Respected Islamic scholar Shaykh Yasir Qadhi teams up with Human Appeal to support Palestine’s most vulnerable children

This year, the Islamic writer and scholar Shaykh Yasir Qadhi will be supporting our projects in Palestine to give vulnerable children a brighter future. Together, we’re hoping to raise a massive $1 million for our Palestinian children’s projects.

Yasir Qadhi is supporting our initiative to build a new school for children living in Jerusalem and will also be fundraising to help orphaned, disabled, impoverished or underprivileged Palestinian children get the food, medicine, school supplies and recreation opportunities they need.

Our ambitious school project will allow 350 students to access high-quality education in a brand new building with 4 floors, fully equipped with educational tools and learning aids. A certain number of school places will be reserved for vulnerable orphans. This school will also include daycare, a kindergarten and playground, providing bright, safe spaces for innocent little ones to learn and play. The first phase of building has already finished and the structure of the building has been established. We hope this vital project will be completed in September 2019.

Together, we can ensure that the children of Jerusalem fulfill their educational potential and learn vital skills to lift themselves out of poverty. This project will continue to change lives for years to come.  

Palestine’s most vulnerable children

In Jerusalem, over 38% of children don’t go to school. Thousands of Palestinian children are currently being denied an education. For some, there is simply no school to attend. Others are crammed into overfilled classrooms. Some parents are forced to pay thousands of shekels for inferior quality schools in the private sector.

Most schools are massively overcrowded, making effective teaching and learning very difficult. There’s a shortage of educational tools, and many school buildings are dilapidated, unsanitary or otherwise substandard. There are no extra curricular activities and physical space is so scarce in the classrooms and courtyards that children are unable to play or positively interact with one another.

In Gaza, the 2014 conflict saw the biggest loss of civilian life to date. Over 920 Palestinian children were killed and some 900 people, a third of them children, were permanently disabled. Thousands of Palestinian children are still displaced or living in homes damaged by bombs, where holes in the walls and ceilings let in the wind and rain. Orphans who have lost one or both parents are the most at risk of abuse, malnutrition and disease.

Sadly, it’s children who pay the highest price in conflict situations. They live in constant fear of airstrikes and artillery fire. They are forced to witness horrors that leave their young minds with deep psychological scars. Without quality education or enough food to eat, these little ones are robbed of their confidence and their hope for the future.

Human Appeal’s work with children in Jerusalem

In 2016, we established a Welfare Centre in eastern Jerusalem that empowers vulnerable and orphaned boys through education. With your help, we were able to transform a disused and run-down building into a safe and vibrant centre for boys between the ages of 4 and 12. This is the first centre of its kind, a groundbreaking project that benefits 2,580 children in need every year.

The building has 4 floors and a large 800m2 outdoor area for sports and recreation activities, allowing children to play in a secure and clean environment. The ground floor contains a daycare and kindergarten centre, catering for 120 students. On the first floor, there is a primary school with 10 classrooms equipped with interactive whiteboards that benefits 250 students. The floors above are dedicated to an activities hall, a fully air-conditioned dining room, 12 sleeping rooms, administration offices and private bathrooms.

The Welfare Centre provides an ideal learning environment for vulnerable children. It’s colourful, interactive and supportive. To best cater for the needs of orphans and children who have experienced trauma, 14 qualified teachers, 5 professional supervisors, a doctor and a psychologist are employed full-time.

Asad’s story

Asad is an 11 year old orphan who lives with his mother, sister and two brothers in the severely overcrowded Jalazun camp. There is no privacy and the close quarters facilitate the spread of skin conditions and respiratory illnesses. Asad’s mother is deep in debt due to difficulties in providing her little ones with food and drink.

Asad has just finished sixth grade at a very weak educational level. He wants to become a lawyer in the future and desperately needs to improve his academic skills. Asad wanted to join the Welfare Centre because he was so badly treated by his older brothers.  They would beat him and force him to serve them, and there is no doubt that these harsh conditions have affected Asad and negatively impacted on his self-esteem and behaviour.

However, on entering the Welfare Centre, Asad immediately felt comfortable. He now sleeps in a pleasant room and can take advantage of better hygiene facilities. The positive changes to Asad’s psychological state are obvious to those around him. The healthy meals and other services provided by the dedicated team of staff bring this little boy great joy.

Asad says: “I would like to thank Human Appeal for providing a safe haven for me and for kids like me, that is free from the injustices and oppression we have suffered at home.”

It’s essential that oppressed children like Asad are safeguarded from future harm and the Jerusalem Welfare Centre represents the only protection for them.

We still need your help to expand our education and welfare projects in Palestine, so that more vulnerable children can learn, develop and grow. We are in the process of building a new school for orphaned girls so that they can receive the same opportunities as the boys we’re already supporting.

Who is Shaykh Yasir Qadhi?

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi is one of the most eloquent, balanced and highly respected scholars in the West. He has served as the Dean of Academic Affairs at the international Islamic educational Al-Maghrib Institute since 2001 and also teaches at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.

Qadhi has a bachelor’s degree in Arabic and a master’s degree in Islamic Theology from the Islamic University of Medina. He also holds a doctorate in Theology from Yale University. He has authored or co-authored six books on Islam and delivered inspirational lectures all over the world that are attended by thousands of people.

Perhaps most impressively, Qadhi has been teaching for more than 15 and is still only in his early 40s. In 2011, the New York Times Magazine dubbed Qadhi “one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam”.

How you can help

By giving to our Jerusalem School Appeal, you will be giving the gift of Sadaqah Jariyah to ensure that children from disadvantaged communities have access to high quality education in the holy land.

By donating to our Palestinian Children’s Fund, you can support children who are suffering from the devastating effects of conflict and poverty, by providing them with nutritious food, medicine and school supplies. If you show mercy to the children of Palestine, the greater mercy of Allah will be bestowed upon you in return.

You can change a child’s life today.

Where will your funds go? 

• Approximately, $536,205 will be spent on completing the 4 storey building with outdoor courtyards where children can positively interact and play in safe surroundings.
• Around $573,261 will go towards opening the school and equipping classrooms with academic tools and learning aids. 40% of school places will be reserved for orphans and positive programmes to support orphaned children will also be carried out after school hours.