Between the Spring Cafe and Ahadh Halal Butchers, at 211 Forest Road there is a recently refurbished shop, which has gone the way of so many retail and other businesses in modern Britain and been occupied by a charity.
In this case though, it is not a second hand shop for the ubiquitous British Heart Foundation, Oxfam and Scope, or even a local charity for local people like Crest, in the High Street. Instead we have one of those charities which collect money from an ethnic or religious minority (as the Rehman Foundation on Palmerston Road is rumoured to do, though I am unable to confirm this) to send to a specific country for a specific activity. In this case, the Sahara For Life Trust (Registered Charity No 1088219) is taking up a retail space for offices. A post in the window suggests their fund-raising is aimed at supporting something called the Sughra Shafi Medical Complex.
It is at Narowal in Pakistan, a district in the Punjab bounded on the northwest by Sialkot District, on the north of the working boundary of Kashmir's Kathua district of (Indian occupied Kashmir), on the southeast by the disputed Pathankot of Gurdaspur district (India), on the south by Amritsar district (India) and on the southwest by Sheikhupura district. In other words, right on one of the world's great frontlines.
Quite why there are people in Walthamstow who would set up an office for the purpose of fundraising for this specific hospital in this specific political hotspot is a question I do not have the answer to. It would be impolite to presume there is a tax angle in any of this, for instance.
The website of the charity he chairs and has immodestly plastered his photo all over does after all describe the founder of the Trust, one Mr. Abrar Ul Haq as 'a symbol of human service'. His website is full of a load of stuff about his vision but does not provide any information about where the money comes from or how it is being spent. Apparently Mr Abrar Ul Haq is an entertainer, but what his local connections are is not clear to me.