Sandwiches for books

Some seven or eight years ago during uni days, a group of us did a little charity project – we sold sandwiches and the profits were used to buy books for orphanages. The girls would get together, usually at B’s room, on Thursday nights to prepare the sandwiches. Each of us would do one task. The manufacturing line would begin with B slicing the chicken breasts, which she had marinated and roasted earlier. Next, another one of us would butter the bread, another would cut the salad, another would assemble the ingredients and finally one of us would pack the sandwiches in pairs in clingwrap films before arranging them in a box. I had enjoyed those sessions, because while our hands were busy working, we would be chatting away and catching up.

The next day we would take the sandwiches to the Jumu’ah prayer (solat Jumaat) in the Bowett Room. Over there, it’s very common for ladies to attend Jumu’ah prayer. The khutbah was usually delivered by the university’s appointed Muslim Chaplain, whom we called Maulana. Occasionally, Syeikh Abdul Hakim Murad, or Tim Winter, would also give the khutbah. The khutbahs were usually topical and excellent reminders to us all. Throughout the Jumu’ahs, I’ve seen one guy and one lady (not related to each other and in separate occasions) who first came as observers. They would sit by the side, listening to the khutbahs, and then watching people pray. After months perhaps, they joined the saf! Subhanallah walhamdulillah..

But I’m digressing. I was talking about sandwiches, wasn’t I? After the khutbah and solat, we would pass bulk of the sandwiches to the boys, MHH (then friend) and M, who would sell them to the brothers at 1 pound per sandwich pair. That’s considered cheap, because at the same price you would only get an egg sandwich in a shop. A chicken sandwich (yes, there are halal chicken sandwiches in certain shops there) would cost nearer to 2 pounds, 1.85 maybe. Each week we made about 60-70 sandwiches (if I remember correctly), and they sold out all the time. “Tell the sisters this sandwich is delicious! MasyaAllah.” We just giggled and hesitated to take the compliment – because the tandoori paste we used was straight from the bottle! The profits we made were used to purchase second hand books from charity shops and car boot sales. As I once mentioned, they were really cheap – a Ladybird book cost only around 10-50 pence, depending on the conditions. So we shipped quite a few boxes over to this side of the world.

Today, it’s no longer sandwiches – it’s SimpliSiti’s apparels. 20% of all profits from cash sales from 1 July to 25 July will be used to buy books for the AnNajjah boys (we first visited them in April). They are going to have a one day event (open to public) on the 26th of July to mark their second anniversary, and there will be various activities including health checks and sales of souvenir, food etc. The batik paintings will be on sale, too. (Mardhiah12, you are interested right? Here’s your chance!). I will update more details later when I receive the information. I’ve asked the secretary if I could set up a stall and she said yes. So, I’m seriously considering setting up a SimpliSiti booth there and I will give 50% of all profits made on that day to them. My only qualm is that I don’t want to stay there the whole day from 8 to 5! (Apalah punya usahawan wannabe ni, macam malas berusaha je… hehe) Hmm… maybe I could ask the boys to take turn manning the stall.. If you have some old (but still in good condition) books you’d like to donate, you are welcomed to do so through me. FYI, AnNajjah boys are between 7 to 17 years old. It’ll be really good to get some tafseers, dictionaries, board games etc. This book collection drive is part of our surau initiative. And, as I put in the notice: The reason why we are doing this is help foster the love of learning and knowledge, and the culture of reading. You’ve probably heard the famous maxim - If you give a man a fish, he will eat for one day. But if you teach him to fish, he will eat for many more days of his life. This will be an amal jariah for us, InsyaAllah.