“If someone does not have light it is because another person has deprived him a share of his wealth.”

I have been following the appeal and project undertaken by the Lady Fatemah Trust Fatemah Trust for many years. I am very much impressed the manner this Trust embarks upon a project and thereafter follows it until it is completed.

The impressive part is that none of the projects they have appealed for has failed. This proves that before embarking upon any project the Trustees do through investigation, research and only thereafter they embark upon and see it through.

Having studied solar system I congratulate the Trustees for having undertaken this project. To support this project, this December I will be walking 80km from Najaf to Karbala, Iraq. Millions of people make this pilgrimage each year as a tribute to Imam Husain a.s., the grandson of the Prophet, who was killed in Karbala along with his family when he stood up against the unjust and corrupt ruler of the time.

People sleep on roadside in makeshift tents and walk during the day through the desert in scorching hot in the day and below freezing at night. 80km will be covered in 3 days.

The money you sponsor will bring light into 4000 homes in villages around Karbala who currently have no access to electricity. The lighting of their homes will enable the family to be safer in the dark, avoid inhalation of diesel fumes indoors, burns due to naked flames and allow children to study after dark. Through Lady Fatemah Trust (a UK based charity who take 0% commission) all your donations will go directly to funding this

project:

£150 helps in fabrication and maintenance of one solar lantern in a poor rural household – that’s just £2 per kilometre of the walk.

£300 pays for the installation and maintenance of one fixed solar lighting unit in a rural non-electrified household – that’s just £4 per kilometre of the walk.

£600 trains 4 people to install and maintain solar panels for households in 6 months – that’s just £8 per kilometre of the walk.

"Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.

It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life."

- Nelson Mandela