23 June 2010: IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Organisations across the Pacific coordinate for the common human causes

Grass-roots community organisations in Australia and New Zealand are networking for good humanitarian causes in the Australia-Pacific region. The Sydney-based Al-Ghazzali Centre for Islamic Sciences & Human Development and the Rasheed Memorial Trust in Auckland are joining hands from across the Tasman, for coordinated efforts in their local areas.

The Winter blanket drive is the most recent example of the increasing formal collaboration between the two organisations. Blankets, sleeping bags, beanies and even soup sachets, are being requested by the organisations, for delivery to those less fortunate out in the cold this winter.

Al-Ghazzali Centre Founder and Director, Imam Afroz Ali said, “The Al-Ghazzali Centre was founded on the premise of practising one’s Faith through ethics-based approaches to life that acts as catalysts for positive action.

While Rasheed Memorial Trust Executive Secretary, Aarif Rasheed, noted the spiritual importance of such initiatives to the overall service the organisation provides.

“The warmth that we offer others in need this winter will, we hope, nurture our own spiritual warmth which will itself continue to burn the flame of positive action that we use to serve the community we live in.”

The Sydney and Auckland organisations are in fact part of a wider Pacific collaboration that includes the organisation IQRA, based in the Fiji Islands, all of which are part of the regional “Ansaar Project”.

The Ansaar Project has already been involved in many Pacific projects, from aid assistance immediately upon the arrival of the Samoan Tsunami in 2009 and Cyclone Tomas in 2010 in Fiji, to UN-mandated ecological projects such as Mangrove regeneration in Western Samoa. These projects have built on the strong philanthropic records of both organisations.

“The Ansaar Project is an apt name to remind us that not only must we act to help eradicate poverty in the world, but that we must do so first and foremost in our own (or adopted, as the case may be) regions of the world, based on the original Ansaar or “helpers” of the Prophet, peace be upon him” said Mr Rasheed. He thanked the Al-Ghazzali Centre and in particular Imam Afroz for his guidance, articulation of traditional religious principles, and inspiration emanating from the work of Al-Ghazzali Centre, all of which he said was instrumental to the establishment of the Ansaar project.

Upcoming projects include further ecological and aid work to villages in Samoa, rebuilding communities from the aftermath of Cyclone Tomas in Fiji, Feeding the Homeless programs in Sydney and Auckland, and other philanthropic activities coordinated amongst the three organisations.

ENDS