Translator: Fatima Alwalidi Reviewer: Safaa Al-Sabbagh
it is my pleasure and honourable to participate in TEDxMuscat 2019
I am happy that you are all here in this wonderful meeting place
This topic is different from the preceded ones, but it is a critical topic
And it is a topic that matches any other topics
This work coincides with others
Volunteering and community work
could be done
with any other work, or it should be done
along with any work, that we do in our lives
How about starting with two words: Pain and Hope
These words have similarities in letters,
but they’ve different meanings
Changing by pain
And changing by hope
Each one of us has experienced
a change during his/her lives
But did this change happen
by pain or hope? Here is the difference
In the fall of 2014, I had a call from my direct boss
I was an office manager for a charity
and voluntary organization in Cambodia
honestly, the call shocked me
For those who don’t know Cambodia,
it is a kingdom beside Thailand Kingdom.
It has a population of around 15 million
The percentage of Muslims in it is around 5 percent
Cambodia fought a devastating
civil war in the seventies
It had serious consequences
in weakening the infrastructure of this small country
Two out of three in Cambodia were affected by this war
Either through killing, disappearance or displacement
At that time was the systemic killing in this country
The literate, educated, and masterminds were the first target
Because any fight, civil war or genocide
hit those people first
This lasted five or six years
Almost a third of the Cambodian population was killed
This was one of the biggest tragedy during that time
The war ended in the seventies
But skirmishes continued until 1998 in Cambodia.
After that, Cambodia began to develop itself, as the developing countries.
My first visit to this office was in 2009.
We began in putting five years plan
To work through 3 main sectors
The economic, health, and educational sectors
By Allah aid, we made it, in educational
sector, but health and economic sectors
had many challenges, because most of the donations
were for building a mosque, drilling welll ,ensure orphanages
and some of it went to ensure the students studying
Therefore, the education project was the the first and most important project
Some problems matched the Cambodian society,
Muslims and all the social classes.
Communist didn’t differentiate between
religious, group, doctrine، or succession
We started in college level, and primary
level. We had done a great job there.
We ensured more than 90 - 100 college student in this level
It wasn’t studying insurance, but cultural insurance
We gave them habilitation and tech courses, and took them on trips
students were directly graduated into workplaces efficiently. They did
excellent job in their work as a first doctor, lawyer, and teacher in his village
or in his town, He invited
and motivated people to study there
To be able to build his country
We did a great job at that time
But unfortunately, I had that call
A lot of foundations put “Building human” as its motto, but few who
applied it really
The call from my boss said: “ Unfortunately, we have to stop,
otherwise, we’ll return half of the students who are studying
Because we don’t have enough donations for them”
Put yourself in my shoes! I had been teaching 90 or 100 students for two
or three years
Two years remained of being graduated, doctor, engineer, or accountant
One or two years of being a leader for his society
Suddenly, everything should end up
It hurt me very much that time
I asked my boss to give me ten days
In order not to decide during these 10 days only
Some trips were arranged to meet donors in many countries
Gulf countries were the most
I had another surprise, but it was a happy surprise
this time. The insurance extended not only to 90 students
but also for 120 students, through ten days
We knew the problem
It wasn’t with me It was that we didn’t convey
the needs obviously of the donors
Donors didn’t get the situation obviously
Donors, kind, or supporters should get an obvious picture of situations
Or they should be taken into situations
So, based on this situation, or rather this pain, I had three satisfactions
The most important one,
that could succeed in any voluntary or social work, and anywhere, is according to
my knowledge, sustainability
To ensure sustainability for project by investment projects
That makes it continues
without the need for a project support, or looking for donations
The second one is the social charity voluntary trips
This conveys humans from an environment
where he used to live in, into another one
Unfortunately
The donation now
is done by clicking the button
We were more interactive with the needs
But now we don’t have time to read the research or watch the news
Now, donations are put immediately and randomly
They put a lot of money, but uselessly
Building humans not the blocks
So, the voluntary trip conveys the whole picture into the donors’ minds
Extending to his family and neighbors. So a donor can affect a 100-person
thousands, ten, or hundred thousand one According to his ability.
