As part of their service section for the International Award for Young People, six students from the Al-Khor International School in Qatar volunteered to raise funds for The Esther Benjamins Trust.
Andrew Walters, Nayana Salmon, Usman Iftikhar, Kelly Duplooy, Freddy Davies and Deena Al Sarayra all worked tirelessly to come up with a range of ideas to raise as much money as possible to donate to the Trust. They set a rough target of QR.10,000 (about £1,650).
The group organised four events themselves, and also received money from two other events organised on their behalf.
The first event was a performance coordinated by the staff and students in Year 6 of the Al-Khor International School. The money was made by charging a small entrance fee to the large audience. This in itself raised over £400.
The second event was the Al-Khor International School talent show, called ‘MADD’ (‘Music, Arts, Dance and Drama’). An entry ‘fee’ was once again charge to the large audience, leading to almost £700 in donations. Unlike the Year 6 production, MADD was a whole school event, hence the reason almost double the amount of money was raised.
Next up was the school’s ‘International Day’. With students hailing from all over the world, the special day them the opportunity to go to school wearing their national dress. To do this, however, they are asked to donate a small amount of money. This year the beneficiary charity was The Esther Benjamins Trust, thanks again to the hard work of the six students.
As their final fundraising initiative, the students came up with ‘Mad Head Day’. The whole school took part, and every student could use their own head as an artistic canvas and come up with as whacky and random a hairstyle as possible in return for a small donation. On this day alone, a staggering total of almost £1,300 was made.
When combined with the two other events – one of which was organised by the school’s Sixth Form – the fantastic total of QR.21,000 was achieved – almost double their original target.
The Esther Benjamins Trust would like to thank Andrew, Nayana, Usman, Kelly, Freddy and Deena – and all the staff and other students – for the hard work and dedication which went into the project. We are incredibly grateful and will ensure the funds raised are put to good use improving the lives of Nepal’s most vulnerable children.
