Oldham girl, 9, raises £40k in Ramadan earthquake appeal

Amelia Manha, who celebrated her ninth birthday earlier this month, has helped to raise more than £40,000 in a charity appeal.

Daughter of campaigner Afruz Miah BEM, Amelia started her charity campaigning at age six.

Amelia even appeared on the Islam Channel’s Today Show to recite the names on national TV.

Amelia Manha memorised the 99 names in just eight days (Image: Afruz Miah)

The amount of money raised on the Givebrite page for the charity appeal, run by the Global Relief Trust, has already reached more than £40,000 in donations.

The number of people killed in the Turkey and Syria earthquakes has topped more than 50,000.

Two earthquakes, of magnitude 7.8 and magnitude 7.5, hit the countries hours apart on February 6.

A third magnitude 6.4 quake hit the area weeks later, on February 20.

Graphic showing the earthquakes which have hit Turkey and Syria (Image: PA)

Afruz said: “I just came back from Syria, and I sent her [daughter Amelia] some videos and said ‘these are the children and families you’re going to be helping’ and she wants to do more now.

“She wants to do something crazy next year, hopefully.”

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Dad Afruz hopes his daughter’s next campaign will be able to raise money for the local community as well as the international community.

“If we don’t do it in Ramadan we might do it after Ramadan, maybe I’ll get her to walk with me, walk from Oldham to somewhere iconic, we’ll see – we’re still planning,” he added.

Afruz has just returned from a visit to affected areas in Turkey and Syria as part of the campaign.

Afruz Miah in Syria (Image: Afruz Miah)

He visited Gaziantep in Turkey and Idlib in Syria from April 11 to 16, calling the experience an ‘eyeopener’.

Afruz said: “I’ve travelled to other countries but this was different because people were in a war-torn country, there was no support and the living conditions, the communal bathrooms – women have to walk 500 to 700 metres away from where they’re living to get to a bathroom where they have to share.

“During Ramadan where people are getting up for Fajr [dawn prayer], in order to have their in-the-night meal, it was very difficult for people to go to the bathroom, come back, eat when they need to, and then fast as well. It was an eye-opener in that sense.

“People moving around was difficult because there were no proper roads and it was wet and windy, the roads were muddy and we went out delivering food at iftar time, we went out delivering food at midnight so they can eat something at night so they can fast the next day.

Roads were muddy (Image: Afruz Miah)

“The children and the families are so grateful. If it was somewhere else people would go crazy when they see a bit of food packs and trucks coming with food.

“They were very calm, they’re collected, they took what they were given. They weren’t ungrateful, they’re very hopeful, they know it’s a challenging life for them but they’ve accepted it and there’s so much we can do, we’re not even touching the tip of the iceberg.

Global Relief Trust's Ramadan 99 campaign has helped children in Syria directly (Image: Afruz Miah)

“There’s so much that needs to be done. We don’t get media coverage, BBC, ITV, things like that. It needs to be highlighted more so more funds can go that way.”

Afruz went on to thank the sponsors, as well as people who took part in the challenge, and said six people memorised the 99 names of Allah due to the challenge.

Additionally, one participant will win a trip to visit the Kaaba in Mecca.

Those wishing to donate to the charity appeal can do so at the link in the first part of the article.