The night began with Mahfuz Kadir (Year 7) reciting a beautiful verse from the Quran and a speech about Allah’s mercy. Mahfuz was extremely articulate and amazed the audience with his knowledge and understanding. We had a remarkable video which depicted the current situation in Syria created by Jordan Charles and Aydin Kantas (Year 10). We hope to have the video up on YouTube, linked to the website very soon. We then moved swiftly on to Amira Ibrahim (Year 9). She sang a beautiful acapella and hit all of her high notes with great ease. Amira was a great success as she had only joined the show 2 days earlier and had learnt the song in such a short space of time! We then listened to literacy Artist Priyanka Patel (Year 10) who demonstrated her astounding talents with a thoughtful poem about Syria. Her poem reminded us of why we are all here and gave us motivation to raise as much money as possible for this country. Daniyal Ali Khan and Ishat Kabir (Year 7) appeared on stage to recite a beautiful verse from the Holy Quran. The audience were amazed by their confidence for such young students as they recited the verses in Arabic… from memory! We were extremely impressed by our next act: Jena Rambhujoo and Tia Thomas (Year 9). Jena professionally played the guitar and sang “Give a little more”; a song written by Saif Adam. They had made their own version of the song and sang beautifully. This was a great surprise for Saif Adam who smiled throughout the entire performance as the audience enjoyed their act. The girls then began to sang “The Climb” together and their voices matched perfectly. They received great applause from the audience. The students’ performances, were rounded up with Essma Hamis giving us a beautiful thoughtful appeal for Syria. She spoke so eloquently against the dramatic music and the audience hung on every word. The presenters Tanzim Khan and Melinda Farahani (Year 10) did an amazing job announcing each act and keeping the audience entertained! They played off each other very well and were an act themselves! They surprised Ms Mahdi by calling her up on stage to accept some goodbye gifts, which made Ms Mahdi very shy!
We then announced a special guest for our event; Saif Adam. Saif Adam combines hip-hop, country and pop music with the traditional message of his faith to create nasheeds. He sang two songs with an acoustic guitar; “Strong” and “Heart of a Muslim”. Glow sticks were waving throughout the room to the beat of his songs. He then sang two more songs which had the audience cheering him on, especially during a surprise rap in the middle of his last song. It was inspiring to see people from all different cultures and religions enjoying the evening together and creating a beautiful atmosphere. At the end of his performance, Saif Adam kindly donated many copies of his album to us which we were able to sell for charity. The community were extremely generous and many queued up for Saif Adam to sign their albums! The food was served by our Heartlands Students; Sumaya Hassan (Year 10), Beyar Khaldi (Year 10), Saskia Swaby-Grant (Year 9), Cherrita Warren (Year 9), Kamil Hassan (Year 10), Sallar Sadat (Year 10) and many more! Rahul Ashra (Year 10) entertained guests with some impressive magic tricks!
The night was a great success and we were really amazed at what our community can achieve when we work together for a good cause. The event came together with the support of the community from all religions and cultures. It was lovely to be able to share the experience with you and for everyone to see a different side to our students. Thank you for being a part of this evening—we really enjoyed having you with us.
