By Adam Dutton
Orphans in Yemen will benefit from a football tournament in Leicestershire being run by a charity trust.
Yemen has been in crisis after a civil war broke out in March, 2015, with more than 60,000 people reportedly killed there in the last two years.
The Darul Arqam Educational Trust has been operational for seven years, however, its aid efforts have been small scale. The Humanitarian Aid branch of Darul Arqam, called Revive, has recently begun its efforts to help some of the victims that the Yemen civil war has created.
Revive’s first major project is a five-a-side football tournament called Score 4 Orphans of Yemen. The main focus will be on providing relief for Yemen’s many orphans.
The figure providing momentum to Revive’s cause is Sarfraz Hussain, head of fundraising at Darul Arqam. He’s been involved in numerous humanitarian aid efforts for the past four years, but has only recently joined the Darul Arqam Trust.
Sarfraz HussainHe said: “The football tournament that we’re doing is aiming to get a minimum of ten teams in and we’ve set a friendly target of fundraising £100 each (per team).
“We need to get the ball rolling with the support and that is to get people raising awareness about the orphans in Yemen.”
Sarfraz is no stranger to football themed charity events having held a Guinness World Record Attempt in support of the Rohingya crisis with a past charity: “We had a very large event last year with the organisation that I was with.
“I was project managing the Guinness world record attempt of the largest football match which was 109 hours, non-stop. We raised just over £30,000. The attempt was 109 hours but we failed at the colossus stage of 27 hours.”
He added: “But the main thing is that we got Rohingya back on mainstream BBC news after not being in the news for nine months.”
Explaining how far donations help, he said: “You’d be astonished about how much support is given from the simplest of figures of £20. £20 will support an orphan for a whole month. Accommodation, food and clothing.”
The Charity is planning a new Guinness World Record attempt for the longest five-a-side football match in late August.
The Score 4 Orphans of Yemen tournament is set to take place Saturday, March 23, from 11am at the Goals football centre, Wakerley Rd, Leicester, LE5 4WJ.
For more information on the tournament go to http://www.datrust.org or alternatively, you can donate to the cause via the link https://mydonate.bt.com/events/score4orphans/486447
