In celebration of Mother's Day, May 8, 2011, Lina Hashem, Islamic Relief USA communications specialist and mother of two, writes about the significance of being a mother.
The early years can mire a mother in diapers, midnight feedings, lack of sleep. Then you watch your child grow older and head away from you – onto the bus for first grade, behind the wheel of a car, off to college, down the aisle on her wedding day.
But in some countries, the hardships are much more basic: Can I get to a doctor for prenatal care? Will I have help from a doctor, nurse or midwife for the birth itself? Will I survive?
And then, looking into the hungry eyes of my child … can I find food for him? Can I get help for her when she is sick? In some countries, as many as one in every four children born this year will die before his fifth birthday – will my child be one of them?
In the United States, good medical care makes childbirth relatively safe. A mother in the United States has a 14 in 100,000 chance of dying. In Afghanistan – where only 14% of births are attended by medical personnel – a mother’s chance of dying during birth is 10,000% higher.
According to the World Health Organization, one thousand women died every day in 2008 from complications of pregnancy and childbirth, the vast majority of them in poor regions of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Save the Children ranked Afghanistan as the worst place to be a mother — Yemen was not far behind, ranked at 161 out of 164 countries, and Mali came in at 157. Islamic Relief provides programs that help women in all of these countries and many more.
In Afghanistan, Islamic Relief is giving women education and entrepreneurial support so they can live better lives and provide for their children.
In Yemen, Islamic Relief programs are teaching women practices to improve their health as well as that of their children. These programs also help free them from crushing daily burdens so they can work and lift their families out of poverty.
In Mali, pregnant women are at heightened risk for malaria, a deadly threat. An Islamic Relief program is providing them with preventative care and treatment if they get sick. A new maternal health center is helping save lives of mothers in a country where 830 mothers die for every 100,000 births.
Countless other Islamic Relief programs help mothers around the world. In Pakistan, at a new health clinic in Nowshera funded by Islamic Relief USA, teams hired a female doctor so conservative women will agree to receive medical treatment. Here in the United States, an Islamic Relief grant is supporting a shelter for battered women and their children in Baltimore.
Islamic Relief is working to alleviate the suffering of mothers around the world. This Mother’s Day, when you give your beloved mother a gift, consider giving one of these other mothers a gift as well – a gift that might just save her life and allow her children the blessing and right to grow up with a mother.
Please donate.
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Showing posts with label Mali. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mali. Show all posts
Friday, May 6, 2011
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Refugee Camps in Lebanon Tell a Sad Story
In the last leg of their six-week trip into the field, CEO Abed Ayoub and an Islamic Relief USA team went to Lebanon last week after wrapping up portions of their trip in Jordan, Mali, and Ghana. In addition to meeting with government officials, the team had been visiting schools and Islamic Relief programs in the countries.
Jordan
Jordan
Before leaving Jordan, the team visited a camp filled with refugees with Palestinian backgrounds. The camp had been established in 1967 and populated with Palestinian refugees who had fled their homes in 1948, went to Gaza, and then fled again to Jordan in 1967, settling in tents in the Jarash area before the camp was established. None of the refugees ever registered with the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA).
According to Yousef Abdallah, Islamic Relief USA’s Northeast Regional Manager, who traveled with the team, only 8 out of 20,000 refugees have a Jordanian social security number and residency rights.
The only medical clinic at this camp of 20,000 refugees sees about 450 cases a day, and the poverty level is quite high, Abdallah reported. At one pre-K school, 90 students are divided into two rooms, and no more children can join due to limited space. Walking through the streets, the team witnessed above-ground sanitation canals and houses with asbestos. Ayoub pledged to help the camp with medicine and medical help.
Also while in Jordan, Ayoub signed a Memorum of Understanding (MOU) with the Jordanian Alliance Against Hunger and signed a grant agreement with the UN World Food Program for a school feeding program. A draft MOU was also sent to the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization for review and approval. Once that is signed by both parties, IR USA plans to ship medicine to Jordan to be disseminated by the JHCO and the Islamic Relief Jordan office.
