Raising $500,000 for the tragic Rohingya Muslims

Has the world learned nothing in the 22 years since the Rwanda genocide? The appalling plight of the #Rohingya Muslims today poses tough questions as we settle down comfortably with our families this holiday season.

We are witnessing ethnic cleansing in #Myanmar yet there has been no concerted international condemnation, just as in Rwanda the world stood by and did nothing. Should not #Myanmar’s de-facto leader #Aung San Suu Kyi be stripped of her Nobel Peace Prize? Are we going to wait another 22 long years to do something about this massacre of basic human values just because a minority looks different or has another religion?

According to the United Nations, the #Rohingya Muslims are among the most persecuted groups on earth. Nearly 650,000 – two thirds of the population – have fled #Myanmar after shockingly brutal attacks by the army. Hundreds of villages have been burned, thousands killed and there is evidence of terrible atrocities: massacres, murders and mass rapes.

What can we do in the face of such horrors? We can support humanitarian projects getting aid on the ground to displaced #Rohingyas who have nothing.

Image from the StepFeed charity: Source: Leyal Khalife

An example is the Canadian charity #NASIMCO, which has just raised $500,000 for #Rohingya Muslims. This organisation brings together the small community of #Khojas in North America and is led by both Razak Damani and my brother Arif Asaria.

Arif had only been Secretary General of #NASIMCO for two months when the extent of the #Rohingya crisis became clear and he was moved to galvanise exceptional support.

(He and I gained our first experience of large-scale fundraising by collecting $22 million worldwide to build the Jaffari Community Centre in Toronto, today a beacon of knowledge for 6000 congregants.)

At the Birthday of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) recently celebrated at the JCC, NASIMCO handed over a cheque to Zaid Al Rawni, the CEO of Islamic Relief Canada. Another $400,000 has been collected through the World Federation in London, and we will continue to raise funds throughout our Khoja communities worldwide for this humanitarian crisis.

The picture at the top of this page shows, from the left, Arif Asaria the Secretary-General of NASIMCO, Razak Damani the President of NASIMCO, Zaid Al Rawni the CEO of Islamic Relief Canada, Habib Meghjee the President of the ISIJ of Toronto, NASIMCO Councillor Fatima Sajan and Shabnees Siwjee the Chairlady of the ISIJ of Toronto.

The Honourable Yasir Naqvi, Attorney General, was also present along with the Ladies Nudba Group who worked very hard to support this important cause.

Giving to humanity, making a priority of acts of compassion, volunteering for humanity at large … these are the principles that give real meaning to our lives. They are the reason Arif, our brother Aquil and I founded the Asaria Family Foundation.

We are just three brothers, but the tragedy of the #Rohingyas is a humanitarian catastrophe that needs collective thinking and action. Bigger than all of us, it needs willing minds to work together to find viable solutions to the crisis.

In 1994, despite the presence of UN peacekeeping troops, the international community did little to stop the Rwandan genocide. One million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. The #Rohingya Muslims are a similar story in the making. The international community must not wait another 22 years to say: “It should never happen again”.

What can you do to help? 

Three brothers: Aquil, Sibtein and Arif Asaria