“The Awna1 Team” and concerned Eritreans in Melbourne are organising a fund-raising event on Saturday 16 July 2005. The event will run from 6 pm – 12 am on that day. The program will include a dinner at the Eritrean Community Centre in North Melbourne. The cost of the dinner is $30 per head, of which 23.3% will be used to recover the cost of organising the event and the remainder 76.7% will directly benefit The Eritrean Medical Association (EMA), which is doing marvelous job to help our compatriot refugees in the Sudan. We encourage and appreciate if people want to donate more.

 

The aim of the fund-raising event is to support EMA to buy essential facilities for its Medical Centre that has been officially opened recently. We are calling upon all Eritreans in Melbourne to make generous donations by participating in the event. A large portion of the fund raised will be used to buy the facilities required and to make the Medical Centre operational. The Centre at the moment is not operating at its full capacity due to lack of essential facilities. Awna1 promised to help EMA in this regard. Our hope in all Eritrean communities around the world is great and we made the promise believing in the generosity of our communities.

 

The Medical Centre also has a lecture theatre named after Martyr Dr Yahya Jaber, primarily to be used for training young doctors. The theatre also lacks essential teaching facilities. As it is known to most Eritreans, Dr Jaber was a medical professional who rejected the comfortable life in Europe, and instead chose to serve his country and people. He was martyred while carrying on an important national duty. It is our duty to honour that great person. We ask all Eritrean communities abroad to double their effort and provide a tangible assistance to make the medical centre operate in its full capacity. Ultimately, the centre will be of great benefit to many Eritrean refugees in the Sudan who are suffering from hardships of various natures.

 

Previously, Awna1 took the initiative to assist our compatriot refugees in the Sudan by collecting donations online. We believed that was a very transparent and accountable method of collecting the donations, as EMA immediately knew the amount donated. We thank those who favourably responded to our call. Unfortunately, the response was well below our expectation. We say this, because the Eritrean community in Melbourne is well known for its humane values, for its hard work to promote and protect human rights. This time we decided to organise a fund-raising event in the hope that we could raise more money.

 

Action NOT Politics is required for this humanitarian mission to succeed. Let us prove to our needy compatriots in the Sudan that we feel their pain and we are ready to help them.

 

This call is from Awna1 Team and concerned Eritreans in Melbourne