Building a

Sustainable
future
Annual Summary
2014-2015

minhaj Welfare foundation

www.minhajwelfare.org

Contents
04

Founders Message

06

Education for All

Building Schools for Quality Education
Every Child has the Right to Education
Aghosh: Orphan Care Home
Bait-uz-Zahra

16
20

Minhaj Model Village in Kenya

Water for All
Water for All in Asia
Water for All in Africa

26

Emergency Relief
Pakistan
Indonesia
Syria
Gaza

34

Collective Marriages: Empowering Women

36

Empowering local communities in the UK Projects

42

Achievement: 2014/2015

2015 Minhaj Welfare Foundation.

Registered in England and Wales 1084057 and in Scotland SC043566.
Minhaj Welfare Foundation, 298 Romford Road, London E7 9HD.

In a year of challenges, a very warm

and heart-felt welcome from our
founder Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri.
In the Name of Allah,

the Most

This is an indeed an exciting and

Merciful and Most Compassionate.

challenging moment for Minhaj

I greet you with the Islamic greetings

Welfare Foundation. Even during

of peace.

this time of austerity, it is crucial to

Firstly, I want to thank the Minhaj

wellbeing of humanity is a concern

Welfare Foundation team, staff

for all and a responsibility for every

members and volunteers for all

individual to tackle.

keep reminding ourselves that the

the work they have done over the

past year.

Despite the difficulties we face,

In all of our work, our primary

a recognised organisation worldwide.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation remains

accountability remains to the

I pray for the solidarity of all those

children, women and the old who

who continue to support this

live in extreme poverty. Minhaj

effort and remind ourselves of the

Welfare Foundation will continue

Prophetic example: The righteous

supporting the destitute in society

in society is the one whose action

and help provide orphan and

benefit others.

vulnerable children with quality

education. As we believe that

Yours Sincerely

education is the only means to

Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri

end the cycle of poverty.

Founding Leader

Minhaj Welfare Foundation believes

that only through education, we can
end the cycle of poverty.

Children from a school in Sialkot enjoying a good day

education
for all
minhaj Welfare foundationss
education up the largest area
of our work and supporting
poor and needy children,
and re-developing schools
is a major part of the effort.

minhaj welFare Foundation is supporting

Education for All in the following areas:

Re-development of schools

Sponsorship of orphans
and needy children

Sponsorship of School
students, Hafiz children
and University students

with your help we have supported:

630
SchoolS

We have built 630 primary and

seconday schools in Pakistan and
Kenya, 40 IT colleges and 1 university.

145,000
StudentS

Each day we provide more

than 145,000 students with
quality education at a Minhaj
school, college and university.

Building Schools
for Quality Education
Construction has completed on more than
10 schools which donors of Minhaj Welfare
Foundation contributed towards in helping
to rebuild schools and provide quality
education to poor communities in Asia.
More than 300 teachers and 12,000
students will now walk from their
old school to the new classrooms,
carrying their books and school
supplies. Lining up by the doors, a
number of excited students peek over
each others shoulders to get their
first glimpse of their new classroom,
IT and science labs.

Communities were excited to see

the newly constructed school for
primary and secondary students.
With the building of these new
facilities, parents are now hopeful
for a better future.

Children studying at their new classroom in Safdarabad

We have rebuilt
schools across Pakistan

Jhelum
Sialkot
Gujranwala
Lahore
Safdarabad
Manawala
Mamukajan
Haveli Lakha
Arifwala

minhaj model sChool saeela,

jhelum (Case study)

Sometimes a classroom is more

than a classroom. For the children
of Saeela, Jhelum (Pakistan), many
of whom have never been to school
until today, the recently constructed
facilities marks a new beginning.
The community also understand
the power of education and is fully
supporting this new initiative Minhaj
Welfare Foundation started an
outreach program and began talking
to local community members to send
their children to school.

