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Every Saturday, the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community in Melbourne run a school which is attended by local children to practice their religion, culture and language skills. One important part of the teachings that this community school is focussed on is social justice and compassion to others who may be less fortunate – an important lesson in this day and age.
This teaching came into practice over a weekend in July, when members of our Sanctuary team visited the school and were presented with food and dry goods, by the school children. The children had held a fundraiser where they raised money to purchase rice, lentils and cooking oil.
Taha a member of the community, who also worked within the Transformation team at Baptcare said “fundraisers like this bring our teachings into practice. To see the children, take ownership and even loading the donated goods into the van and listening to Peter talk about Sanctuary, was a delight”.
Baptcare’s Sanctuary program presently has 134 residents, many with no income as they are not allowed to work or have not been able to find work, and who are not eligible for any government income support, so donations of food and food drives like the one the children ran are essential. Without this support, people go hungry and poor nutrition contributes to additional health challenges.