I have always been raised with the notion that charity starts at home. My late grandparents, despite them being working class, living in Pakistan, and raising 5 children were regular donors to an orphanage in Pakistan. They would never delay in offering help to the needy out of their love for the Prophet ﷺ and his values.

I often think about how when I was growing up, I would regularly mimic my elders consciously and subconsciously. So, when I was given the ultimate blessing of finding out I was going to be a father I decided that it wasn’t enough to just teach good morals, but to show them too. I went on to start a charity dedicated to my father which delivered some amazing projects. However, I knew so much more could have been achieved with a proper team rather than just me and my wife. This led to Smile With Gambia.

I started off fundraising with my wife and setting out instructions for projects in the Gambia with only one person on the ground. I realised I needed this soul feeding work more than anyone and it is a sustenance for me from this dunya. After 8 months I spoke to my friends (the team we have now) and they jumped at the thought of bringing smiles to the needy and thus Smile With Gambia was born.

The journey so far has been one of fulfilment, gratefulness and brotherhood and I pray that the charity grows to add these qualities to many lives.

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My journey began when I undertook a trek to collect donations to sponsor orphans. Alhamdulillah, I was able to obtain sufficient donations to sponsor many orphans. This gave me a sweet feeling to go and do more.

As such, I volunteered with another charity to visit The Gambia and help redevelop an orphanage. This was a very hands on project.

Whilst I was in The Gambia, I connected with the children, parents, and the locals. Not a single person walked past another individual without smiling.

If I gave someone, who hasn’t had food for some time, a little piece of bread they would break that in half and share it with me. This struck a chord in my heart, that despite not having much they have everything - contentment and belief in God that they will receive.

I recall everyday a child, surrounded by friends and family, would ask us for a bottle of water or drink. Once we gave it to them, they would take a sip and pass it on to their friend. The unity amongst them was eye watering.

I left The Gambia wanting to go back and wanting to give more and as such decided to spearhead the charity and become one of the Trustees of Smile With Gambia.

My ambition and drive is to make this charity the number one charity in the UK, through our transparency, trust and constant success in delivering projects. I am confident we can achieve this through the passion and motivation that lives amongst us.

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I was always a ‘Muslim’ through my roots, but it wasn’t until a few years ago I truly embraced Islam and my life was turned around for the better.

As I started to explore the true beauty of Islam, I found peace through prayer and the everlasting scriptures of the Quran.

Through my gradual understanding of true peace, I began to really comprehend the importance of charity and how it was my duty as a Muslim and as a human to help all of those who needed it.

It started off small with regular donations to all my local masjids, homeless shelters & projects in my area and multi-million-pound charities, where I assured myself it was helping people who needed it most.

After a while I started to feel somewhat disenchanted with simply sending money and being passive in my efforts to fulfil my duty for charity so I initially decided to jump out of a plane to help raise money for Syrian Orphans. This gave me the real appetite to push myself to help all those I could.

This naturally led me onto a volunteering experience working on an orphanage, where I met my fellow Smile With Gambia team, in The Gambia. This experience left me in awe from their beautiful smiles and their true gratitude to even spend time with us.

I came away from this knowing that I had to come back, and I had to build something truly great with the rest of the Smile With Gambia team whom I love so dearly.

I truly believe this charity can do big things with your support and with us facilitating this by being honest and transparent. I know my life is temporary, but I am assured that Smile With Gambia can live on.

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