This is Amnas first year at the Jhelum Minhaj school

Alhamdulillah! we have helped

families understand the importance
of sending their children to school.
They are more than 50 children who
have enrolled to a Minhaj school.
Bilal is one of leading pupils at the Jhelum school

Every Child
has the Right to Education
Minhaj Welfare Foundation
supports hundreds of poor and
needy children through its Child
Sponsorship program. We provide
quality education to children from
marginalised areas so that they can
compete with others in getting the
best results.

10 school Mamukanjan
Children studying at one one newly built libraries at the Minhaj Model

I am so grateful to
Minhaj for building a
school in my area, I just
love going to school.
Now I am determined
to go college and then
university.
Habibah Aslam of Minhaj Secondary
School Sialkot achieved a remarkable
90% pass rate and came on top of the
district examination boards.

Every year I come

top of the class,
I want to become
an engineer and
support my parents
and brothers and
sisters.
Umar is from Haveli Lakha, both of
his parents are unable to work due to
old age. Minhaj Welfare Foundation
has been supporting the child in his
education since 2009.

11

aghosh
Orphan Care Home
Minhaj Welfare Foundation completed
Aghosh in Lahore, one of its key
education flagship projects to date
a large Orphan care home providing
a safe environment and education
to Orphans or those that have lost
parents in a disaster situation.
the orphan Care home inCludes

Nursery and
Foster Home

Grammar
School

Mosque

yuSufS fatheR left hIm

when he was really young.

His mother cannot afford
to pay for his study.
Minhaj Welfare Foundation
took Yusuf into Aghosh
and he is now one the
best performing students
in his class.

12

Facilities to house
500+ orphans

When I grow, I want

to become a doctor.
I just want to support
my mother and three
sisters.

Foster mother feeding young children at Aghosh

Morning assembly at the courtyard of the Aghosh premises

Support an orphan child

from only 35 per month

make a donation
www.minhajwelfare.org
0300 30 30 777

13

Educating Women
Bait-uz-Zahra
Minhaj Welfare Foundation completed
another key flagship project in 2014 with
the completion of Bait-uz-Zahra (a female
student home). We read the story of Sayida
Bano who is being supported by Minhaj
Welfare Foundation, she is completing her
higher education.

For young women like

Sayida Bano, being far
away from home is really
difficult. Bano is studying at
the Minhaj Girls College in
Lahore and is almost ready
to complete here Masters
and higher qualification in
Islamic Studies.

There was times when I was

helpless, my uncles and relatives
did not want me to study in
Lahore, they told me to stay at
home. If it was not for Minhaj
Welfare and the Bait-uz-Zahra
hostel I would have left studying
at gone back home to Chakwal.
Bano explains.

Banos father passed away

when she was young, her
mother is very old and the
family does not have any
other means to support her
studies. Bano know if she
gets the right qualification,
there is hope for a good job
and the chance of providing
a better life for her family.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation

supports young women through
sponsorship in its Educational
establishments and providing
them with a safe home at the
Bait-uz-Zahra.

14

Aerial shot of the Bait-uz-Zahra female hostel

Support an Orphan
child in Bait-uz-Zahra
from only 35 per month

Make a donation
www.minhajwelfare.org
0300 30 30 777

Khadija is being supported through

the student sponsorship program

15

minhaj model
village in
Kenya, Africa
In 2010, minhaj Welfare
foundation first visited Kenya.
during its visit the mWf team
travelled almost seven hours by
road to a remote village in tana
River district.
sinCe 2011, Minhaj Welfare Foundation
has built the community of Kitere:

a medical centre

a secondary school

provided them with

access to clean water

All projects are owned and maintained

by the community and are self-sustainable.

16

there are almost 1000 people

that live in the remote village of

Kitere; it is the centre location
for surrounding villages of the
Sub-Baomo location a total of no
more than 12,000. Majority of the
people are subsistence and petty
traders whose income is relatively
low (the average earning is 65
per year). The level of poverty is
extremely high.
By adopting a holistic approach
and giving poor and needy
communities access to education,
clean water, food security and
health care will empower them
and lift them out of poverty.

