Around the world, Islamic Relief teams are rolling out a distribution mission on a vast scale.

Providing the highest quality Qurbani meat to families living in desperate circumstances, our teams know that for many people, this could be the only taste of meat they get all year.

Em Abdo fled her home in Syria after pulling her little boy from the rubble of the destroyed building and now lives in a camp.

She said: “We now spend our Eid living under the trees… Is this really Eid?!

“Truly, this is not Eid.”

 

 

This Eid Islamic Relief aims to deliver Qurbani across 29 countries so that Em Abdo, and families like hers, can share a special meal together.

Siham, from Idlib, is in the same situation, struggling to give her children a normal life in the camp.

She says: “I think they haven’t tasted meat since last year’s Eid.

“It is just not possible to have meat anymore.”

Both mothers were among 3.3 million people who benefited from Islamic Relief’s Qurbani distributions last year.

This year we hope to reach even more.

“Two days after that visit, war blew up in Gaza and days later, Yousef’s neighbourhood was hit when a ceasefire was announced for few hours I went to visit and was shocked as I could not recognize the area.

“Everything had changed. Massive destruction was everywhere – damaged houses, destroyed sewage networks, severed electricity wires, and rescue teams searching for dead bodies. We walked over the rubble, and I was hardly able to move or identify the scene around us.

 

 

“When we reached the place where Yousef used to live, rubble was everywhere putting an end to all his hopes and dreams. In front of this catastrophic scene, Yousef failed to hide his shock when finding that all his toys were broken.

“It was extremely difficult to witness his unbearable suffering after seeing his previous happiness.

“Misery can be seen in the eyes of those injured kids waiting for their parents in Gaza hospitals. Shima’a is one of those children who spent days in a hospital waiting for her mom to come, unknowing that she passed away days ago.

“What is most difficult in Gaza is that you find yourself helping the needy today fearing that you, yourself, will be one of those asking for relief tomorrow.”

For World Humanitarian Day we’re paying tribute to our humanitarian heroes in the field.

As a child welfare officer Sambou Camara helps vulnerable orphans in Mali, providing financial and psychological support.

In his previous role as a social assistant he was tasked with going door-to-door, making sure each orphan in the sponsorship programme was visited and assessed:

“I have to admit that this work requires a lot of effort. From 7am to 6pm we had to drive motorbikes in the traffic, among cars, in places where driving was not easy or possible.

“Sometimes we had to travel long distances to reach these orphans. One day I had worked hard and was reaching my limit. I was so tired that I wanted to go back home.

“When I considered the distance I had to travel (another 15km) to reach the next orphan I paused for a moment. However, a voice inside me was saying: “Come on Sambou, you can do it! You have to make this extra effort!” And I knew it was true.

“I knew I was contributing to the wellbeing of this child. I knew I was contributing to building his future. So I was motivated to move forward.

“This is an everyday battle and one which gives me considerable satisfaction, ensuring people receive the support they need. I feel humbled to serve this noble cause.”

Altogether, 1,500 meters of canals have been constructed, 1,180 meters of secondary canals built and 385 meters of old canals rehabilitated. In total, 120 hectares of land previously not used is now being irrigated thanks to this initiative. Farmers had 25 hectares of land being irrigated before the intervention, now they have 145 hectares of land being irrigated.

As part of the project, nine fish ponds, three per site, were established and covered 3,500 square meters and had 36,000 fingerlings placed within. The first fish harvest was completed last month, in July 2016, and saw an average of 100 kilograms of fish harvested per site.

The scheme also provided training for farmers. This allowed them to build their skills and capacity in managing the irrigation and fish farming business. The training covered construction and management of gravity irrigation systems and fish ponds, fish farming, agribusiness, crop management and leadership, and group dynamics.

The integrated fish farming project has had a positive impact on the lives of the farmers and their families. Now they are able to pay school fees for their children and buy household assets like iron sheets and livestock – food insecurity is a thing of the past. One of the farmers said: “if all organisations did what Islamic Relief did in our communities, there would be no hunger in Malawi.”

