MP Justine Greening Congratulated the Charity
Charity, Islamic Relief has celebrated 30 years of being a registered charity with a visit from Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening. Meeting staff at the Birmingham office’s the MP discussed ongoing developments in the Syria and Afghanistan region where efforts are ongoing with aid projects.
The year after it was founded, Islamic Relief set up its first field office in Khartoum, Sudan, ready to help those affected by the drought not just survive, but rebuild their lives.
Since then, they have opened over 100 offices in 40 countries worldwide – from Afghanistan to Albania, Pakistan to Palestine, Somalia to Sudan. As well as disaster relief, they carry out sustainable development work to provide water, food, shelter, healthcare, education in the long-term. They also work to support orphans and children, help people get jobs and build livelihoods to support their families, and protect vulnerable communities from future disasters, preventing the loss of lives and property. In 2005 it became the first Muslim charity to join the UK’s Disaster Emergencies Committee.
A spokesman for the charity said: “Islamic Relief’s major single aid and development programme is in Pakistan and it has the largest aid programme in Palestine apart from those of UN agencies.
“Its biggest emergency relief operation is in Syria, where it is responding to the worst humanitarian crisis for a generation. It has provided food, shelter, medical aid and other assistance to over two million Syrians, both deep inside the country and in neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. Islamic Relief works in the most difficult places around the world.”
