Mission Possible: International Youth Day
As the world today marks International Youth Day 2016 and how young people can help eradicate poverty around the world, a group of young volunteers from Birmingham are preparing to change lives in Tanzania.
The latest Mission Possible deployment to Tanzania leaves Birmingham today for a 10-day programme which will see them deliver aid and support to improve the quality of life for impoverished and struggling communities.
The four volunteers - Nabil Ahmed, Navid Kaleem, Akeel Iqbal and Asim Siddiqui - will fly from Birmingham to the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam and from there to Pangani District.
They will interview beneficiaries, deliver aid and carry out programmes involving health education, sustainability, livelihoods, water and sanitation and support for schools and medical facilities. The group will also visit Islamic Help’s pioneering Children’s Eco Village near Dar es Salaam during the 10-day deployment.
Mission Possible is Islamic Help’s flagship volunteering programme which promises participants the humanitarian experience of a lifetime. For many of the volunteers who have taken part, it has proved to be a life-changing experience. As well as fundraising for the cost of their deployment and the aid they deliver, they also meet the beneficiaries face-to-face and, using needs criteria make decisions on how to allocate the aid.
Last year’s deployment in 2015 to Meka and Mwembeni villages in Pangani district distributed aid to benefit more than 2,050 villagers and 480 students. It included:
• Providing livestock and setting up shops for poor and disabled people as part of livelihood opportunities
• Supplied and installed three rainwater harvesting systems, in two schools and a dispensary
• Carried out renovations and construction of toilets at Mwembeni School
• Supplied stationery to pupils and raised environmental awareness by planting 400 trees and a kitchen garden at the school
• Three solar panels were installed at the school along environmental awareness training
• Distributed more than 350 mosquito nets to help combat malaria
The work of Mission Possible encapsulates the spirit of this year’s International Youth Day whose theme is ‘The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production’.
This year’s Day is about achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It focuses on the leading role of young people in ensuring poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development through sustainable consumption and production.
Sustainable consumption entails the use of products and services that meet the basic needs of communities while safeguarding the needs of future generations.
The next Mission Possible deployment is in October 2016.
You can follow the experiences of our Mission Possible team on our social media outlets and their blogs at islamichelp.org.uk/mission-possible