17

Minhaj Secondary School

The Minhaj Secondary School Kitere,

At the opening ceremony, Dhadho

Iddi (MWF Kenya co-ordinator)
appreciated the efforts of those
who supported the school: Words
cannot describe how grateful we are
to Minhaj Welfare, we are able to
educate the children and begin to
change the face of a nation,
he declared.

Kenya was completed in January 2015.

The school has already selected
children who have completed their
primary education and whose family
income is less than 35 a month.
The Minhaj Secondary School Kitere
will cater for more than 100 students
who show outstanding promise but
whose families cannot support their
education.

The school incorporates 3 classrooms,

principle office, science laboratory,
sanitation facilities and a room in
which it is hoped computers will be
put in place for the students.

18

Minhaj Medical Centre

Students at the Minhaj school lining up to collect their lunch

For many living in Kitere, it is

very common to hear cases of
women dying at child birth due to
inadequate health care. Unfortunate
circumstances meant that when
someone fell extremely ill, the people
of Kitere had to travel at least 50km
to the nearest hospital. The village is
about 10km from the main road and
in most cases, majority of the patients
did not reach the referral centres.

Since 2012, Minhaj Medical Centre

Kitere has been operating with the
help of an onsite doctor and two

female nurses. Currently the medical

centre is supporting basic health care,
preventing diseases such as malaria
and malnourishment from spreading.
The community has seen a great
improvement in the number of fatal
cases reducing.
Our next step is to provide a proper
maternal ward, women are highly at
risk especially when giving birth at
home. With the help of donors, we
can prevent many children dying at
birth, said Dr Badwi.

19

Water
for All
When Minhaj Welfare
Foundation works in a
marginalised community, it
focuses on improving access
to clean water, while also
implementing programmes to
increase the practice of healthy
habits and clean water usage.
of these
activites, we begin to see long term change in our
communities and ultimately, fewer incidence of
water-related disease and illness.
Through the continued implementation

Our Water for All includes:

Clean water for schools and poor

communities in Asia and Africa

Water Wells for large

scale communities in Africa

20

minhaj welFare Foundation Continues

to maKe its water For all projeCt
eFFeCtive, sustainable and Cost
eFFeCtive. sinCe the beginning oF
water For all, mwF reports:

150,000
people

150,000 people have been

provided acess to clean water

2,050
WateR facIlItIeS

2,050 water facilities built

in Asia and Africa.

21

Water for All

in Asia
Minhaj Welfare Foundation with the help
of its local field officers reaches to remote
areas of Punjab and Sindh in Pakistan.

Mariyam from Larkana, SIndh:

Me and my children had to travel

3km every day in search of clean
water. It became so tiring that I
could not walk any more, my young
children had to take the journey
instead. They missed out on school.
This water project has helped us
a lot, especially the children. Our
children are going to school and
learning so I think they are very
happy. I hope my children will
grow up and get educated and
help this community.

Community from Rajanpur:

The community in Rajanpur

received a new hand pump system.
Along with providing the hand
pump, we have also conducted
maintenance training so the
community could prevent any
breakdowns that are very common
in marginalised areas. Before the
project began, the community had
limited or no access to clean and
safe drinking water. Now they have
improved access to clean water,
and a water committee trained in
promoting best hygiene practices.

22

Women from Thar, SIndh collecting clean water from their new hand pump

2,000

300

have been
installed so far

have been
installed since 2014

hand pumps

hand pumps

180

120,000

to build a hand pump

in Asia it Costs 180

people now have access to long

term means of drinKing water

1 hand pump = 60 people (3 for every person)

23

Water for All

in Africa
In 2011, more than 11 million people
were left displaced and affected by a
severe drought in East Africa. Millions
of people from Somalia migrated to the
neighbouring country, Kenya. Minhaj
Welfare Foundation initiated a clean
water program in the Tana River delta,
focusing on providing clean water
facilities to marginalised communities.

