Raising awareness and money for the cause against the famine in Somalia, the Muslim Students Association at UAB hosted their ninth annual Fast-A-Thon last week.
Held in the Hill University Center’s Great Hall, the event, cosponsored by the University Student Government Association, took place from 4-9 p.m. on November 10 and was heavily advertised both on campus and on Facebook.
Bringing in around 180 people, the event in the Great Hall was set up as a banquet at the end of a day of fasting.
The fasting, lasting from sunup to sundown (at which point food was served) was meant to let students and community members experience hunger and bring attention to the starvation of those in Somalia and all over the world.
Stemming from a variety of causes, including crop failure, drought and militant conflict in the Horn of Africa, it is estimated by UNICEF that over 13.3 million people suffer from famine in Somalia and the surrounding areas.
These numbers include around 750,000 malnourished children under the age of five.
“This is to raise awareness for third world countries where people are starving.
Hunger is an everyday thing for many people, some of whom don’t even have clean water,” said Muslim Students Association President and senior Hakeem Abdul.
The principal fundraising for the event was done through online pledges to “abstain from all food and liquid during the daylight hours on November 10.”
For every pledge given on the MSA website (uabmsa.org), local businesses donated money to UNICEF to help aid the crisis.
Businesses taking part included Makarios Kabob and Grill, Al’s Deli and Grill, Gyros Café, Crowne on 10th, Alfredo’s Pizza Café and Coca Cola. In all, over $1400 was raised through the 402 pledges given online.
“We fast for one day, but these people [in Somalia] have to ‘fast’ involuntarily every day,” said attendee Aisha Abbas.
After a day without food or liquid, many of the attendees for the closing banquet were excited about the food available at sundown.
Supplied by the sponsors, the food included large containers of hummus, salad, rice, chicken and even cake, as well as a variety of Coke products.
The entire event was put together by student volunteers, working to not only pick up the food, but also decorate the event and organize a group prayer in the direction of Mecca before the serving of food.
The traditional Muslim month of Ramadan (the month of August for 2011) was the basis for the sunup to sundown setup of the Fast-a-Thon and reflects the MSA’s strong emphasis on Islam and spiritual expression in their events.
“It’s not just about fasting; it’s about understanding others’ suffering.
We luckily get a meal at the end of the day after fasting; millions of others won’t,” said sophomore neuroscience major and attendee Naveed Farrukh.
To bring about more understanding of Muslim culture and customs, the event also featured a booth of literature featuring the Quran translated into English, and many pamphlets with titles such as “Islam Explained” and “The Concept of God in Islam.”
Hoping to bridge the gap between religions on campus, the MSA invited members of all faiths to take part in the event.
Peter Waselkov
Staff Writer
pwaselkov@gmail.com
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