Two Causes

Three years ago I heard about a Syrian refugee family in Lebanon. Um Ali is 43. Her husband lost his eyes to a gunshot while they fled Syria across the Turkish border. Her son Ali, twelve at the time, was run over by a car — both legs broken so badly the doctors were preparing to amputate.

I didn't know them. Before sending anything, I sent someone I trust to verify the story in person. It was true. We raised enough to save Ali's legs.

I've been part of their lives ever since — and hers is one of the most painful cases I have ever come across. For the last five months I have also been covering their rent, $300 a month, and the landlord keeps raising it, because he knows a refugee family has no leverage. Between rent and survival, Ali's physiotherapy keeps getting pushed aside.

Um Ali has two ways out of this cycle: move to a new place with fairer rent, or return to Syria. She sold everything there to survive in Lebanon and can't even afford the trip back. I leave that decision to her — she knows her family's situation better than anyone. What I want to give her is the ability to choose. With $7,000, she can either resettle properly in Lebanon or go home and rebuild. Either way, she steps out of the cycle for good.

And you don't have to take this on my word alone: if you want to hear it from her directly, reach out to me and I will connect you with Um Ali on WhatsApp.

This is my personal project. We teach 350 girls and women, ages 5 to 65: literacy, Qur'an, basic fiqh, and arithmetic. But the classes are only half of it. This is where the women of Kattal come when something breaks — a marriage, a birth, a death, violence at home. It all comes through the centre.

I wish I could show you better videos — the women themselves, talking about what this centre has changed in their lives. But this is a very conservative part of Afghanistan, and filming the womenfolk is not done. What I can share, I will. For the rest, you'll have to take my word, as you have before.

The centre runs on $330 a month — two teachers' salaries, rent, and a small buffer for sickness and emergencies. That's $3,960 a year. When this was 30–50 students I carried it myself; at 350 I couldn't, and last year many of you stepped in to cover it. I am eternally grateful for that.

Since then, a new challenge. We had to leave the place we had already invested in — the owner decided to sell. I won't judge his intentions, but he did us wrong. The new location is free of that risk. What it needs now is investment to make it truly fit for what we do.

The goal is $7,000: the first $3,960 secures a full year of operations, and the remaining $3,040 goes into making the new place what the centre deserves — proper seating, carpets, stationery, and new programs for the older women who have nowhere else to learn.