Lebanon
After arriving in the country, the IR USA team went with a UNRWA team to northern Lebanon to visit the camps of Albadawi and Nahr al-Bared, near the city of Tripoli. At the Albadawi camp, the team visited an UNRWA school and was briefed on the situation inside the camp. An Islamic Relief representative, Nabil Namani from the IR Lebanon office, said they were planning drill a well for the school.
As the team toured the camp, they witnessed poor living conditions, an unorganized expansion, and exposed electrical wiring, according to Abdallah. Some of the homes they visited were for families who had fled the fighting in Nahr al-Bared.
"It's extremely poor [living conditions]," Abdallah said. "You can see the frustrations in their eyes. They left their homes in Nahr al-Bared in their night gowns, barefooted, without being able to take any of their belongings with them. They have no jobs, and Allah knows what's awaiting them.”
From the Albadawi camp the IR USA team went to the Nahr al-Bared camp after going through numerous checkpoints. Once inside, they saw that a camp that used to house 17,000 refugees was in rubble and ruins. The whole camp was destroyed, Abdallah said. UNRWA is planning to rebuild the camp, but is unsure if they will be able to finish due to a lack of funding.
"No matter how much we are trying to help, there is always more need,” Ayoub said. "All the things I've seen on this trip, as hard as it’s been to see, has only strengthened the resolve of Islamic Relief USA to work harder and do more inshallah."
--Reporting by Yousef Abdallah
According to Yousef Abdallah, Islamic Relief USA’s Northeast Regional Manager, who traveled with the team, only 8 out of 20,000 refugees have a Jordanian social security number and residency rights.
The only medical clinic at this camp of 20,000 refugees sees about 450 cases a day, and the poverty level is quite high, Abdallah reported. At one pre-K school, 90 students are divided into two rooms, and no more children can join due to limited space. Walking through the streets, the team witnessed above-ground sanitation canals and houses with asbestos. Ayoub pledged to help the camp with medicine and medical help.
Also while in Jordan, Ayoub signed a Memorum of Understanding (MOU) with the Jordanian Alliance Against Hunger and signed a grant agreement with the UN World Food Program for a school feeding program. A draft MOU was also sent to the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization for review and approval. Once that is signed by both parties, IR USA plans to ship medicine to Jordan to be disseminated by the JHCO and the Islamic Relief Jordan office.
Lebanon
After arriving in the country, the IR USA team went with a UNRWA team to northern Lebanon to visit the camps of Albadawi and Nahr al-Bared, near the city of Tripoli. At the Albadawi camp, the team visited an UNRWA school and was briefed on the situation inside the camp. An Islamic Relief representative, Nabil Namani from the IR Lebanon office, said they were planning drill a well for the school.
As the team toured the camp, they witnessed poor living conditions, an unorganized expansion, and exposed electrical wiring, according to Abdallah. Some of the homes they visited were for families who had fled the fighting in Nahr al-Bared.
"It's extremely poor [living conditions]," Abdallah said. "You can see the frustrations in their eyes. They left their homes in Nahr al-Bared in their night gowns, barefooted, without being able to take any of their belongings with them. They have no jobs, and Allah knows what's awaiting them.”
From the Albadawi camp the IR USA team went to the Nahr al-Bared camp after going through numerous checkpoints. Once inside, they saw that a camp that used to house 17,000 refugees was in rubble and ruins. The whole camp was destroyed, Abdallah said. UNRWA is planning to rebuild the camp, but is unsure if they will be able to finish due to a lack of funding.
"No matter how much we are trying to help, there is always more need,” Ayoub said. "All the things I've seen on this trip, as hard as it’s been to see, has only strengthened the resolve of Islamic Relief USA to work harder and do more inshallah."
--Reporting by Yousef Abdallah
Friday, June 25, 2010
Islamic Relief USA: What Matters Most are Those in Need
With any job, even if you are passionate about it and love it, there are moments when we need extra motivation to perform the very best that we can. And especially when you work for a relief and development agency like Islamic Relief USA, those reminders of who your true "employers" are can be humbling and welcoming at the same time.
I’ve been with this organization for nearly four months now in an editorial capacity. I know that my employers are not just the CEO, or even the Board of Directors. The employers who matter most are the people we are trying to help: those in need, those who go without basic necessities of life, those who suffer during emergencies and crisis.