Islamic Relief has been providing secure livelihoods in Malawi since 2006.

For World Humanitarian Day we’re paying tribute to our humanitarian heroes in the field.

Semir Velija Kukuruzović was one of our very first members of staff in Bosnia and Herzegovina when we originally started working there in 1992 as war had just begun.

Three years in, food supplies had dwindled and the people of BiH had become heavily dependent on humanitarian aid. Semir, now country director, remembers:

“It is much easier for a grown man, when he sees the circumstances of poverty, to understand and accept. But what could be said to a five-year-old boy, my nephew, who just lost his father and who is desperately hungry?

“I was present when the boy asked his mother, my sister, to draw him a pan with eggs in it that he liked so much but hadn’t seen for so long. At that time, it was almost impossible to find a chicken egg in Sarajevo.

“After she drew what he asked, the little boy took the paper, took a good, long look at it, put it in his mouth and ate it. My sister tried to take the paper out of his mouth, while the rest of us watched the scene in shock and in tears.

“The next day, I came into the office and one of my colleagues, who was diabetic and faced the problem of constant hunger, asked the rest of us what we most wished we could have to eat.

“When my turn came, I said I would just like to have one egg so I can make one boy, named Ahmed, happy. I relayed the story of what had happened the night before.

“While I was telling the story, one of the guests, Dr Wasim, was listening intently. Afterwards everybody became quiet and closed themselves off in their offices.

“The following day, Dr Wasim came to the office again and asked me to meet him in a separate room. After I walked in, he took a single egg from his pocket and told me to make Ahmed happy.

“He said he went to the Egypt battalion of the international military forces (who were present in Bosnia as observers) to get the egg. I hugged him and I was the happiest person in the world.

“I made duas [said prayers] for him. I couldn’t wait to finish so I could go home and see Ahmed.

“I was almost running home, and straight away I showed the egg to Ahmed at the door. After screams of happiness he took it to his mother. After she prepared it, Ahmed and his brother sat down to eat, inviting all of us to join them. We were all laughing.

“After they finished eating, my five-year-old nephew came to me and asked:
‘Uncle, in which hand did you bring the egg?’
‘Why?’ I asked.
He said: ‘I want to kiss that hand.’
We all cried at being witnesses to how one small thing can make a child so happy and how we all actually need so little to be happy. But unfortunately we are human and we forget very fast.

“So this story serves as a reminder to me – and then to everyone who will read it. Let us be happy with what we have. Let us not be greedy for what we don’t have. This is the way to find true happiness.”

For World Humanitarian Day we’re paying tribute to our humanitarian heroes in the field.

Zina Shataeva is a social worker in our one-to-one sponsorship programme working in the Russian Federation. She has seen more than a decade of changes since starting with Islamic Relief.

“I’ve worked as a social worker for Islamic Relief for the past 11 years. At the beginning, our work was very difficult and there were different reasons for that.

“At that time, we started to identify orphans and to form the orphan’s database. We collected data in schools and then conducted address checks.

“We didn’t have a vehicle provided through work so we had to use a public transport for monitoring. That was very difficult for us, especially in rural areas.

“We also found that people did not trust us and did not want to give any information about their children. They would not allow us to take their pictures, and most of them asked us ‘Why do you need our pictures?’ and ‘What will you use them for?’

“People just couldn’t believe that we were there to help them. We needed to have great patience and to stay very calm to make people trust us.

“Things were very dangerous at that time, when daily explosions and terrorist attacks in the city were a common occurrence. I saw a lot of explosions in the road while I was working, when people would run from their vehicles and wait until it was safe to move on.

“Allah saved me, probably, because I was performing charitable deeds. A lot of our orphans lost their parents during such terrorist acts. It was really an awful situation.

“Now our work is not as dangerous or as frightening as it was. We are working in better conditions – but the psychological factor still remains, as every family has its own story, problems and difficulties.

“Many lost their breadwinner and their support. They feel loneliness and I take that close to my heart.

“I feel it deeply when I see a family waiting for a sponsor and I hope that every child in our database will get assistance. It makes me so happy when I see happy children.”