A Croydon charity worker is recovering after being taken ill while taking winter aid to Syrian refugees caught in the snows on the Turkish-Syrian border.

Imam Qasim: continued his charity work despite being taken ill

Imam Qasim of Croydon’s Al-Khair Foundation fell seriously ill during a flight to Turkey and was kept on oxygen until sent to the Medipol Hospital in Istanbul.

Doctors were able to dissuade the Imam from continuing his journey to the border but he convinced the medical staff to let him go in the care of his wife in order to deliver tents to those suffering in the Philippines after the devastating typhoon there earlier this year.

The Al-Khair Foundation raises more than £5 million a year for charity and in 2011 was awarded “The Most Successful Fundraiser of the Year 2011” by the national charity fundraising platform Just Giving, largely due to the funds raised during floods in Pakistan.

The foundation also runs one of the country’s highest achieving academic schools in Cherry Orchard Road in Addiscombe and at Pitlake near Old Town and promotes tolerance and dialogue between faiths.

Other relief work has been undertaken in Kashmir, Japan and the Horn of Africa.

The charity’s appeal for the Philippines can be seen on the foundation’s website alkhair.org and sponsors are being sought for the foundation’s “Village for Syrian Guests” which is nearing completion at the Turkish border, which Imam Qasim hopes to inaugurate in three weeks’ time.

Anyone wishing to donate to the village’s needs can use www.justgiving.com/aid or call 0207 084 7199.

Coming to Croydon

• STDLCC Screening: Now You See Me, Dec 27
• STDLCC Screening: Kolya, Dec 30
• Norwood Society talk, Upper Norwood Library, Jan 16
• Steve Knightly at Stanley Halls: Feb 5
• Purley Swimathon: Feb 8 and 13
• Norwood Society talk, Upper Norwood Library, Feb 20
• Norwood Society talk, Upper Norwood Library, Mar 20

• Inside Croydon: Croydon’s only independent news source, based in the heart of the borough – 262,183 page views (Jan-Jun 2013)
• Post your comments on this article below.
• If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, a residents’ or business association or local event, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com