31/03/2022 – From donations for our Ramadan Prisoner Welfare Packs 2022, we were able to purchase 72 prayer mats which we gave to HMP Hewell and HMP Birmingham. We donated 50 prayer mats to Imam Zahid from HMP Birmingham and 22 to Imam Mohammed Ifzal from HMP Hewell.
As it may or may not be known, the fasting month of Ramadan moves backwards in the calendar by ten days each year, making its onset earlier in the year in comparison to the previous year. For example, in 2022 Ramadan fell at the beginning of April meaning the Himaya Haven team had to prepare and have everything ready for the Imam’s by the end of March in order to accommodate the start of the fasting period.
With all of the eight prisons registering their interest again – this time including HMP Hewell and not HMP Drakehall, the team knew they had to start fundraising earlier, given the RPWP’s in 2021 took three months of planning and execution.
The start of fundraising initiatives began towards the end of 2021, given the three month timeline. This time around the team found difficulty in raising enough money to meet the Imam’s and (growing) prisoners’ needs. One of the main factors we found for this was the outbreak of the Covid-19 variant, Omicron. This had a large impact on businesses and community members, who were set further back financially, from the initial impact of the first wave of Covid-19. In addition to this, the Christmas period also made it difficult for people to donate as their priorities drastically shifted due to the economic downturn.
Due to this, the team decided to scale back the project and focus on HMP Birmingham, HMP/YOI Swinfen Hall and HMP Hewell. With dates being one of the biggest costs in the RPWP it was unfortunate that they had to be removed from the packs, alongside many other items. However, the requirements given by the Imam’s for this year were minimal and manageable by the team, so it was in their and the team’s best interest to still go forth with this.
Fortunately, the team did receive a generous donation from sponsor’s Qadria Trust on behalf of their congregation at Friday prayers. Alongside this Himaya Haven set aside some money in order to purchase attar bottles for HMP Swinfen Hall, prayer mats for HMP Birmingham and HMP Hewell. As HMP Hewell were not able to receive the RPWP purchased for them last year, a lot of the Islamic literature books, the Dua books and Eid cards were also provided to them this time around.
