Volunteer Week Spotlight: Nabila Kara

I have been volunteering with Islamic Relief for over three years now. I was inspired to volunteer after seeing the positive impact Islamic Relief’s work was creating for millions around the globe – I knew that I wanted to be a part of transforming lives. 

I have just completed by LLB Law degree from De Montfort University and am looking forward to graduating this summer. I also own two small businesses from home; one is a mini bakery and the other is that I’m a henna/mehndi artist.   

I was given the humble opportunity to take over and handle the social media profiles for Islamic Relief East Midlands earlier this year. For this, I had to produce exciting and innovative content, and during Ramadan this meant highlighting various aspects of what Islamic Relief’s events during the holy month! 

We were super hectic in Ramadan with several fundraising events happening day after day and the task to capture as much footage was a challenge. For me, it was not only about snapping photos and uploading them on to social platforms, but it was also about giving attention to detail and portraying my work as professionally as possible.

I felt peaceful within myself as I volunteered for various roles during Ramadan, whether that was delivering Cakes4Syria door to door or showing support by cheering on fundraising events happening in my local community, it made me feel full, having contributed my time and efforts – I felt blessed to have been a chosen one to make a difference. 

The highlight for me this Ramadan has to be Pledge Day! Although there are so many other things that I was involved in throughout the blessed month, the preparation for Pledge Day was the most intense, yet the most memorable and productive. As my region (East Midlands) were the only region to carry out Pledge Day this year, it boosted me to go above and beyond and give it my all, and that’s exactly what I did. The ‘running around’ on the morning of Pledge Day, setting up the stalls, ensuring all volunteers had what they needed and giving that extra push and support to the new volunteers were some of my duties on the day and I thoroughly enjoyed it.