Monday, January 12, 2009

Instead of Complaining, Do Something!

The hottest current issue right now seems to be the Palestinian-Israeli issue, even though it is not really a new issue, in fact it's an issue that is older than most of us. It only becomes a renewed and hot issue (to the masses) when there is military action going on.
I know it makes some of you feel helpless and angry, and some of you are wondering "Why are there no one doing something?". Well, here I am to tell you to stop wondering and stop feeling helpless, because you CAN do something.

1. You can contact your local red cross/crescent society or Mercy malaysia or malaysians for peace and see if they are organising an aid mission, and find out how you can help out. Sometimes all they need are people who can help man the phones, or make phone calls, or type up reports, or fill up forms, or pack boxes. Help out with anything you can. No job is too small or too menial.

2. If you can afford it, donate some money so that they can fund their mission. No amount is too small.

3. For the same amount of time it takes to finish a Sudoku Challenge game, you can type up a short email directing your friends to the above websites and encourage them to help out in any way they can. For once, use spam for the good of mankind.

4. You can donate your saliva and tell your friends about the above things while you're chatting at the water cooler, coffee corner, kopitiam, waiting for your nasi ayam/goreng pisang at the roadstall.

5. Now, this last point might be a little a difficult for some of you, especially now that money is a little tight. But if you're willing to sacrifice a portion of your salary on this, instead of buying that new blackberry/iPhone or that LV handbag or that set of blueray discs or forgo that trip to that exotic location or new sports rims for your car, I assure it will be extremely rewarding, not just in this life, but even in the afterlife, InsyaAllah.
For as little as RM1640 (or (RM2210 if you want to include some duit raya), you can sponsor a palestinian orphan who is a refugee in Lebanon.
Your money (less than RM200 per month), will allow the child to go to school and get an education so that he/she can better the lives of his/her family. Your money (which you will receive a receipt for and can be deducted from your tax) will help ease the burden of the mother who has lost her husband and now has to support her children with her measly salary as a house cleaner.
You can even make your niat as zakat if you want, thus fulfilling your obligation as a muslim.
Your letters (because you will treat the child like your own child and write him/her letters) will give him/her hope that his/her lives did not end when his/her home was forcefully taken away. It will show them that someone out there, still remembers them, and still cares for them. In return, the child will write to you, and to have a child call you 'mother' or 'father' even though he/she has never met you, is an indescribable feeling.
Your efforts will not be just for palestinians now, but will be for palestinians of the future.
To do this, you can contact the Malaysian Sociological Research Institute, at msri.sponsorship@gmail.com or call (6)03- 4257 8649 .
You can even tell them you heard it from me, if you want. I dont mind at all.
If you think you can't afford to sponsor a child, do number 3. Forward this email to someone who you think can. Or do number 4, tell people that this program exists.

May Allah reward you justly for your efforts.

11 comments:

  1. *miss my daughters*

    thanks for sharing

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  2. Anonymous11:01 AM

    Elisa, a very good effort of you... Thanks for open-up the options to contribute for them.

    Nad

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  3. everyone has to do their bits, the least pls pray for them, the oppress ppl of palestenians.

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  4. Salam Madam,

    As of today,

    Islamic Relief is working 24/7 since the bombardment inside Gaza itself.We have been in Palestine since 1998 doing development programs like: orphans sponsorship,livelihood,education and water & sanitation,health,etc.

    We are not sending anyone from here as we already have more than 50 staff in Gaza.No point pun hantar volunteers from here to the border crossing of Rafah.Might as well do your bit here.

    Lots of things we can do here - bake a cake and sell it to raise funds,shave your head ( I dah tak boleh shave sebab dah memang botak...hahaha!) and seek sponsorship from your friends or relatives for that....Banyak idea kalau nak tolong...

    The least people could do is to raise funds to help us continue our work inside Palestine.To donate: www.irm.org.my

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  5. great ideas.. thanks for sharing this.

    biarlah orang tak buat apa, at least we do something on our part kan..

    anyway, we only receive rewards for what we're doing and not what others doing kan.. :)

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  6. kak elisa.. nak mintak kebenaran to copy (& paste) to my community blog...
    sounds great!! thanks for sharing this.

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  7. helping the families of the victims is also a jihad. It's a responsibility of the ummah to assist those afflicted in war as much as they can. Jual air liur, which is also important to me to motivate people towards good, is not enough. Do what we can. For keeping quiet is the lowest of Iman. And make lots of dua. Lastly we as Muslims really need to recheck ourselves.

    May Allah reward you ELisa for this good deed.

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  8. salam elisa, tumpang lalu...

    also can donate to Aman Palestin which my uncle Pak Da (Ir.Hj.Zaini) and aunt Cik Mah (Hasimah) help run since 2006.

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  9. ery,
    I miss my Israa too :(
    Actually, I am late on my payment lah. DOnt know why tahun ni tak de pulak dapat reminder, and gaji semua dah masuk dalam ASB.. :P Kena tunggu end of the month.

    Nad,
    Semoga kita semua dapat membantu sedikit, sebanyak, Insya-Allah..

    Zan,
    ye lah, barulah tak rasa frust and helpless sangat.

    DrBubbs,
    Thanx for the link! I think Malaysians ada banyak avenue nak tolong, tapi cuma maybe not all know about it aje.

    Neeza,
    betul tu! DOn't forget to sms bila dah deliver ya? I dah basuh the covers for the stroller+carseat. Will come over as soon as we hear the news and as soon as we can :)

    Lolls,
    Tapi kalau dah benar2 tak mampu, jual air liur pun tak apa.. Tapi kalau mampu, bantulah setakat boleh, Insya-Allah, sebesar biji sawi pun akan dikira nanti.

    Alin,
    Thanx for the link! I wanted to put Aman Palestine (sebab familiar with them) tapi tak jumpa cari url pulak dah.. Thanx again!
    Your uncle&Auntie? Masya-Allah... may Allah reward their efforts!

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  10. sis elisa,
    thanx for the info, sis!

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  11. Naj,
    Your network far and wide, spread the word :)

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