15

have been
installed so far

WATER WELLS

15,000

have been located

in marginalised communities
of North East Kenya

WELLS

people now have access to long

term means of drinking water

to build a water well in

Africa it costs 3,000

1 well = 1,000 people (3 for every person)

24

Water changes everything Amnas story

clean

water
is important to
our health, we
now can think
about going
to school.

The community of Adadu, Kenya enjoying clean water

in Kenya,
15 year old Amna is responsible for
collecting water for her household,
her parents and three sisters.

But the water Amna drinks from

Minhaj Welfare Foundations well
is clean and suitable for drinking,
cooking, laundry and other
domestic uses.

liKe most young girls

Before Minhaj Welfare Foundation

built a well in the Sub-Baomo district,
fetching water was a difficult, even
dangerous task for Amna.

Amnas family are not the only ones

benefitting from the well dug by
Minhaj Welfare Foundation. Poor and
needy communities can also gain
access to fresh water.

The North Eastern region of

Kenyas water system was very
severly affected during the drought
in 2010. Water is still very rare and
the access to water, is that which
is contaminated.

Amna is grateful to Minhaj Welfare

Foundation for providing her and the
family a solution. She is ready to end
the cycle of poverty.

25

emergency relief
Responding in disaster
aected areas

bosnia
syria

aFghanistan

palestine
libya

iran

gaZa

Kashmir
paKistan

iraQ

india
somalia
Kenya

26

ba

japan

bangladesh

indonesia

Minhaj Welfare
Foundation promotes
an effective humanitarian
approach to tackling the
escalation of disasters
focusing on both the
short and long term
needs of those affected
in disasters.

27

MWF volunteers establishing a relief camp after the floods in 2010

Adnan at a flood relief camp in South of Punjab, Pakistan

paKistan: ongoing disaster

2005 Kashmir earthQuaKe

assisted in rescue operations

Pakistan has been affected by

drought, earthquake, epidemic and
floods over the past three decades. It
is estimated that more than 48 million
people were directly affected after
facing disaster situations, taking away
more than 78,000 lives.

2009 swat

Thousands of people displaced

2010 Floods

Set up relief camps across

Pakistan
2012 baloChistan earthQuaKe

MWF has supported more than 1

million people in Pakistan providing
both short (food, water and medical
aid) and long term support (rebuilding
homes, schools and supporting
families). An overview of MWF
emergency response in Pakistan:

provided emergency aid

2013 badami bagh

Provided food and water to

victims
2014 thar, sindh

Provided emergency aid and

established long term projects

29

MWF volunteers provided emergency relief to victims of the Tsunami in Indonesia

tsunami: indonesia

The Indonesian province of Aceh,

was heavily affected in 2004
suffered the heaviest loss of life and
the most widespread destruction.
An estimated 169,000 people either
died or are missing and almost
600,000 were displaced.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation (MWF)

assisted thousands of affected people
in the Ache region to achieve their
rights to shelter, to livelihoods and a
say in the decisions that affect them.
In some locations, particularly on
the east coast of Aceh, MWF met its
objectives and is working to ensure a
responsible handover to communities.

30

With the current

situation in the
Middle East worsening,
millions of lives are
constantly at risk in
the region.

Children at the orphanage in Gaza provided with gifts

gaZa: rebuilding lives

Minhaj Welfare Foundation (MWF)

has been supporting various programs
in Palestine and in the Gaza strip since
2008. In addition to its emergency
relief, MWF is currently providing
higher education to students who
have directly been affected by the
constant attacks.

In June 2014, local field officers

in Shujaiyah set main points for
collection of aid in which families
were provided sacks of rice and food
ration. Our implementing partners
personally went to the nearby
neighbourhood to provide clean
water to homes of the affectees.

MWFs main focus has been to

provide Food Security for families in
Gaza ensuring they have access to
both food and clean water for two or
three months.

MWF will be further expanding

on a larger scale food and clean
water project with a long term
Education plan.

