Meeting with H.M.P Imam’s – 5th February 2021
A meeting was set up by Imam Haroon from HMP Oakwood, with Imam’s from West Midlands’ prisons to formally introduce Himaya Haven, create a working relationship and to discuss their interest in the Ramadan Prisoner Welfare Project. The idea was to introduce this project with one willing prison initially however, the meeting was such a success with Imam’s from eight prisons confirming their interest in receiving the packs.
The Beginning of the Project
The project idea had now grown in size, far beyond than what the team had expected. This meant that the number of Muslim prisoners were counted for as future recipients of the RPWP’s across the eight prisons HMP; Birmingham, Oakwood, Featherstone, Stafford, Drake Hall and HMP/YOI Brinsford, Swinfen Hall and Stoke Heath. The project idea was finalised with prison Imam’s – taking into account what they recommended as useful, what items were allowed and the project deadline.
The total length of the project from official conception to final delivery date was three months. Across the three months, the cost of the items was researched, the marketing poster was made, potential sponsors were approached, fundraising began, donations were collected and items were also collected, organised and delivered to the prisons.
Muslim Women’s Network UK was the sponsor of the items being sent to 28 Muslim female prisoners at HMP Drake Hall. The donations included items such as hijabs, prayer mats and abayas/long dresses for them to wear on Eid.
Preparations and Deliveries for the RPWP
Across the previous couple of months, many items had been donated to Himaya Haven and many items were purchased using donation money for this project. The team at Himaya Haven were very busy on this day preparing and organising all of the items for delivery to each individual prison. These included but were not limited to; prayer mats, Qurans, Islamic literature, attar bottles, tasbeehs, and packs of dates, daily zikr books and Eid cards. Qurans, books and attar were manually labelled and/or stamped. ’30 Hadith’ books were also donated by HHUGS for each prisoner and prison we were supporting.
In April we split our deliveries across 3 days, the first delivery for the RPWP were at HMP & YOI Swinfen and HMP Drakehall. The next day the team conducted the delivery for HMP Birmingham and HMP Stoke Health. Lastly, the final day was the largest delivery as the team delivered for HMP Oakwood, HMP & YOI Brinsford, and HMP Stafford. Luckily, the team were assisted by the Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands, who volunteered his time to support us in the delivery of our packs.
This project would not have been a success if it was not for those who sponsored the project, the team at Himaya Haven are incredibly grateful to; Muslim Women’s Network UK, Al-Imdaad Foundation, Light on Light Media, Al-Noor Publications, Rail Maritime Transport (RMT) and Qadria Trust (whose congregations donated during Friday Jummah Prayers), and thank you to Azad Supermarket on Stoney Lane, Sparkbrook for providing us with the dates last minute and offering delivery direct to the prison.
Al-Imdaad Foundation and Al-Noor Publications were the biggest sponsor of the Ramadan Prisoner Welfare Pack Project. Both organisations are from Blackburn and supported this project hugely. They had no prior knowledge of Himaya Haven yet had faith in this new project. Their supportive efforts were very much appreciated for allowing the provision of Islamic therapeutic prayer books and aiding in the project’s success.
It’s also very important to note that this project was conducted through Covid-19.