Help bring a smile to an orphan’s life
I have often searched in my soul and my surroundings wondering why life is so empty. I have always wondered whilst living my life to the fullest, what it was that was missing. My answer was often found in the sad unfolding events happening to my fragmented country. Iraq!
I feel helpless each time I switch on the TV and see the bloodshed. I feel angry, outraged, then turn off the TV and try to forget it. But the images are hard to forget, the children running, crying, and sitting close to the bodies of their loved ones. Those horrific images are hard to forget.
One day I decided to turn the sadness, frustration and anger to action. I decided to offer a helping hand to those crying children. To the thousands of orphans that are being created every day.
Since I work in a school, I decided to start selling lunch once a week to the children in school. First, I thought only a few kids would buy and to my surprise more than half of the school signed up. It was very hard to do the first time but I decided not to give up. And with Allah’s grace and mercy over an eight months period, I raised enough money to sponsor 20 orphans for a whole year.
When my beloved uncle, Kamil, came to visit us in the U.S., I found out that we shared the same passion and we both worked for the same cause. I was very excited that I still have $500 remaining from the orphans’ lunch program. Thus, I decided to donate it to his noble organization (Iraqi Charities Forum). To my surprise, this money became the foundation for a much bigger project, which will bring a smile to the orphans for Eid.
Let us make this Eid a memorable one for the orphans, let us make it an Eid that they would never forget. I am hopeful that with the participation of others this campaign will flourish.
Sahar Ali
Mission Vieju |
Eid Gifts for Iraqi Orphans