Sheikha al-Miftaah:
Women’s Branch Manager at Qatar Charity
On A Five-Day-Trip
To the Horn of Africa.
Sheikha al-Miftaah, says:“The Horn of Africa Faces a Humanitarian Crisis and Is in Need of Urgent Relief.
The Developmental Dimension Is at the First Priorities of Qatar Charity After this Urgent Relief.
Charity Work Does Not Stop When Faced by Obstacles but It Creates Effective Measures to overcome them.”
In reality, I was wondering why Sheikha al-Miftaah, undergoes and bears the hardship of traveling to those remote areas, however, as soon as we set our feet on the land of Ojair on the Somali-Kenyan frontiers, and I noticed her concern in those social groups who are facing difficult situations after a time when everything was at their disposal. They lost their wealth and lawful things, there is no rain, no water on the land, no and no gushing fountains, but only broken down wells and hollow waters, empty stomachs, and mere skeletons [extremely thin people] whose bones could be seen by any person who looks at them. So Sheikha al-Miftaah and her female colleagues were concerned in making the children and women happy by distributing sweets and money to them, without being faced by any overcrowding or pushing which usually happens when one starts distributing things.
Sheikhah al-Miftaah, took many stands, she asks about the most important needs, how to run them, and how much these needs will cost; and what could she offer to all of these people? I followed many of her stances and I understood many of the questions that I was asking at the beginning of our relief travel to Kenya about her incentive to travel there with her colleagues Mrs. Ameerah al-Nu‘aimi and Mrs. Rihaab Uthman among the delegation of Qatar charity.
THE LOVE OF CHARITY WORK:
Before Qatar Airways plane landed on Doha Airport on our return journey after five days of living the pains and hopes of human groups who were experiencing a very hard life without even the bare necessities like water, I asked Her Honor Mrs. Sheia a-Miftaah about her journey in charity work and when and how she started. She, who is nicknamed Um Muhammad, replied: “I started at an early stage in my life. I loved charity work and helped the needy and destitute since I became conscious about this life, and I consider that all my life is reserved for charity work, despite being spontaneous at the beginning. I started organized charity work in 1992 even before joining Qatar Charity. I spent 27 years working with the Ministry of Education. I started as a teacher and progressed until I became a headmistress and worked for seven years as such. Then I resigned after being elected as a Director of Women’s Branch in Qatar Charity in 2003.
INITIATIVES AND STANDS:
Question: What is, in your opinion, the most influential stand which you took and which you could never forget as a Director of Women’s Branch in Qatar Charity?
Answer: Indeed there are many stands in my memory which I could never forget. The closest one was what we have seen in our last journey to the regions of Ojair and Mandirah, in eastern Kenya, where the children are deprived from the least thing which the children of the world are enjoying, even the women, they could not find what will satisfy them, especially the elderly, the pregnant and the breastfeeding ones. Moreover, I cannot forget the image of the children and even the women and men who were catching the sweets which we distributed to them. Also, I cannot forget the moment Qatar Charity announced its determination in building water well in Tula in the region of Ojair and the extreme joy which could be noticed on the faces of children and women. Furthermore, I could not forget the joy and happiness of children, women and elderly people when you
render to them an amount of money whatever small it is. What I saw in Pakistan could not leave my memory as well, after the devastating earthquake, as I was among the delegation “Reach to Asia Initiative” ,which was chaired HE Sheikha al-Mayyasa Bint Hamad al-Thani ,the Emir of the country (May Allah protect him) and I hope that she will conduct another initiative to Africa. The regions which we visited in Kenya are worse and poorer than the region which was struck by an earthquake in Pakistan.
THE CHALLENGES WHICH FACE QATAR CHARITY:
Question: Charity work abroad is always faced by some obstacles, even if such obstacles were only the long travels and the lack of the means of transporting the help and assistance, how could we overcome these obstacles in your opinion?
Answer: Willing to do good for people and being determined in taking this good to the ones who deserve it, especially if they are most in need for it, this makes the hardest obstacles easy, despite that the fact of the long distance and the lack of means of shipping the help may affect the charity work. However, this does not mean that we will stay without doing what is needed and expected; rather such obstacles urge us to think about other means of transporting these goods to the deprived and needy people, and seek the reward from Allah.
The nature of some affected areas could also be an obstacle, like the regions which we visited in Kenya. The people there are scattered in remote areas and there are no paved roads, and there are no means for easily transporting the help. The truck which carries the help [goods] may stay many days before reaching a given village. Indeed there are many disadvantages which may prevent the aid reaching its beneficiaries. On the contrary, if the people live in one place, it is easy to provide them with services and meet their need in a prompt way.
All praises be to Allah, thanks to my experience in charity work, the people who want to do good, are ready to offer much of their efforts and there is no problem in financing procedures. Most of the time, the obstacles are out of one’s ability, even though we are trying to overcome any obstacle as I already stated.
DEVELEOPMENTAL PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES:
Question: If relief operations and providing corporeal aid are faced by obstacles, is it not better to direct this aid to set up permanent developmental projects in these areas?
Answer: Since many years, Qatar Charity took into consideration the developmental dimension and it put it as a priority in all its programmes whether inside or outside the state, but in a case like Kenya, or Somalia or other countries in the Horn of Africa, the crisis still exists and needs a prompt reaction in providing help and aid as they need urgent aid, so one has to follow the relief method. It is known that charity work in devastated areas has to go through three stages: the relief stage, the revival stage, and the developmental stage.
According to the method followed by Qatar Charity, there would be some developmental programmes in these areas in the future, Allah willing, however, this will be after the people will overcome the crisis of drought which they are experiencing for the last five years.
THE CRISIS OF THE HORN OF AFRICA:
Question: What is the best thing you achieved during this relief mission?
Answer: We succeeded during this relief method to exactly know the real needs of the people in these areas, and know the dimension of the crisis which people are facing there, after they had lost more than 90% of their cattle and sheep, and they have only a small quantity which is left and which is dying day after day because of the lack of grazing land and water; this is a threat for the occurrence of a real humanitarian catastrophe in these areas.
HUMANITARIAN PROJECTS:
Question: To what extent has your view on these areas changed after visiting them?
Answer: To a great extent, as I did not imagine the situation as I saw it; a proverb goes: “Hearing about something is not like seeing it.” So, no one can imagine the situation of the people there except after seeing it.
Question: What are the important projects which Qatar Charity is willing to undertake at this present time in these areas?
Answer: In addition to the urgent relief cases, there are many very necessary projects, on top of which is digging wells in order to provide water to thousands of women in those areas, then providing the infrastructure like schools, medical clinics, mosques and other necessary projects for any society, especially those which serve women and children.
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