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From the Heart: Loving the Yateem
Islamic Relief USA’s Lina Hashem reports how one dedicated Islamic Relief USA donor has dedicated a significant part of his life to helping orphans in Afghanistan. Ahmad Sohail Ayam has an extra motivation to get to work every morning. Well, more like 41 extra motivations. They’re the orphans he sponsors. Ayam is from Afghanistan and so are his orphans, but that’s not why he sponsors them. It’s because he’s seen how the poor are living there, right now in the 21st century, after decades of war. Especially the yateem—the orphans. “There are people living in the 10th century,” he said. “I saw them last year when I was there. Poor…
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‘Finding a Way’: IRUSA Team Reports From Nepal
When the Islamic Relief USA team landed in Kathmandu, Nepal, four days after the earthquake in April, they were surprised to see that only one out of 10 or 20 houses showed signs of damage. Then they got into a car to drive closer to the epicenter. As the winding roads became steeper and more treacherous, the rubble piled higher on each side. There, they found deep gashes in the Earth, and entire villages flattened. “The saddest thing is that those affected the worst are usually the poorest people,” said IRUSA’s Ridwan Adhami. “They don’t have much to lose, and they still lost it all.” What they didn’t lose was…
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IRUSA Makes Education for Syrian Children a Priority
Enas was nine years old when her and her family fled Syria more than a year ago in January 2014. Their home is now a simple tent in eastern Lebanon in one of the more than four hundred informal settlements that are scattered throughout the country.
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In A Wealthy World, It’s Wrong That So Many Women Live in Poverty
Christina Tobias-Nahi is Director of Public Affairs at Islamic Relief USA. Boston, MA – Oxfam America invited some of their regional “Sisters on the Planet Ambassadors” to participate in the 2015 International Women’s Day Right the Wrong workshop held in and around Harvard University’s Campus on March 6 and 7. This is one of many workshops in a series that was held around the United States. The training and advocacy event was focused on Protecting Resources and Rights in extractive industries in the developing world. More than 50 countries in the world are considered “resource-rich”, meaning they have significant oil, gas or mineral reserves. Yet in many of these countries, a large…
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U.N. Agency Recognizes IRUSA for Work in Gaza
Nada Shawish is a communications specialist at Islamic Relief USA. Washington, D.C.—After the last episode of violence erupted in Gaza in summer 2014, Palestinians families in Gaza have struggled to rebuild their lives. Islamic Relief USA has been working directly with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to deliver vital aid to Palestinians in Gaza. On March 17, UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl presented IRUSA CEO Anwar Khan with an award recognizing IRUSA’s humanitarian efforts in Gaza. Islamic Relief USA donors have been supporting humanitarian projects in Gaza through UNRWA to help restore dignity to living conditions of Palestinians there. Emergency projects included food aid, hygiene and sanitation, and…
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Syria’s Four Years: Are You Paying Attention to Your Role?
Nada Shawish is a Communications Specialist at Islamic Relief USA. I visited Jordan and Lebanon close to the beginning. The conflict had only begun to get deadly, and I was standing in Zataari camp in Jordan. The camp was filling with people just escaping from Syria—arriving with so little, living in the desert with a flimsy tent, stifled by heat and choked by dust, with absolutely nothing but the clothes on their back. I thought then, these people might not make it. So many of these people will not be able to survive these brutal conditions. I could barely stand or breathe after just an hour at Zataari. Zataari camp…
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The Double Legacy of the Young Muslims of Chapel Hill
Lina Hashem is Communications Specialist at Islamic Relief USA. The last time IRUSA board member Dr. Hamdy Radwan saw all three of the young Muslims killed Feb. 10 in Chapel Hill, N.C., they were helping others. Deah Barakat was selling toothbrushes at the masjid to raise funds for dental products for Syrian refugees. He wasn’t yet quite comfortable in the role of fundraiser. “You don’t have to pay for it,” Radwan heard him say. “Just make dua for the people.” And the last time he saw sisters Yusor and Razan Abu-Salha, they were at an Islamic Relief USA fundraising dinner, pausing for a photo with their proud father. Artistic Razan…
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Delivering Aid in Syria: Brave in the Face of Danger
Laura McAdams, international programs coordinator at IRUSA, recently spent a week at the Syrian border in Turkey, monitoring and evaluating delivery of aid IRUSA donors send to Syrians. Here is her report. High risks come along with entering Syria these days. Those risks, along with remote living conditions along the Turkish border, mean that only the most passionate people work for Islamic Relief’s Syria operation. Mohammed Rebii, the operation’s program manager, is one of those people. Mohammed works with a dedicated staff who together have decades of experience working in conflict zone and transitional areas like Gaza, Egypt and Libya. Together, they brave danger to deliver aid from donors in…
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Wish You Were Here: On MLK Day of Service
Nada Shawish is a communications specialist at Islamic Relief USA. I will start by saying this: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service is for everyone. It’s not just an African-American holiday. It’s not just meant for those who have faced discrimination in this country. It’s for everyone. What that means is that it’s everyone’s responsibility to uphold Dr. King’s magnificent words. It’s everyone’s job to protect civil liberties and move our country in the right direction—away from social injustice and toward equality—away from discrimination and toward respect for each other. We do this by working together for a better world. At Islamic Relief USA, that’s what happened on MLK…
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Global Action on Poverty
An important announcement from our Islamic Relief Worldwide Islamic Relief backs campaign for agreements on extreme poverty, inequality, climate change and gender justice Islamic Relief is throwing its weight behind calls for global action on poverty, inequality and climate change as well as the promotion of gender justice. Almost a billion extra people will face a life of extreme poverty if world leaders duck key decisions at three upcoming summits, according to new research by the action/2015 coalition. Billions of people already live in poverty worldwide. Islamic Relief’s senior advisor on Post-2015, Helen Stawski, said: “It is critical that world leaders agree plans to eradicate poverty, promote gender justice, and tackle inequality…
