MORE than 25 items including rare coins and banknotes will be auctioned off this week in support of a women’s crisis care centre in Bahrain.
Among the items up for auction is a rare banknote from Denmark dating back to 1804, making it around 216 years old, along with five shillings from Biafra before its merger under Nigeria.
A 216-year-old Denmark bank note dating back to 1804
The Shamsaha Charity Auction is being organised by Arados Auction House and will take place on Friday at 9pm through Instagram Live on @arados1.
Arados Auction House founder and owner Mohammed Al Aradi said the online event aims to support the nationwide campaign Feena Khair (There is Good in Us).
Proceeds
“We want to give back to our beloved country and help people in need, in any way we can,” he told the GDN.
“All the proceeds that we raise through this auction will go towards Shamsaha and this is a stand of solidarity with our people and our leadership in these extraordinary circumstances.
“Bahrain has given us so much during the peaceful times and this is a small gesture and it is our duty at this time to give back to our country.”
Mr Al Aradi hopes the auction will raise more than BD1,000 for Shamsaha, which he said was selected for their humanitarian efforts towards women regardless of their religion, nationality and race.
Shamsaha founder and executive director Mary Justine Todd said the funds will go towards their newly-launched Covid-19 Emergency Food Relief initiative.
Proceeds from the auction will go towards Shamsaha’s Covid-19 food drive
The programme aims to provide food for any woman who has lost her source of income due to the unprecedented situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We hope that more people come to know about Shamsaha and our work with women in the community because the more people who come to know about us the more women we can support,” she said.
“This includes women who are in need of food relief during these times, as well as women who have been abuse victims who we serve given our normal mandate.”
She said the charity auction was crucial to Shamsaha because the Covid-19 food programme is beyond their usual budget.
“Normally, Shamsaha serves women who have been victimised by domestic or sexual abuse and we continue to do so 24 hours a day and seven days a week,” she added.
“Our normal activities already keep us very busy – the more resources we can obtain during this difficult time the more we can provide for women and families.
“With our current budget, we have the capacity to provide 10 to 15 food relief packages every single day until the end of Ramadan.
“However, we hope to increase this to meet a very large need as we are receiving 300 to 500 requests per day.”
In the last 12 months Shamsaha has served women in more than 1,000 cases of abuse, as rates of violence against women around the world are expected to increase during the pandemic. For more information on the charity auction visit @shamsaha_me and @arados1.
reem@gdn.com.bh
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