Sohail Ahmad Kahloon, Project Coordinator, Denmark
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Denmark has held a free food camp every year since 2012. The purpose of this project is to serve humanity while also spreading the message of the Promised Messiahas to Danish society. It is a great opportunity to attract people and spread the message of Islam Ahmadiyyat.
This year’s food camp came up with new name ‘Vild Med Suppe’ which means “crazy about soup”. The name was selected in accordance to Danish humour and cultural norms. The three most populated cities of Denmark, Copenhagen, Århus and Odence were chosen to distribute the soup.
Project preparations
This project began by writing a letter for prayers to Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V, may Allah be his Helper. Next, Sadr Majlis Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya had a meeting with National Amir Sahib, Mohammad Zakaria Khan, for his guidance about the project.
After the approval from Amir Sahib, Sadr MKA appointed me (Sohail Ahmad Kahloon) in-charge of the project and divided the project in different departments. Preparation was vast and multifaceted. The first step was taking permissions from local authorities for the camp, Falah-ud-Din Sahib, Missionary Denmark assisted with this regard a great deal.
Applications were submitted to local municipal councils with all the plans, dates and a sample of the pamphlets to be distributed. Alhamdolillah, all three municipalities approved our application without any hurdle. Three days were decided for this purpose: 30 November 2019 in Copenhagen, 7 December in Arhus and 14 December 2019 in Odense. Banners, tents, and the area where we would supply the food were finalised, along with the information we wanted to display about the Jamaat.
The next step was food preparation and transportation. The menu consisted of chicken corn soup, lentil soup and kheer and it was essential we served the soup hot as it was winter and so arrangements were made.
The main event
While distributing the soup, a number of leaflets were also given to members of the public. A small questionnaire was also filled out by participants and a gift was given to every participant who took part. The quiz was very simple and was mainly for children, however adults also showed interest.
Social media coverage
Danish people in general are not attracted to religious activities however the food camp was a great success, by the grace of Allah. The media team consisting of Balaj Ahmad Sahib, Dr Azhar Ahmad Sahib and Imad-ud-Din Malik Sahib approached various outlets.
The Mayor of Arhus, Mr Jacob Bundsgaard visited our camp and showed support and affection. Television channels like TV2 Ostjylland in Arhus and TV2 Fyn in Odense showed the food camp activities as well as an introduction to Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Denmark. A lot of people visited our camp after listening to the announcements on local radio. Pictures of the camp were shared on social media and a Facebook live was also streamed. Hundreds of people liked and shared this initiative. Roughly 4.5 thousand people were served with food and around 17 thousand leaflets were distributed along with 175 books. Roughly, the message of peace we were spreading reached more than one million through social media posts and TV and radio coverage.
Efforts of AMJ Denmark
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Denmark in general and MKA especially worked hard to spread the message. These camps were not only fueled by khuddam and ansar who spared their time but lajna, nasirat and atfal, from all three cities, assisted and participated in these events.