<\/p>\n
According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they \u201cdie quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.\u201d<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
Now, it\u2019s probably safe to say that the vast majority of us have not given a thought to these 22,000 dead\u00a0children\u00a0unless CNN or another network happened to be airing a special on poverty in Africa or elsewhere in the world. \u00a0But these children don\u2019t stop dying simply due to our inattention. \u00a0 They die, a mass casualty event that happens one child at a time, one or a few or several in a refugee camp or in a small village or out in the jungle or in the high desert. \u00a0If they all just happened to be gathered in one place and died in one event, no doubt the world would gasp and send news crews racing to the scene. \u00a0Instead, the deaths are unheralded except by the close family members, the dying moments caught not by a video camera, but by the tear-filled eyes of a desperate mother. \u00a0Another few have died in the time it took you to read this paragraph.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSo, what do you do? \u00a0What do I do, here in my large disordered suburban split-level home with heat, air, running water, and indoor plumbing? \u00a0What can I do to help, to shed my protective layer of distance, physical and emotional, from these disasters? \u00a0Well, as an overstressed sleep-deprived time-disadvantaged mother of five, hopping on a plane to Africa or Asia is not in my plans for a couple of decades. \u00a0I live here in America, so it is here in America that I can try to help (though we do also send money home to my husband\u2019s family in Egypt). \u00a0It\u2019s that old \u201cthink globally, act locally\u201d thing.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIn my personal life, I have chosen a charity that we regularly donate to. \u00a0It is in my region so I can feel a sense of local closeness and emotional closeness to the cause. \u00a0InshaAllah if I am able to get some help with the kids this summer (please make du\u2019a for us for this to happen), I intend to volunteer either a food bank, soup kitchen, or women\u2019s shelter. \u00a0I want to be face to face with the people I help, not because I want to see their gratitude, for truly I don\u2019t want or expect any reward from anyone, but I want to do this because only by being in the thick of it can someone experience some of what that other person is going through, and it is this real connection that breaks down our reserve and opens us up to the possibility of real change in our lives.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nLook at Sean Penn. \u00a0This actor has resources you and I cannot imagine. \u00a0It would be very easy for him to sit in a mansion in Los Angeles, get on the phone, call a few hundred of his closest friends, or what passes for a friend in Hollywood, and raise money for relief efforts in Haiti. \u00a0But this man who has no need to leave his highbrow world has been spending half the year in the fetid slums and camps of Haiti, in the muck, on the ground, living with the people and watching them heal or die. \u00a0He is connected through his heart and his work; his involvement is much more than a six-figure check written out for the Red Cross.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSo, what can you do? \u00a0You can do a lot. \u00a0If you are a stay-at-home mom who doesn\u2019t get out much, maybe you can mentor a child and stay in touch via e-mail. \u00a0You can send money overseas to family. \u00a0You can sponsor an orphan. \u00a0Think about ways to get free time to go out. \u00a0Swap child care with other moms in your area so you can have some free time to volunteer. \u00a0Yes, you also need free time to decompress, take yourself out to lunch, and relax, but even if only once a month you can get out to do some work at a shelter or community center, you will make a real and up-close difference in someone\u2019s life. \u00a0You\u2019ll learn a lot and serve as a great role model for others in your family. \u00a0 You may not be able to pull an elderly lady from the muck and mud of her ruined town in Sendai, but you can save a life closer to home. \u00a0And you know what the Qur\u2019an says:<\/div>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/8276196425188955527-2163368049229019403?l=muslimahinprogress.blogspot.com\")
<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"