A Medic student at the University of Sheffield is doing 30,000 kick-ups on Tuesday to raise money for Gaza.
Haider Ali Bukhari is starting the challenge at 8am outside the Student Union and the final 100 will be done at 8.30pm.
Haider founded the fundraising organisation Goals 4 Gaza and aims to raise £5,000 for Medical Aid for Palestinians.
He said: “The main focus is Palestine and we shouldn’t lose track of what is happening there.
“And that’s the reason I am doing this, it is not to say oh I’ve done 30,000 kick-ups, oh I’ve raised ‘xyz’ for charity, its so people know about Palestine.”
On the day there will be educational stalls, a bake sale, a chai tea stall, a henna stall and a kick-up raffle stall, where people can donate and prizes can be won.
This is the fourth kick-up challenge he is doing, however this year he is expanding the fundraising campaign by arranging talks and other fundraisers like a football tournament.
Haider said: “I thought I am fairly good at football, so why not use it for a good cause.”
“I have loved doing kick-ups since I was a boy, loved juggling the ball, so I thought lets try and put a number to it and make it into a challenge.”
The first year he did 12,000 kick-ups, which he streamed on Twitch during Covid and raised £1200, In 2022 he did 20,000 kick-ups and last year he did 25,000 in Manchester.
He said: “I do get nervous because the last ten kick-ups I try and do consecutively because everyone countdowns. Every year I am worried I will mess up.”
When he first came to University he joined the Palestine society and wrote his dissertation on Conflict and Mental Health in Palestine.
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He said: “The environment I grew up in was very supportive of the Palestinian cause.
“I just thought yeah I support Palestine free Palestine, I didn’t actually understand it, and then I read through books and educated myself on it.”
He went to Palestine in September and hopes he can help out in the future, “I wanted to know why we should stand up for the people, its not just good enough to be oh I’m Muslim I support Palestine but why are we standing for discrimination against peoples based on their ethnicity or religion.”
In 2022 the medical aid for Palestinians had a reception at the House of Commons for people who support the charity, which Haider got invited to, “It was good, my first time in London.”
To donate: Haider Ali is fundraising for Medical Aid for Palestinians (justgiving.com)