31

syria Crisis sinCe 2011

MWF volunteer Faisal Mirza

travelled to Syria to help distribute
vital aid to the Syria refugees

More than 3 million have been left

displaced from the conflict in Syria
since 2011.

In December 2013, Faisal Mirza

(Holland) a volunteer of Minhaj
Welfare Foundation travelled to
Damascus, Syria to assess the
humanitarian situation after almost
two years of internal unrest. In
addition to meeting with local
NGOs, MWF team distributed winter
warmers and food packs to families
living in temporary make-shift shelters
within schools and buildings.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation volunteers

distributed Food packs, including a
number of important items to support
the people of Syria 2013. More than
1400 people benetted and were
provided with monthly food ration.

32

33

Collective
marriages
Empowering
Women
many CitiZens From rural areas are unable to enjoy
the prospect of marriage and beginning a family.
Ignorance and back-breaking cultural constraints such
as ridiculously high dowries and extortionate demands
from the grooms side alienate some families of brides
to be from marriage. The lives of parents are consumed
by earning in order to meet a large dowry for their
daughters, but even they fall short.

Minhaj Welfare Foundation provides a full a ceremony

planned to include all the ingredients of a joyous
occasion. This includes a religious ceremony (for all
faiths), full bridal gift for the newly married couple and
an opportunity to feed at least 50 guests.
MWF was the first NGO in the history of Pakistan to
initiate this program, whereby couples lacking the
financial means to get married are funded.
The desperate need to resolve this crisis has persisted
for many years. MWF has begun this project in 2005.

34

 I was 25 when my
marriage took place,
me and my husband have
two beautiful children. I
dont think I would have
ever got married if mWf
did not support me and
my family.
in the Collective
Marriage ceremony in 2005.

aisha was married

600+

1,500

since 2005 more than 600 Couples

have been married off

it Costs 1,500 to

cover the
costs of one marriage

35

Empowering
Local
Communities
in the UK
Minhaj Welfare Foundation
(MWF) remains ever committed
in its fight against global poverty
however it also understands the
growing concern of the need
to tackle issues closer to home
which require an equal time in
addressing them.

36

A group of young children 37

walking in the streets of London, campaigning against global hunger

Community Spirit
Helping deprived
communities in the
UK on Christmas
Minhaj Welfare Foundations initiated a community
Food Bank on Wednesday 24th December 2014
(Christmas Eve). The aim was to highlight the ever
growing concern of extreme poverty in the UK.

We are ever grateful

to the Minhaj
Welfare Foundation
for providing this
opportunity to our
group, it is really a
community spirit.
Mary Barrow,
of the refugee group

Dawood Mashhadi, Managing Director

of MWF said: we hope that this could
be the stepping stone of many more
food banks to come.

a cooked meal on Christmas Eve

outside the Minhaj-ul-Quran mosque
in Forest Gate and also distributed
food (tinned) items.

Working with a local charity based in

East London who work particularly
with deprived communities of all
faiths and backgrounds, MWF provide

Lyn Brown MP of East Ham showed

her appreciation and said that more
of these food banks need to be setup
across London.
38

Lets Revive
Under the Lets Revive project, MWF has developed some
key educational and intervention programmes to help both
Muslim and Non-Muslims with the true message of Islam.
This is one of MWFs flagship projects here in the UK, we
rely very much on kind donations and contributions from
our donors to help us propagate the true message of Islam.

I really enjoyed the

Seekers course, the
seminar dealt with some
pertinent issues and it
was very informative.
Mariyam ali,
a student who attended the
seekers seminar in london

Seekers Academy

Translation of Islamic Literature

As the key supporter of this project,

Seekers has delivered educational
resources for higher education Islamic
seminars in universities across the UK.

