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Flood Waters Unexpectedly Drown Lives, Islamic Relief Renovates Homes in Bosnia
Fareeha Amir is Media Specialist at Islamic Relief USA. Maglaj was one of the first flood-affected regions in Bosnia when the worst flood in almost 100 years washed away homes and land. During the worst of the flooding, the water level in Maglaj climbed over 2 meters. It took four whole days for the water to recede. And when it did, 53-year-old Verica Marti only had the ceramic tiles left in her house. For two days and two nights, everything in her house was underwater. Everything needed repair—from the ceiling to the insulation. Walking among her soaked belongings, Verica remembers the despair she felt sifting and searching for anything she…
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Getting Gaza’s children off to a “Right Start” at school this year with IRUSA and ANERA
Laura McAdams is International Programs Coordinator at Islamic Relief USA. Back-to-school season is approaching and while many parents are preparing themselves for their children’s first day of school, only about a third of all four and five year olds in Gaza will be enrolled in preschool in the fall. The preschools that are available to children in Gaza are overcrowded and expensive: There are only four public, no-fee preschools in all of the West Bank and Gaza. Moreover, the quality of education children receive at these schools is reportedly poor. During school hours children have neither the opportunities or materials to be creative. They don’t even have places to play…
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#Sharehumanity with Islamic Relief USA on World Humanitarian Day
Nada Shawish is communications specialist at Islamic Relief USA. 19 August 2015 – There’s nothing connecting humanitarians and the world better than social media today—And on World Humanitarian Day the United Nations has launched a call to people around the world to share stories of humanitarian heroism on their social media feeds. At Islamic Relief USA, my colleagues and I are dedicating our feeds to humanitarian heroes for World Humanitarian Day—Are you? In 2015 nearly 78 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance @islamicrelief #Dosomething #sharehumanity Islamic Relief USA humanitarians are tirelessly working in some of the most dangerous places in the world to reach people who need…
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Tunisia’s Farmers Are Rebuilding Greenhouses and Building Up Biodiversity with Islamic Relief USA
Laura McAdams is an International Programs Coordinator at Islamic Relief USA. Mohamad was the first person I met with on my recent monitoring and evaluation trip to Tunisia. He is the community leader of a cooperative of small-scale farmers in the southern town of Faouar. Mohamad comes from a long generational line of farmers. I followed him on a dry dirt path to a field where rows of greenhouses stood. Through two consecutive years, southern Tunisia has suffered strong storms that destroyed or severely damaged greenhouse structures in the country. Farmers weren’t able to salvage their crops and resume farming activities because they couldn’t find the money they needed to…
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TechGirls Are Tech-Social for Humanitarian Action at Islamic Relief USA
Nada Shawish is communications specialist at Islamic Relief USA. Fatima and Khadija are scrolling through their phones, checking tweets and Facebook statuses during a short break. “I am addicted to social media,” Fatima exclaims, her big eyes growing even bigger. She’s fifteen years old from Lebanon and she tells me that she dreams about working in digital technology someday. The girls are visiting Islamic Relief USA headquarters as part of the job-shadowing aspect of the TechGirls exchange program. TechGirls is a 3-week, international summer exchange program hosted by the U.S. State Department that selects promising girls from the Middle East and North Africa region and empowers them to to pursue…
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South Sudan’s Women Champion Farming for Their Families in Tarkeka with Islamic Relief
Nada Shawish is a communications specialist at Islamic Relief USA and she reports from South Sudan. “Our women are working hard. It is a burden on our women, they are digging and planting and they need support or they will not survive,” said Mary, the South Sudan representative that accompanied us to Tarkeka. She’s originally from the area, and she works closely with the women’s association in Tarkeka to develop livelihoods and improve lives for families. Suddenly, the sky opens up on the red dirt and cool water quickly floods grass and road. I’ve never seen people so happy for rain. It’s true, the heat is exhausting, and Mary joins…
