings of captivity we entrusted to you … you must keep them for ever as a gauge of gratitude and love by the 35,000 people who owe you, beyond their life, the dignity of human treatment.”