Singer-songwriter Faizal Tahir is heading to a Rohingya refugee camp on a humanitarian aid relief trip, writes
AS of early this month, according to United Nations estimates, almost one million Rohingya refugees have left their home and crossed the border to Bangladesh.
On Monday, singer-songwriter Faizal Tahir and another representative from his charity organisation iamFaithmen will be joining Hand4Hand, a non-governmental organisation based in Brunei, to provide help to Rohingya refugees at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. They will be there until March 8.
“It is not to solicit donations. My wish is to create awareness for others to follow in our footsteps,” says the 39-year-old award-winning artiste on his upcoming charity project.
“We live in a country that is peaceful. Sometimes we forget that there are people who are less fortunate than us,” says Faizal, who is not new to travelling to far-off places to lend a helping hand.
He had previously visited Jordan, Egypt and Acheh to help those in need.
“We may not be able to help much but we aim to do as much as we can,” says Faizal, who plans to use his talents to entertain the refugees at the settlement. The singer did the same during his previous humanitarian trip to Syrian refugee camps in the Middle East a few years ago.
“There’s no harm in helping others and we hope to encourage others to help in whatever way they can.
“Statistics show that about 60 to 70 per cent of children are without parents at the camp. This comes about as the refugees left their homes under cover of darkness and children get separated from their parents during the exodus,” says Faizal.
The father-of-six says he is often touched looking at the sad faces of the children at the refugee camps.
“That is one of the challenges I face. We are going there to cheer them up and it’s hard not to get emotionally affected,” he says.
Faizal says that simply being with the refugees is enough to put a smile on their faces.
Bahzi Damit, one of the founders of Hand4Hand, says that besides food distribution, the entourage also hopes to spread some cheer though Faizal’s music.
“As music transcends the language barrier, we hope Faizal will bring some happiness to the settlement,” adds Bahzi.
Last year, Hand4Hand went to Bangladesh and brought with it US$15,000 (RM58,000) which was collected from friends and family back in Brunei.
“To be honest, there’s not enough money to help them. We are only doing what we can,” says Bahzi.
He hopes to raise enough to provide food packages to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
One food package costs US$15 and consists of rice, salt, potatoes, cooking oil and other necessities.
These will be distributed by the Bangladeshi army to selected families.
“All preparations have been made,” Faizal says. The only thing we need to do is to prepare ourselves mentally.”