Happy Birthday Khalsa Aid

Rameez Makhdoomi
April four marks the birthday of the Khalsa Aid, infact today is it’s ninteenth birthday and the organization is living up to it’s great pro humanity objectives .
Amid the heartrending scenes of wars in Middle East from Iraq, Syria to Yemen and Libya and Rohingya carnage by Burmese authorities one has seen humanity getting butchered to core in recent times, leaving this world nearly a meaningless place to exist.



But as it is said Every cloud has a silver lining same has been the case here too with Khalsa aid and Sikh community at forefront in these places rendering a helping hand to humanity and rendering valuable services to those in dire needs irrespective of their colour, creed or religion.
The Khalsa Aid working on the Sikh principle of “Recognise the whole human race as one” has warmed the human hearts with its great work.
In Iraq Yazidi villages had been occupied by extremist fanatics , grown men in their community killed, and older women bussed away to empty land; they were considered useless. Since 2016, Khalsa Aid had seen trickles of Yazidi girls and young women have managed to flee their captors and return to the local community. But most return in the clothes the extremists forced them to dress in. Shopping for new clothes was the last thing they could imagine, let alone afford.
So, Khalsa Aid decided to act with an innovative approach: to give each one a budget to pick exactly the outfits they wanted, after months or years of violent brutal oppression. “We wanted to give the girls the freedom of choosing the clothes themselves” – Kanwar, Khalsa Aid project coordinator had stated . Each trip also offers a social outlet for a group with whom psychological trauma is rife.
In cases where Khalsa Aid have recognised exceptional talents in young women who have returned, they had purchased sewing machines and fabric so women can offer repairs and sell their creations.



Yemen where millions have been starved due to Civil War here too Khalsa Aid played a great role. The civil war in Yemen has had a disastrous impact on the country. Over 2.5 million people have had to flee their homes and have become internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Khalsa Aid with dedicated nutrition project Langar Aid, were contacted to support the provision of food items in the area to support IDPs as there were significant food shortages due to blockades in the region and people were suffering from malnutrition.
Khalsa Aid worked closely with humanitarian organisation Mona Relief to deliver three major ‘food drops’ which included rice, vegetable oil and cooking materials.
In war ravaged Libya too Khalsa Aid played a great role. When thousands of migrant workers and civilians from Libya are stranded on the Tunisian/Libya border known as Ras Ajdir. Many were from very poor countries and they simply could not afford to return to their respective homelands. Khalsa Aid and The Tunisian Red Crescent were extremely concerned that the situation is reaching critical, and where witnessing many more refugees arriving on the Tunisian border on a daily basis.
Khalsa Aid (UK) launched an aid program to assist the refugees in the camps at Ras Ajdir. It worked closely with the Rotary Club Tunis (who offered their full assistance) to purchase and supply much needed food and basic sanitation materials and helped them via concrete relief programme.



In Syria too Khalsa Aid has played tremendous positive role, Khalsa Aid has been supporting the Syrian refugees since 2014. From free food to shelter to health services, the organisation has been serving and rescuing people in war-ravaged Syria with dedication.
When world saw images of 100,000s of Rohingya Muslims from Burma crossing borders to find a safe haven in Bangladesh and safeguard themselves from Burmese oppression it was Khalsa Aid that stood for them.
Whole families had to literally run for their lives – some have carried infants only a few days old in their arms. They have lost siblings, parents, partners to the killings. Their homes and entire villages burnt to the ground.
Khalsa Aid team arrived at the Bangladesh border on 9 September. The team offered fresh water to the refugees disembarking from the boats and arranged free transportation to take them to the refugee camps and in subsequent weeks set more relief for them.
Gandhi had said Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. Certainly in these tough times for Humanity Khalsa Aid has championed the cause of humanity. (KNB)