But knowing that, I still need to be reminded. At our weekly office staff meeting, Belkacem Nahi, IR USA's Development Coordinator, briefed the staff on what he saw during his recent travels with our CEO Abed Ayoub and the IR USA team in Ghana and Mali. The stories he told brought tears to my eyes. He related how he spoke with a mother in Mali, who has eight members in her family. He asked her how she fed the family. She replied that four people ate at lunch, and four people ate at dinner – and it was a very spare meal.
Anwar Khan, IR USA’s Vice President of Fund Development who has traveled extensively in the field, said, "One in four children in Mali die before their 5th birthday. It is one of the worst human development situations in the world." He added, "Every time you go into the field, you carry some of that pain back with you, and you come back determined to do more for these people."
Khan said that it was the job of IR USA to "give [those we are helping], at the very least, the minimum of help. And no matter how much we think we are doing," he said, “we can do more than that.”
"The war [in African countries] is against starvation and disease," he said. "And the best we can give them is our unlimited help and our love."
At the same meeting, Karim Amin, IR USA's Domestic Programs Coordinator, and Seyed Mowlana, IR USA's IT Systems Engineer, spoke about their experiences at the annual Day of Dignity event at the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota last weekend. Mowlana said it was an experience he would never forget: "This is one of the forgotten places," he said. "I saw Native Americans living in the most broken-down places, having contaminated water to drink – water that wouldn’t even be safe if boiled. This is in our own country."
Their day spent at the reservation was a hard, but uplifting one, Amin said. Those on the reservation were happy to see them, and the IR USA team of volunteers was able to distribute food and medical kits to hundreds of people.
I've come to learn in my time with IR USA that the need out there is very, very great indeed. There are many people who need help, who need sponsorship, who need healthcare, who need education. It motivated me to do my job well, and to get the word out. Your help is needed always. Your donations are needed. Your volunteer time is needed. To donate, please click here.
I’ve been with this organization for nearly four months now in an editorial capacity. I know that my employers are not just the CEO, or even the Board of Directors. The employers who matter most are the people we are trying to help: those in need, those who go without basic necessities of life, those who suffer during emergencies and crisis.
But knowing that, I still need to be reminded. At our weekly office staff meeting, Belkacem Nahi, IR USA's Development Coordinator, briefed the staff on what he saw during his recent travels with our CEO Abed Ayoub and the IR USA team in Ghana and Mali. The stories he told brought tears to my eyes. He related how he spoke with a mother in Mali, who has eight members in her family. He asked her how she fed the family. She replied that four people ate at lunch, and four people ate at dinner – and it was a very spare meal.
Anwar Khan, IR USA’s Vice President of Fund Development who has traveled extensively in the field, said, "One in four children in Mali die before their 5th birthday. It is one of the worst human development situations in the world." He added, "Every time you go into the field, you carry some of that pain back with you, and you come back determined to do more for these people."
Khan said that it was the job of IR USA to "give [those we are helping], at the very least, the minimum of help. And no matter how much we think we are doing," he said, “we can do more than that.”
"The war [in African countries] is against starvation and disease," he said. "And the best we can give them is our unlimited help and our love."
At the same meeting, Karim Amin, IR USA's Domestic Programs Coordinator, and Seyed Mowlana, IR USA's IT Systems Engineer, spoke about their experiences at the annual Day of Dignity event at the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota last weekend. Mowlana said it was an experience he would never forget: "This is one of the forgotten places," he said. "I saw Native Americans living in the most broken-down places, having contaminated water to drink – water that wouldn’t even be safe if boiled. This is in our own country."
Their day spent at the reservation was a hard, but uplifting one, Amin said. Those on the reservation were happy to see them, and the IR USA team of volunteers was able to distribute food and medical kits to hundreds of people.
I've come to learn in my time with IR USA that the need out there is very, very great indeed. There are many people who need help, who need sponsorship, who need healthcare, who need education. It motivated me to do my job well, and to get the word out. Your help is needed always. Your donations are needed. Your volunteer time is needed. To donate, please click here.
