Fast-a-Thon Aims to Fight More Than Hunger
Muslim Student Association Hopes to Improve Understanding of Islam

By Ioana Patringenaru I October 31, 2005

Members of UCSD's Muslim Student Association welcomed participants and took donations during a banquet held to celebrate the end of the association's annual Fast-a-Thon. Donations went to the International Rescue Committee, a non-profit organization that helps refugees throughout the world.

First, women clad in long flowing clothes and headscarves made their way from table to table, handing out paper cups. Then there was a call to prayer and dozens broke their daylong fast by eating dates. Men, many of them in black, handed out plates of food to hungry participants in UCSD’s third annual Fast-a-Thon.

The university’s Muslim Student Association organized the event. About 400 had pledged to abstain from food and water from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday to raise money for a charity. Many celebrated the end of their fast in the Price Center’s ballroom with a banquet of chicken curry, pita bread, rice and other Pakistani delicacies.

The event is part of a series of Fast-a-Thons organized throughout North America. Here’s how it works: participants pledge to fast; businesses pledge to donate $1 for each participant. The money goes to a charitable organization that fights hunger and poverty. The goal is to raise awareness and funds to combat hunger, according to the Muslim Student Association’s Web site.

The association won’t know how much money it raised until later this week, said President Bader El-Ghussein.

Participants in UCSD's third annual Fast-a-Thon broke their fast with a banquet in the Price Center's ballroom Friday evening.

In the past two years, the Fast-a-Thon raised funds for San Diego Youth & Community Services, a local non-profit organization working with at-risk youth. But this year, UCSD’s Muslim Student Association decided to help an organization that runs national and international programs after tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes killed and displaced thousands in South East Asia, the United States and Pakistan, El-Ghussein said. All donations will to go the local branch of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a New York-based non-profit organization providing help for refugees throughout the world.

“The IRC is extremely grateful to the beneficiary of this event,” said Colleen Krause, project manager of community and family strengthening programs in San Diego. “The Fast-a-Thon captures the essence of Ramadan and creates a wonderful opportunity to promote student awareness and social responsibility.”

The money will help pay for immigration services and a program that helps African women and preschool children start a new life in San Diego, she said. The program currently serves mostly Bantu refugees from Somalia, who fled civil war and ethnic cleansing, Krause said. Many of them lived in refugee camps for a decade. Few had access to education, especially if they were children or female.

But the event is not just about fundraising, organizers said.

For UCSD’s Muslim Student Association, the goal also is to reach out to non-Muslims and promote cooperation with other organizations, said El-Ghussein. The event also is an opportunity to paint another picture of Islam, he said.

“Really, Islam is a humanitarian, tolerant religion that has solutions to social ills,” he said.

El-Ghussein is a pre-med student whose family immigrated to San Diego from the United Arab Emirates in 1991. He has been fasting for Ramadan for many years and said he finds the experience humbling.

“You put yourself in the shoes of those who don’t have food,” he said.

MSA president Bader El-Ghussein (left) and second year student Farhad Noorzay.

The event also allows you to meet new people, said Farhad Noorzay, who is in his second year at UCSD. They, in turn, can learn more about Ramadan, he said.

Indeed, Muslim students weren’t the only ones pledging to fast on Friday.

Melanie Nieze, a staff member in the bioengineering department, said she thought the event would be a good learning experience.

“Because of the political situation right now, we need more understanding of other people and faiths,” she said.

Vladimir Asriyan, a senior, fasted for a whole week.

“It’s important to raise awareness,” the economics and mathematics major said. “A lot of people don’t know what it’s like to be hungry.”