Since August, Do Not Forget has had an incredible upgrade. Hamzah took his idea with him all the way to Norway and initiated a domino effect of change. It started with a small idea, filled with hope and eagerness to help, and now, Hamzah has created a solid team of six members from every corner of the world, which started operationalizing the project ‘Warm Gifts Across Borders’. 

Everything started in August, when Hamzah talked to the entire student body at his school United World College Red Cross Nordic about his new non-profit organization, Do Not Forget. From there, he dropped seeds of inspiration in the minds and hearts of young students who were willing to give an extra hand to those who were in need. Hamzah needed diverse people who would execute different roles and from there, pupils at the UWC RCN began filling in their applications. A couple of days later, after reading through applications, running interviews with the applicants and the board of DNF, and sending out emails, the team was finalized! Julian (Sweden) and Beatriz (Portugal) were chosen to be operators, Carolina (Italy) and Aimar (Spain) were elected as writers, Nia (South Africa) as the graphic designer, and Sarah (Palestine) as the public speaker on behalf of DNF. Check them out by clicking here.

From there, the team began operationalizing their first mission: Warm Gifts Across Borders. In this project, we want to collect as many winter clothes as possible to send to a refugee camp in Lebanon. Hence, we started brainstorming to find funding and clothes. Firstly, we informed the whole school about the kickstarting of this project, because we needed to get the whole community of RCN on board. However, we did not limit ourselves to only that, we contacted a neighboring rehabilitation center and a town close to campus, called Dale. The roots of our project started dispersing, and as we saw that the boxes were filling up with clothes and more people were taking interest in this cause, we knew that Warm Gifts Across Borders, was truly starting to take off. 

However, this was not without challenges. Looking for funds to activate a project comes with its tolls and snags. Nonetheless, we have a sturdy and resilient team that was able to jump back from these adversities by bringing in new ideas to look for support with the resources that we had available. 

Some of the endeavors that DNF took these last couple of months include selling cinnamon rolls at a regional volleyball tournament, vending cookies and hot chocolate to our peers during break times between classes, knocking on doors in Dale to speak about our project and ask for funding, or promoting our project to Haugland rehabilitation center and to our school. In these couple of months, we have not just tried to look for funding, but we have also spread so much awareness about the vitality of this project. Thanks to Sarah and the operators they have informed our community and beyond about the pillars of Do Not Forget, the gravity of this organization, and how fundamental this project is.

Coming to the end of this spectacular and fulfilling month, we are glad to announce that our team was able to collect about 70 kg (154.3 lbs) worth of clothes which will all be shipped to the Naherl El Bared Camp, which is a Palestinian refugee camp located in Northern Lebanon. Hence, thanks to everyone’s contributions we will be able to ship these clothes to the people stuck in these refugee camps, so they will hopefully have a warmer winter.

In spite of this great achievement, DNF is already starting a new challenge for 2023. Our new mission is to apply to the Go Make A Difference project. “Founded 22 years ago, by co-founders and co-funders Jill Longson (AC81) and Colin Habgood, (the organization) has seen over 180 projects delivered by over 850 students who have made a difference to thousands of people,”  wrote Ann Godwin, the Administrator of GMAD. Through this project, we would be able to trigger an even bigger target and bring positive change to even more people! 

In conclusion, we want to thank all of those who have donated clothes, and funds and wished us luck with this project. Every little contribution is what makes the gears of this organization work and we are so thankful for this. With your help, we are going to be able to help out so many more. Finally, we are proud to reflect over these last few months as a period of challenges that have been undertaken, enigmas solved, and a lot of awareness has been spread. Now, a big portion of our UWC RCN community and our regional surroundings know about who we are and what our mission is. They know about Do Not Forget, and we made sure that these refugees will not be forgotten.