Recently I was inspired to raise money in order to sponsor 10 orphans for a whole year in sha Allah. This money goes to READ foundation: a charity committed to changing the lives of some of the poorest children in developing countries-including orphans. 

The reason that I wish to be able to raise all this money (£3,600) is simply because we do not often think of, or even remember, that there are millions of people in the world who are living in the poorest of conditions, and there are millions more that are often perhaps not included in the already shocking statistics one might generally read of how many people there are who are poor, because they happen to be over or at the 'poverty line' which still happens to be much lower than an average family's income. Much much lower! So I ask you, with all these people who don't deserve to live their life at the bottom, where do the orphans stand? Most don't even have a low income because there is none there. Hungry, tired and forced to live in their broken reality, it is hard to imagine that most of us forget this every day that we breath the air free from dust and rubble, and eat the food that they wish they had, and even when we raise our heads to the sky in frustration we see a roof above our heads to shelter us. 

But we can help and we can make a difference. 

Most importantly, they are provided with an education, and this is where the money will in sha Allah cut off their poverty from the roots instead of trimming the effects. How great would it be if you could help a child, just as capable and just as worthy as any one of us, to have the education they deserve to be able to live the rest of their lives independently and out of the poverty trap?! 

It would be great if as many people as possible could try to raise £100 each, perhaps by coming together with family and friends: 10 people can give £10 and then £100 can be given. This way, albeit touching the surface, we can still transform lives and begin a journey to 'be the change we wish to see in the world'. 

And with all that blessing, there is still more! Alhamdullilah we are in the month of Ramadhan and fast approaching the last ten nights. Any good deeds one does will in sha Allah be multiplied to a degree we cannot imagine and maybe even more if we make the intention in the night of Lailatul Qadr as well. 

This powerful hadith really moved me, and I would love to share it:

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: 'None of you will believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself.' (Bukhari and Muslim). SubhanAllah, it says none of us will believe (!) until we love for our brother what we love for ourselves. How often do we even think of this, and yet there are so many opportunities for us to perhaps develop this beautiful quality within ourselves. This truly selfless and loving quality, subhanAllah. 

Please try and get together so we can crack the poverty trap for these deserving orphans together, in sha Allah.