We have a dedicated team that

translates Islamic literature from
Arabic and Urdu into the English
language. The books are authored
by Shaykh-ul-Islam, Dr Muhammad
Tahir-ul- Qadri, some of the books
translated include:

More than 150 participants from

a network of universities and
professionals have attended seminars
in Sheffield, Birmingham and London.
The following three courses have been
delivered from 2014/2015

Muhammad the Merciful, The Teaching

Islam Series, Mawlid-un-Nabi, The
Supreme Jihad, Islamic Curriculum on
Counter-Terrorism, Peace, Integration
& Human Right and Muhammad the
Peace Maker amongst others.

Bida (Innovation in Islam)

Shirk (Monotheism and
Islamic Creed)
Jihad or is it?
39

 There is no doubt
that women are key
in educating their
children about the
peaceful message
of Islam, and
preserving the faith
of their children.
FATIMA MASHHADI,
PRESIDENT, IRFAN-UL-QURAN COURSE

Irfan-ul-Quran course:
Islamic Education for Women

Minhaj Welfare Foundation is

supporting the Minhaj Women League
(UK) who successfully ran the Irfan-ulQuran programme which was being
delivered for the first time in major
cities across the UK.

Fatima Mashhadi who is the President

and lead instructor of the course
commented: It is really important
that women from hard to meet
communities have the opportunity to
study in a free and open environment
and learn about their religion. There
is no doubt that women are key in
educating their children about the
peaceful message of Islam, and
preserving the faith of their children.

The course which are taught in

community centres, mainly targeted
women whose first language was
not necessarily English. Experience
instructors provided an extensive
meaning of the Quran relating it to
both the spiritual and modern needs
of females living in the west.

The turnout has been amazing, on

average more than 75 women from
each city attended these courses.
We are now hoping to run this
throughout the country and make
it a continuous thing, she added.
40

 The Radio brought

a wide number of
people together,
it created a real
family atmosphere
throughout the holy
month.
adnan sohail,
station manager

Radio Ramadan organised an Iftar Festival in memory

of those who lost their lives in Gaza attacks in 2014

On the airwaves:
Radio Ramadan

Minhaj Welfare Foundation

launched Ramadan 87.9FM in
East London during the holy
month of Ramadan 2014.

Adnan commented: The

Radio brought a wide number
of people together, it created a
real family atmosphere throughout
the holy month.

The station hosted Sadiq Khan MP,

Labours shadow justice secretary,
councillors and campaigners
to discuss topics, ranging from
international issues such as Palestine
and local NHS issues.

Everyone was really excited and

wanted to be a part of Radio
Ramadan. Shows were broadcasted
in Urdu, Bengali, Arabic and
English, it reflected the strong
culture in the capital.

The stations manager Adnan Sohail

said one of the aims of the Radio was
to educate both Muslims and NonMuslims about the true message of
Islam and to highlight the virtues of
the month of Ramadan.
41

Achievements
see how much your
donations helped in 2014
Minhaj Welfare Foundation truly
believes that without the support
of its donors, supporters and
volunteers worldwide, it would
never be able to poor and needy
around the world. In 2014, MWF
was able to expand on sustainable
programs and in particular focus
its efforts in Education, Water and
Emergency Relief.

250 1

st

water facilities built

in Africa and Asia.

42

The first ever

Minhaj Secondary
School

in Africa

100 1,000
provided to
1,000 families in Gaza

children ready to study

Emergency relief

at our school in Kenya

3,000
students have access to
quality education in 2015

1,000 10
poor and needy children supported

through MWF sponsorship program

were rebuilt
in Pakistan

schools

20,000

people have

been provided long term access to clean water

43

to maKe a donation
direCtly via banK transFer
For UK (GBP - )
BANK NAME: HSBC
SORT CODE: 40-15-17
ACCOUNT NO: 21 65 18 03
International donations:
IBAN: GB95 MIDL4015 1721 6518 03
SWIFT: MIDLGB211 4H

minhaj Welfare foundation

298 Romford Road
London
E7 9HD
www.minhajwelfare.org
@minhajwelfare
MinhajWelfare
0300 30 30 777

Registered charity numbers: England and

Wales 1084057. Scotland SC043566.