--Dilshad D. Ali
Monday, June 7, 2010
Islamic Relief's Microcredit Program Thriving in Mali
Islamic Relief USA CEO Abed Ayoub and his team continue their trip through several African countries before departing to the United Kingdom and Jordan. In addition to meeting with government officials, the team has been visiting schools and Islamic Relief programs in the countries.
Ghana Wrapup
In Ghana the team announced that IR USA will be opening a new office in the country. The team was also invited to the home of Vice President John Mohammed, where Ayoub explained IR USA’s history and its work with international NGOs. Mohammed spoke of the challenges that Ghana faces, especially in strengthening its educational infrastructure. Ayoub said they looked forward to establishing the new field office in Ghana.
Mali
Ghana Wrapup
In Ghana the team announced that IR USA will be opening a new office in the country. The team was also invited to the home of Vice President John Mohammed, where Ayoub explained IR USA’s history and its work with international NGOs. Mohammed spoke of the challenges that Ghana faces, especially in strengthening its educational infrastructure. Ayoub said they looked forward to establishing the new field office in Ghana.
Mali
From Ghana, Ayoub and the IR USA teamtraveled to Mali where they began their time in Bamako and met with Country Director Abdelmagid Naciri, who heads Islamic Relief's Mali office. Naciri told the team that "Islamic Relief is the best NGO which understands the needs of the people and work closely with them." He encouraged IR USA to do more developmental relief work all over Mali.
Ayoub shared IR USA's strategies in Africa and said the relief organization is interested in doing more work in the fields of education and health, but that the team was there to listen to the Malians and study the needs of the country. Following the meeting with Naciri, Ayoub and Islamic Relief USA Development Coordinator Belkacem Nahi met with the IR staff working in Mali and fielded questions on how projects will be financed and how IR USA can develop a system to make funds available as soon as they are needed.
"I am very proud of the work that the Islamic Relief team is doing in Mali and inshallah we will support it in the best way possible," Ayoub said.
Ayoub and his team then met with Omar Ibrahima Toure, Mali's minster of health, who reiterated Mali's commitment to work closely with IR USA and his hopes for a growth in funding. Toure and Ayoub discussed the need for updated hospital equipment and medicines. Ayoub asked Toure if the Mali government can help IR USA by donating land or a building for a new hospital, to which the minister replied that he would form a team to work on this request and see if it was feasible.
Microcredit in Mali
Ayoub shared IR USA's strategies in Africa and said the relief organization is interested in doing more work in the fields of education and health, but that the team was there to listen to the Malians and study the needs of the country. Following the meeting with Naciri, Ayoub and Islamic Relief USA Development Coordinator Belkacem Nahi met with the IR staff working in Mali and fielded questions on how projects will be financed and how IR USA can develop a system to make funds available as soon as they are needed.
"I am very proud of the work that the Islamic Relief team is doing in Mali and inshallah we will support it in the best way possible," Ayoub said.
Ayoub and his team then met with Omar Ibrahima Toure, Mali's minster of health, who reiterated Mali's commitment to work closely with IR USA and his hopes for a growth in funding. Toure and Ayoub discussed the need for updated hospital equipment and medicines. Ayoub asked Toure if the Mali government can help IR USA by donating land or a building for a new hospital, to which the minister replied that he would form a team to work on this request and see if it was feasible.
Microcredit in Mali
One of the last stops for the IR USA team was at a house in the outskirts of Bamako to meet with the director of a widow’s microcredit program, where the mothers of former IR-sponsored orphans process nuts, peanut butter and ginger in small packets to sell in a local market. Ayoub was heartened by the work and encouraged the women to keep it up.
"It is so good to see the hard work of these women and what they are doing for their families. Inshallah IR USA is willing to help them more in their endeavors," Ayoub said. The program director said that in the eight years of the program, 350 women had benefitted from it and the entire cost of living for their families was covered from the revenue of the sales.
One of the beneficiaries of the program told Ayoub that the work had saved the life of her kids by allowing her to buy food and clothes for her family and save for their future education. "I say Jazak Allah Khair to the donors [of IR USA]," she said.
Islamic Relief USA will be blogging more about Ayoub and his team as they travel to the United Kingdom and Jordan. To help with Islamic Relief’s work in Ghana, Mali, and other areas, click here.
