A social justice charity is encouraging New Zealanders to take part in their world-wide blood donation drive to raise awareness, save lives and break the world record.
Who is Hussain, who have a community centre in Pakuranga, seeks to motivate communities and individuals to act for the common good. The charity is partnering with various blood donation organisations across the world and are hosting blood drive in several locations.
In New Zealand, they are partnering with NZ Blood Service (NZBS) and will have blood drive clinics in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch tomorrow (August 27).
The blood drive in Auckland is located in NZBS’s clinic in Epsom.
Hundreds of NZ Muslins are set to participate in the day event, called GlobalBloodHeroes Day, on Saturday. The campaign aims to save lives and build greater awareness about the urgent need to donate blood.
GlobalBloodHeroes Day is a worldwide drive to rally 50,000 blood donors across six continents. Who is Hussain is also attempting to break the world record for the most blood donations in one calendar day.
The campaign hopes to save the lives of 150,000 people at a time when blood supplies are dangerously low.
Only 4% of New Zealanders are registered to give blood. In July, the NZBS warned that donations were low as the winter season impacts regular donors affected by the flu.
Masooma Mehdi, team lead of Who is Hussain Auckland, said: “We are motivated by the saying in our faith ‘to save one life, is to save all of humanity.’ Here in New Zealand, hundreds of Muslims will invite fellow Kiwis to come together and give blood. With just one hour of your time donating blood, you can save up to three adult lives, or up to seven infant lives. Imagine the impact 50,000 donors could make in one day.”
For more information, visit https://blood.whoishussain.org/.
