KHARTOUM
By Ayman Elias Ibrahim
"Ghatti Akhouk," or "Cover your brother," is a new charity campaign by Sudanese volunteers which aims to raise money to buy blankets, clothes and food for the homeless during the winter, which has been one of the hardest to hit the region in recent years.
"We used to work in another humanitarian field, i.e., helping children patients and children with cancer," spokesperson Yusuf Hindusa told Anadolu Agency.
One day, Hindusa explained, group member Sulafa Sa'ad saw a group of homeless children suffering in the freezing weather.
"The idea for the campaign came from there," he said.
The young volunteers, both males and females, launched a charity campaign to distribute blankets and winter clothing to Khartoum State's poor and homeless.
The initial goal was to collect 10,000 blankets to be distributed throughout the state.
"We created a Facebook page to share the idea with other volunteers and get support from donors," said Hindusa.
"Keep the other warm," says the page, which currently boasts 3,233 members. "The journey to collect thousands of blankets begins with one single blanket; donate for [the] homeless."
Campaigners receive financial donations and donations in-kind via specific mobile phones, also posted on the Facebook page.
Following the initiative's success in Khartoum State, like-minded volunteers launched similar campaigns in several other states.
Temperatures in several Sudanese cities, meanwhile, continue to fall below normal levels.
The entire Middle East and Arab region has been swept by a cold wave in the past week, unprecedented in recent years.
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The young volunteers also collect heavy clothes for the needy.
"The project was extended to include other activities, such as collecting second-hand clothes from donors, making meals and buying water bottles for the homeless," Hindusa said.
"We have noted through our survey that they [the needy] are not only in need of winter blankets and clothing, but they also need food and water," he explained.
Hindusa added that the volunteer group had begun getting in-kind assistance and other non-financial contributions for Khartoum State's homeless population.
"The aim is to protect as many homeless individuals as possible from the harsh winter cold," he asserted.
Hindusa said they began the project themselves, raising donations from among their own members and preparing the meals inside one member's home.
The operation was expanded after a number of other partners joined, including the Egyptian Sidi Beih Restaurant in Khartoum, which prepares about 250 sandwiches for the homeless on a daily basis.
According to Hindusa, the campaign now helps more than one thousand needy people in different localities of Khartoum State.
Civil society activist Mohamed Omer Gasim said such volunteer campaigns reaffirm popular confidence in long-cherished values, which some had feared were on the verge of extinction.
"It has also renewed confidence in Sudanese youth as an extension of the rich history and glory of previous generations," Gasim told AA.
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