I am very excited to share in two month’s time, I will be running the London Marathon to raise funds for Khalsa Aid. With the ongoing problems in Afghanistan and the recent COVID crisis in India, this gives me the chance to raise funds for causes extremely close to my heart. On a personal note, I can also take on the marathon once again following last year’s injury nightmare. Run, walk or crawl I will be making that finish line!

Who are Khalsa Aid?

• An international NGO aiming to provide humanitarian aid in disaster areas and civil conflicts zones around the world. Khalsa Aid was founded upon the Sikh principle to ‘recognise the whole human race as one'.
• In 2018, they were awarded the Queens Award for community service. This is the highest award available to local volunteer groups in the UK and recognises outstanding work done in local communities. More recently, Khalsa Aid have been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
• Their most recent work has involved working with governments to address the current situation in Afghanistan, where Sikh and Hindu minorities are especially vulnerable.

What have Khalsa Aid done to help in the UK?

• In December, Khalsa Aid made headlines for providing hot meals to over 2000 stranded lorry drivers in Dover following the UK France border closure.
• Following the outbreak of the pandemic, Khalsa Aid mobilised emergency support to provide food to hospitals, A&E departments and district nurses. Volunteers mobilised regular food parcels for the elderly, vulnerable and those who were isolated due to the lockdown, while simultaneously assisting local NHS operations with logistical support.
• Other work included providing on-site support to Grenfell victims, with continued assistance to children of impacted families, and the 2014 Somerset floods.

What other work have Khalsa Aid done?

• With the COVID crisis in India, Khalsa Aid played a large role in providing support. With the oxygen shortages, they sourced oxygen equipment that was immediately flown out and distributed to those most in need.
• Khalsa Aid are supporting (although not fundraising for) the ongoing Farmer’s Protest in India, the largest protest in human history, which was brought to further prominence with Rihanna and Greta Thunberg’s public support. Almost 16,000 farmers committed suicide between 2000-2015 due to debt. This figure will almost certainly increase if new laws proposed by the government are to go ahead. I recommend reading this article for more information: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-55937894.
• Over the last 18 months, there have been ongoing projects providing support in Bangladesh, Kenya, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Nepal and Yemen collectively aiding over 200,000 people. A summary of these projects can be found here.

Where will my donations go?

• Your funds will be used to support Khalsa Aid’s ongoing projects. Given the nature of Khalsa Aid’s work, if there were to unfortunately be another disaster, funds may be used to provide on the ground support.

Please give generously. For a relatively small charity, any donation regardless of size can make a large impact.