Sharjah 24: Many wouldn’t believe it if you tell them that one dirham can build a mosque, relieve distress, or contribute to establishing a dispensary to treat the sick, or perhaps a classroom to teach students in remote countries, but the cooperation of philanthropists had a great impact in enabling Sharjah Charity International (SCI) to allow this dirham to implement dozens or even hundreds of charitable development and relief projects.

“Dirham Al Hamd” initiative was launched, in mid-2017, by SCI in cooperation with Etisalat and Du, and from donations it implemented many charitable and productive projects, and Heart surgeries for children.

Abdullah Sultan bin Khadim, Executive Director of SCI, called on benefactors to join and subscribe to the “Dirham Al Hamd” service, which opens the door to benefactors who wish to give simple charity worth one dirham through automatic daily deduction from the call balance account of Etisalat and Du customers He noted that the donation value arrives in full to SCI to be delivered to beneficiaries through a set of in-kind aid and development projects provided in the form of educational aid and distress relief, as well as building mosques indicating that the service has an influential role in developing SCI resources and contributing to supporting the implemented initiatives and campaigns.

Ibn Khadem presented the projects that were implemented by Dirham Al Hamd Project over the past year (2023), explaining that 6.2 million dirhams were spent from the Dirham Al Hamd donations account, of which 1.2 million dirhams were spent to support internal aid programmes, including helping those in difficulty in paying residential rent arrears worth 300 thousand dirhams, and supported the distress relief project with a value of 400 thousand dirhams, through which SCI paid the debts of a number of inmates in penal and correctional facilities who were subjected to executive rulings due to financial hardship, in addition to providing support to a number of struggling students to ensure their continuation of their studies. It also contributed in the therapeutic assistance programmes that were provided to medical cases registered in SCI records. Donations worth two million dirhams also contributed to the implementation of a number of mosques being built within the UAE, in addition to 1.7 million dirhams to support a number of projects implemented the countries included in the foreign aid programmes implemented by SCI in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and under the supervision of its regional offices, and included building classrooms and kitchens to distribute meals and care for orphans, establishing health clinics to provide therapeutic services and supporting Iftar projects for fasting people and productive families, in addition to supporting SCI Medical Centre in Khorfakkan with approximately 250 thousand dirhams, in addition to contributing to the support programs provided to the University of Sharjah within the community participation programmes.

Ibn Khadem concluded that the service enjoys support from more than 25 thousand subscribers, explaining that one dirham is deducted daily from donors’ call balance once they subscribe to the service by sending the word “Hamd” in Arabic or English to the code 1110 for Etisalat customers, and the code 1011 for Du customers.