About Us
اَلسَلامُ عَلَيْكُم وَرَحْمَةُ اَللهِ وَبَرَكاتُهُ
Thank you for taking a moment to read about our humble beginnings:
Let me introduce myself, my name is Saleem Awan a.k.a Rajay Awan.
Around 15 years ago I began fulfilling small charity requests for my family and friends. Inspired by my grandfather, Sufi Noor Mohammed Awan, who spent his life in Uganda fulfilling charity work with no financial gain himself.
My father Sufi Bashir Awan took over from his father and continued to offer kindness and support to all faiths that required financial, spiritual and necessary assistance and guidance in Uganda and the UK. When my father became unwell, I took over the responsibility and slowly began to understand that it is easy to give your precious £1 but to have it reach to the needy was a great task. My dear father passed away on 31st January 2019.
Our philosophy has always been that the full amount, be it £1 must reach the recipient, as intended without taking any administration costs.
I now passionately continue this legacy and it has grown beautifully reaching more people. This couldn’t be achieved without the strong relations built with the charities I work with, alongside a great team of people who are honest and reliable, and committed to the cause without any interest in their own financial gain. Information on my team of volunteers can be found under the the About Us page.
This has given me the confidence to extend our charity work in the hope that we can reach out to more genuine causes. Without my team and the connections that have built we could not acheive what we do. I am ever so grateful to all the people I have connected with to put a smile on someone who is in need.
On 05th July 2017 I lost my dear mother Zarina Awan, she was a true mother that held us all together. Everyone was welcomed and no one walked away empty handed and definitely not hungry.
The Zarina Foundation is a vision dedicated to her. لْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ (Allhumdulila) I have not looked back as her prayers are with me and continued the charity in a big and better way with the utmost backing I have received from my family and sisters.
It hasn’t been an easy ride but I also need to thank my community who have put an endless unquestionable amount of trust in me. I would like to also thank my late father and mother for their blessings that I have been able to keep their charitable legacy alive.
I am happy to share this introduction to you all and with your backing Insha’Allah we can improve to better & wonderful things in time to come.
Rajay Awan