Articles/Submissions > Sharing the Blessings of Eid with Children in Iraq

Sharing the Blessings of Eid with Children in Iraq
By Iman V.

What is Eid all about? 

At the time of Eid we look forward to celebrating with our family and friends.  However, while we get busy with ourselves, we tend to forget those who are homeless and have no parents to celebrate with.  Wouldn’t it be so sad to celebrate such a happy holiday like Eid without a family with you and not receiving any gifts? 

This year, in the month of Ramadan, we decided that this Eid will be different and before thinking about ourselves, we will think about others.  So, we invited 50 kids to our house.  You’d wonder why?  Well, read on and you’ll see…

The day of our get-together was the wafat of Bibi Khadija so we talked about her and how she always took care of the less fortunate.

We then we talked about the present situation of orphans in Iraq, and how we can help orphans and share the happiness of Eid with them.  We decided to send gifts to the orphans in Iraq via an organization called CAI, Child Aid International, is an organization that raises funds for Iraqi orphans. 

CAI has a special program through which they provide Eid gifts to Iraqi orphans.  For just $10, one orphan gets two sets of clothes and a pair of shoes. Imagine how happy the orphans would be when they’d receive a card, made just for them with two new sets of clothes and a pair of shoes.  That would make their Eid pretty special don’t you think?

We all made Eid cards for the orphans, and had a blast using all the different types of glitter, markers and stickers. Every participating child at the get-together was encouraged to donate $10, which would be enough to buy an Eid gift for one Iraqi orphan.

Everybody loved the idea, and we were able to get more than just $10 per child.  On the day of the fundraiser we received $800 worth of donations!

Now, if you think that was pretty amazing…guess what? Just by word of mouth, we raised another $1,300!!!

This taught me two things: 
1) if we all get together and pitch-in, we can help the less fortunate celebrate Eid as well;
2) we could raise a lot of money if we only talked to our friends and neighbors about where help is needed,

This year, it makes me feel good that we will be able to share the blessings of Eid with the beautiful children of Iraq who have lost their families and their homes!

I feel sharing with others is the true spirit of Eid!  Wouldn’t you agree?

You can also help these orphans by donating to CAI.  To find out more about CAI, please click here.