Football-mad University of Sheffield student completes 20,000 kick-ups for Palestine

A Sheffield student has turned his love of football into help for Palestine by completing 20,000 kick-ups and raising over £3,000 in just two weeks.
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Haider Ali Bukhari, aged 21, a third year medicine student at the University of Sheffield from Keighley, has been involved in fundraising for Palestine for the last two years and all together donated over £4,000 to support people affected by the humanitarian crisis caused by the war.

He said: “I am a part of the Islamic society at the University of Sheffield. Last year we decided to do a charity week to raise money for building homes in Gaza, in Palestine. Everyone on the committee had a fundraising challenge to do, connected to their hobby.

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University of Sheffield student Haider Ali Bukhari, 21, completed 20,000 kick-ups, raising more than £3,000 for victims of the Israel-Palestine conflictUniversity of Sheffield student Haider Ali Bukhari, 21, completed 20,000 kick-ups, raising more than £3,000 for victims of the Israel-Palestine conflict
University of Sheffield student Haider Ali Bukhari, 21, completed 20,000 kick-ups, raising more than £3,000 for victims of the Israel-Palestine conflict
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Football is my life. I couldn’t go a day without thinking about it. So, I decided to combine my love for football with the effort to raise money. I thought: I like kick-ups, I’m good at them. Why can’t I do them to support a charity?”

Originally Haider wanted to do one kick-up for every penny donated, but as he realised it could escalate quite quickly, he changed it to one kick-up per 10p. Last year he raised £1,250 and did 12,500 kick ups… in his room – he had to stream from his flat because of Covid.

This year, the Islamic society decided not to do a charity week, but Haider still wanted to support Palestine so he did a kick-up challenge 2.0. This time he raised £3,200 for Medical Aid for

Palestine and spent 10 hours in front of the Students’ Union doing 20,000 kick ups.

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He said: “Technically it should be 30,000 but I when I started advertising my fundraiser online two weeks ahead, I said that physically the maximum amount of kick ups I can do in a day is 20,000. But the donations of course could go forever.”

Haider was very thankful for the support of the Palestine society which helped me him advertise his fundraiser on social media and came on the day to count the kick-ups. It also provided him with the Palestine flag, buckets and a card machine for donations.

Even though Haider has done a lot on his own, he would love to see other people follow him.

He said: “I am a student who didn’t have money but wanted to make a change. Even though I’m not a Palestinian, Islam, my religion motivated me to help innocent, oppressed people.

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“People in Palestine are going through a lot, as they have been for many years and there’s something very dear to the hearts of many Muslims, not just myself. I hoped I could help make a

change and inspire others to do the same.

“This could have been done for many causes. There are many countries suffering, too many to name right now. If you find something you enjoy - football, basketball, knitting, canoeing, swimming – then set yourself a challenge. You can use it as an incentive for people to donate and make a change.”