Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah upon you all 

Welcome to the fourth campaign which is much needed with the increasing cost of living worldwide particularly for those orphans and needy kids who lost their breadwinners (i.e. their fathers). I am the founder of the fundraising organisation ‘ZarifAtToul-AsSamer’. This organisation is a social enterprise project that is designed to help people and communities, and it is registered with the HMRC – HM Revenue and Customs. 

This project has two main aims: the first is to raise awareness of the Palestinian folklore in Scotland and the second is to use this Palestinian folklore as a tool to help orphans and needy children in the Palestinian camps. Through the first aim we recruit people of all ages who are willing to learn the Palestinian ‘dabke’ dance and happy to participate in the fundraising process to achieve the second aim.

When we started as an organisation, we helped a Palestinian child in Jordan whose father is blind. The children might suffer significantly because of the father’s disability and the disadvantages associated with not being able to work.  This case encouraged us to support more families who lost their breadwinners or are going through difficult circumstances. We then managed to add new sponsorships and have been supporting 21 children for the past 26 months. These children live either in the Palestinian camps of Jordan or outside but in very poor conditions. 

Therefore, we intend to raise awareness about helping the orphans and needy children of the Palestinian camps of Jordan and Gaza. Our support is channelled through UK registered charities that have direct access to the beneficiaries on the ground. We would like to maximise our efforts by supporting more children. 

Given the devastating situation in Gaza, we aspire to increase the target to a total of 30 sponsorships annually. We hope to have enough funding to enable us to visit those orphans in Jordan. Unfortunately, it will be much more difficult to visit those in Gaza however the UK registered charities will be able to do so.

This fundraising organisation helps people in need and by law it is allowed to raise funds for good causes. We are committed to prevent and relieve poverty as an organisation. You can help by donating, buying Palestinian products, or supporting a dabke workshop via the online store Shop with us (تسوق معنا ) (zarif-attoul-assamer.org.uk). You could also host a stall to sell Palestinian products in return for donations.

We thank the donors who sponsored the 21 orphans and needy children since December 2021 and hope to achieve the new target of 30 sponsorships a year by Ramadan this year. We will be campaigning until Eid Al Adha. 

We were invited as a dabke troupe by the Art27 group of Edinburgh to remember Nakba since 75 years.  Some volunteers performed dabke and others were responsible for fundraising.  We participated with the Edinburgh Carnival Festival, Tollcross Primary School, and the Sudanese Community. We were invited by the committee of School Strike Greater Glasgow to make a dabke workshop and have a fundraising stall.  You can check more details about those events in this hyperlink - Events we did (الأحداث التي قمنا بها) (zarif-attoul-assamer.org.uk). 

Since we rely on volunteers in our dabke performances and fundraising, we want to recruit more young people and children to learn dabke and help with fundraising over the course of a three-year programme funded by the Edinburgh Carnival Festival. We are looking to recruit 12 dabke members (6 male and 6 female) to learn two dabke routines from the 1st April-14th July – the Edinburgh Carnival Day.  In addition, as part of the programme, we will select 1 or 2 leaders to have a 3-day training session every year over the duration of the three-year programme.  We want the recruits to register with us by 10th March 2024 as we will start training by 16th March.   

In order to donate online for the orphans and needy kids, click on this link Orphan & Needy Donations (تبرعات الأيتام والمحتاجين) (zarif-attoul-assamer.org.uk). You could donate your Zakat, Sadaqah, Zakat El Fitr, Eid gifts, or Qurbanis: calf shares or meat parcels for those who need it most.  You could also donate £25 monthly or £300 annually for each child.

ZarifAtToul-AsSamer urges our trustworthy donors to give and support us to maximise our efforts into supporting children in the Palestinian camps of Gaza and Jordan especially during the months of Ramadan and Eid Al Adha.  To donate, please contact me at +447846123377 (Samer) or by email at ‘info@zarif-attoul-assamer.org.uk' 

My best regards to you all. 

Dr Samer Saadah
Founder and Managing Trustee of ZarifAtToul-AsSamer
Visit us: zarif-attoul-assamer.org.uk