Head of Campaigns- January & February 2010

Assalamu Alaikum,

Alhamdulillah, the second semester was quite busy for the Campaigns Committee, not much talking took place on the egroups, but lots of work was being carried out across the board masha'Allah.

Charity Week:

Committee structure has been put in place and was approved by the Campaigns Committee and the NEC.

Recruitment:

• The first ever National Charity Week Treasurer was recruited alhamdulillah. Sister Seema Patel will be overseeing the Charity Week expenses for all regions and will be given intensive training, by Islamic Relief, on how to  run their online banking system.
• The Charity Week Communications Officer, Ayesha Saleem, has been appointed.
• Regional Rep's Coordinator is yet to be appointed.
• The first CW Regional rep has been elected in Ireland, the rest will be elected during their respective regional AGM's insha'Allah

Palestine Campaign:

Palestine conference and Palestine Week were a huge success alhamdulillah.

National Fri-Day Collections for Palestine Week money is still coming in from ISocs, the total raised will be announced as soon as all the money comes in and gets counted.

Post Conference wristband count and registration count revealed that we had a turnout of over 450 people masha'Allah.

The speakers were very happy with FOSIS and had a great time at the conference.

I would like to thank sister Sumaya Almari and brother Ahmad Tahboub for the amazing work, which they carried out during the build up to and during the Palestine Week and Conference, respectively.

Palestine Trip:

Below is the proposed itinerary for the FOSIS Palestine Trip this summer, with FoA, AP and BMI insha'Allah. We'll be able to provide sponsorship for upto 3 people insha'Allah.

We can sentd multiples of 12, because each tour group consists of 12 people, we can send 12, 24, 36...etc. As you may be aware, the last three days of the trip will very likely be the first three days of Ramadhan, in which case I've spoken with AP about organising for Taraweeh to be prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

We're also working on another trip with Lecturers from the Gaza University. This trip will be targetting people who are high up in the student scene, educating them about the conflict from the basics and it focuses more on the political aspects of the conflict as well as it's impact on Education in Palestine.

August 3rd Meet in the Old City in Jerusalem. Introduction event, tour of tourist sites and overview of what is happening in the Old City. Evening meal. Stay in Hostel.

August 4th A visit of the wall, checkpoints, house demolitions and restrictions on Palestinians by Al Haq. Another talk will be conducted with PASSIA to give a political overview. The evening will be spent in activist tents designed to prevent house demolitions.

August 5th A tour of Bethlehem with the organisation Open Bethlehem http://openbethlehem.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 stay in Hostel in Bethlehem

August 6th A tour of the Centre of Hebron with the ISM and a tour in the late afternoon/evening of the village of Susya. Spend the evening with families in the villages.

August 7th Rise at sunrise with the shepherds to walk their sheep. The rest of the day is open for tour participants to pursue other interests they may have. If there is no agreement the day will be spent with organisations with Palestinians from the areas occupied in 1948 who will explain the injustices faced by the Palestinian community in Israel.

August 8th Tour of Ramallah, the village of Nillin and Jalazon refugee camp. Meet Birzeit Student Council who will tell us about the problems faced by students. Stay in Ramallah hostel.

August 9th Nablus meet with a professor at Al-Najah University who will conduct a tour of Nablus, its surrounding refugee camps and meet with student at Al-Najah University. Stay in Nablus.

August 10th Morning seeing anything else in Nablus, go to the village of Yanoon and meet the people there.

August 11th Visit Qalqilya and meet with women's organisations, return to Ramallah for the evening.

August 12th Day of workshops. Talk by Dahood from Stop the Wall outlining the economic Apartheid model put in place by Israel as well as a talk by Omar Barghouti who will explain the need for boycott. Have dinner together, final fair well and organisation of volunteer positions.

Doha Conference

Organisations and student bodies from around the world come together, as well as students and academics from Palestine, to discuss how to improve Education in Gaza and the West Bank. The conference is hosted by Al-Fakhoora, which is set up by Skeikha Mooza of Qatar. Insha'Allah FOSIS delegates to this conference will have their expenses covered by CAABU.

FOSIS Community Project:

- We now have regional reps in every region who have managed to confirm three ISocs, from every region, for the FCP day which will be taking place after the Easter Holidays.

- The project's video has been produced and put up on Youtube and we're currently working on a video.

We now have Campaigns Reps in London who are going to get London ISocs involved with the FCP.

The next steps will be to:

a. finalise the structure the Project

b. Write up documents about the Project, its purpose and its Aims and Objectives.

b. Deliver workshops and seminars at FOSIS events

c. Marketing for the project and getting ISocs involved with it.

d. UCAS Workshops and the Fairtrade Campaign will be launched this Summer insha'Allah.

There is so much work to be done over the course of the next few months. But with Allah's support, the most difficult of challenges become easy to overcome.

Become part of the team, which will build what can potentially be one of the most inspiring committees in our organisation. Get in touch Head.Campaigns@fosis.org.uk

Finally, I would like to finish off by quoting a Hadith in which the Messenger of Allah says "Surely Allah loves it most when His slave perfects the work he does". May Allah give us the ability to maintain the purest of intentions and may He grant us the ability to perfect our work. May Allah, through this work, bring us together under the one vision of 'serving the path of Allah'. Ameen

Wassalamu Alaikum