--Reporting by Belkacem Nahi
"It is so good to see the hard work of these women and what they are doing for their families. Inshallah IR USA is willing to help them more in their endeavors," Ayoub said. The program director said that in the eight years of the program, 350 women had benefitted from it and the entire cost of living for their families was covered from the revenue of the sales.
One of the beneficiaries of the program told Ayoub that the work had saved the life of her kids by allowing her to buy food and clothes for her family and save for their future education. "I say Jazak Allah Khair to the donors [of IR USA]," she said.
Islamic Relief USA will be blogging more about Ayoub and his team as they travel to the United Kingdom and Jordan. To help with Islamic Relief’s work in Ghana, Mali, and other areas, click here.
--Reporting by Belkacem Nahi
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Staff Video Diary From Mali
Communications Writer Zeyad Maasarani shares his first impressions of Mali via video.
Mali Trip Day 4 - "It's 4 a.m. but I can't sleep."
Tuesday, February 9, 2010It's 4 a.m. but I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes I keep recounting things I can't make sense of.
Yesterday, our Islamic Relief USA envoy visited 5 orphans that are sponsored by donors back in the U.S.
When we arrived to the first orphan's house, a boy named Suleyman, I was so appalled to see the living conditions he and his family endured. Despite the living conditions, they were very hospitable, kind and proud.
We had to step over sewage to walk in, but that didn't stop the family from welcoming us. Children from around the neighborhood flocked to greet us and show us their toys. Most of them were covered in dirt and I could tell some of them were very sick. I remembered the head of the envoy, Anwar, warning us that what we would see would be horrific. But seeing is different than hearing.
No human should have to endure what these people were enduring. And still, they were better off than most in their neighborhood. One-to-One Orphan Sponsorship through Islamic Relief had allowed Suleyman to go to school instead of working a backbreaking job like many young boys we had passed on the streets of Bamako. Although I was very sad to see what I saw, I couldn't believe how happy and positive Suleyman and his family were.
He told us that the last time he ate meat was around Eid al-Adha, when Islamic Relief conducted Udhiyah/Qurbani distributions in his area. I felt guilty to have a full stomach as I heard this. Then, I was given a tour of their humble home. An inoperative refrigerator was one of the few pieces of furniture inside the 3-room shack. A tore-up hammock and dirty sheets on the ground made up their bedroom, but I wondered how they could sleep in a room with no windows. I was holding my breath the whole time. But, they seemed so thankful for what they had.
I pretended that what I saw was normal, so I didn't insult the family. Inside, I was crying. I hope they couldn't tell.
-Zeyad Maasarani
Communications Writer
Monday, February 8, 2010
Islamic Relief USA team heads off to Mali
On Saturday, February 6, 2010, a group of staff and volunteers departed for Mali. They'll be visiting projects funded by Islamic Relief USA in the South and North, including in the Timbuktu region. The group includes Communications Writer (and Islamic Relief USA blogger) Zeyad Maasarani (left) and Anwar Khan, VP of Fund Development. Zeyad will be posting video and text from Mali regularly. You can follow Anwar Khan's updates via Twitter here.Zeyad's first posts are below.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
We're getting ready to depart from lax and I don't know what to expect.
I'm ready for "the worst" but that's all relative. For all I know, what I perceive as bad might be paradise for somebody else.
I know I'm going to see some suffering. I can't wait to see how our work has helped people there.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
We just arrived in Bamako international airport. Its really hot and dusty.
Flying over Bamako, I hardly saw any light. Its obvious I'm in a different part of the world. The airport bathroom doesn't even have running water.
I just saw a mosquito. I wonder how the people live with the constant threat of malaria.
But the people don't seem to be fazed. Everyone is smiling and glad to have us here. Judging by dress and demeanor, the people seem poor, but dignified.
I gave chocolate to the airport workers. They thanked me and ate it quietly. This might even be their only meal of the night, judging by how some of them wolfed it down.
But I'm excited to see the people in the daytime. I know the sun will shed light on some major suffering, but I also hope it can show us how great and fulfilling it is to support Islamic Relief's work in Mali.
-Zeyad Maasarani
Communications Writer
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