Founded by Amir Khan and Haroon Mahmood in 2018, the international humanitarian charity Green Crescent Aid UK has been helping Bradford and Malawi’s most vulnerable by raising money, building houses, and providing access to food, water, and other essential items.
After working with different charities and organisations to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to those in need in Malawi, the Bradford lads decided to start their own charity, Green Crescent Aid UK. Since then they have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds and have provided over 500,000 for the country’s schoolchildren in their three-year existence.
The charity which started as an initiative that created feeding stations across Malawi now provides water pumping stations, schools, house renovations, and live goat distribution projects, alongside other secret projects currently in the works. The charity is funded 100% by donations and is run solely by volunteers with no paid staff.
The charity has recently completed its second shoe distribution project for rural villagers across a few villages in Malawi. The first project focused on donating shoes to women, children, and the elderly, but this one concentrated its efforts on providing footwear for the men in the community.
One of the trustees of the charity, Amir Khan, said: “When we first started in Malawi we focused our efforts on the most vulnerable in the communities we visited, which were usually women, children, and the elderly. Our focus is still largely on these members of the community but the men in the communities need footwear too which is why we decided to do another shoe drive.
“We managed to give out hundreds of pairs of shoes across a few villages. Footwear is a luxury in Malawi and many people in the country are amputees due to untreated infections from walking barefoot. Providing the villagers with footwear means that their feet will be protected from harmful hazards.
One of our mottos is that ‘when we give it to you, it’s yours’. It is not only logistically difficult to ship donated shoes over to Malawi, some people, unfortunately, donate shoes in an unacceptable condition which is why we raised money to buy brand new footwear to give out. ”
In Malawi, water wells are relatively cheap to install, however, the quality of the water is not always up to standard, which is why Green Crescent UK raises money to install water boreholes. At £2000 per station, they are more expensive to install, however, they run deeper than a traditional well and lasts between 15 and 20 years. The water from these stations are much cleaner and are serve a whole village.
“When we give it to you, its yours”
Another project in the works from the charity is a mini-village with over thirty homes planned. The village will be built from scratch from fundraisers back home in England. These houses will be given to homeless people in Malawi, subject to certain criteria.
The live goat project is an initiative from the charity that has given over 1,500 goats to single mothers, widows, and the elderly in Malawi. This project has been set up in groups to promote the breeding of the goats which ensures the continuation of the project, and the milk production to drink, eat or sell to the wider community to generate income.
Mr Khan said: “We gave out at least one, sometimes two goats, to single mother’s, widows, and the elderly in Malawi, to help them be more self-sufficient. The women in Malawi are especially poor which means it’s important to help them in any way possible.”
Back in Bradford, the charity is also helping young people, families, and the vulnerable in the community. After noticing that many families were struggling due to a loss of income in the first national lockdown, Green Crescent UK joined forces with local supermarkets to give out vouchers to people in need and then paid the balance at the end of the month.
The charity gave out between £300 and £400 to each organisation and groups they helped during the pandemic each month. Not forgetting the elderly, the charity purchased items for dementia patients from the ward’s wishlist in Airedale Hospital in Keighley, Bradford.
To find out more information about the charity, or how to donate time or money, you can visit the charity’s Facebook page here. Green Crescent Aid UK’s website is currently being revamped and will be launched in the next few weeks.