As Salah said
On the contact
The other thing is the additional value of donor
Most of the massive, huge and affective projects come from
government’s aid, agencies or well-known donors
But the donations of the limited or small donors are almost 30 to 25 OR.
They said it is a very small number. What does he think about it?
Well! I’ll put it in orphan clothing, meals, or buy a sewing machine
But that is not right
If few amount was put in the right place, it’d have a high value and be double
We can make other ideas
These ideas
They convinced me
I was convinced to change, and it convinced me
You won’t change, unless you are convinced to change,
and it’d come to you
Allah will facilitate the way for you
Allah, The Great, guides me and facilitates for me
A group of great people have understood me really
Understood my aim
Youths from the Arabic world
Even from Canada, France, German
Gulf countries, Gordon, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and Yemen
All those youths
I said youths, but perhaps among them a 50 or 60-man
but I mean the youth of heart
and mind. Who understand how to build a human up
I build up a human, not a block
We could put basics to work on these three sectors
Or the three satisfactions we put. So we could put basics for them
First, we established unprofitable foundation in Malaysia
Which allowed us to work through the unprofitable works
all over the world. We made a plan to do these works
The value of donations was an important satisfaction
All of them were important
But this one was really special. When we said 30OR or 75$
This amount wasn’t big,
but through a charity package we could make
it is held by 50 people for a year.
They put in it 75$ or 30OR each month.
From this, we ensured a home,
clinic and orphan, student, teacher insurance
15 projects were supported by 75$.
The Bestowal project was the last one
This project made additional benefits by continuing supports
So after four, five, or six years, this project would increase
supporting into this package We don’t need
more increasing, but it became automatically through six years
So the projects continued systematically and sustainability
Without any stop and without the need for more donations
Social media had the main role to let it succeed again
To collect 75$ from Canada, France, America
here and there is very difficult.
So the idea of collecting donations through social media was very important
for us, We could make the projects successful.
Education could be quality in Cambodia.
There was a tablet. I don’t know what to say
Electricity in Cambodia was unknown To build houses for the poor
was the same as accomplishing the refugee’s need at Rohingya in Malaysia
or a Yemeni refugee in Djibouti
Nigerian’s need for water was the same
at Somalia. The men’s needs in Indonesia
or in Sri Lanka for economic project to develop himself.
Many important needs we could do.
Of course, you’ll find more about us if you visit our website.
The charity bestowal
The sustainability
We could create an agricultural endowment group. Then by Allah’s Willing
other endowments follow
For a charity project, which was from 15 projects, I’ll make a productive project
It’ll support the package again after 5 or 6 years
Even, I won’t need a donor to bring me 75$
The voluntary trips inspire the world
The bus includes about 7 identities,
as you see, most of them were young women
Clap for young women who’ve attended today
A voluntary trip is a challenge, but its the impact upon volunteers is very strong
as well as upon the donor. It could be an impact that can’t be forgotten
It lets us feel gratitude
to Allah
It lets us feel the love
and the good work
They aren’t in need for us
It’s us. We need them
to discipline ourselves
to evaluate the notebook that is in our hands
evaluate the water we drink,
the toilet we get in, the bed we sleep on and the bite we eat
We are grateful to Allah. This is the most useful things on this trip.
How many times have you decided to donate, but you doubted whether it
arrived or not. If you go by yourself one time,
it doesn’t mean you’ll go again,
But once you go to see
and evaluate the process. Then another person continues instead of you
Of course, there was a pain and a hope. But also there were dreams
To convey this experience to our kids are our dream.
Therefore, we took our children with us
in the trips for two months in a year.
Trips were specialized for young children, to get benefits from multiple things
And obtain a high manner, thought, love, and bestowal, for himself
and society
Last but not least
If you are
Or if the hope is for yourself, so you are doing well
When it’s for your family, thus the challenge is bigger
But when you are the hope for simple people,
It’s more challenging, and it needs great effort.
In sha’a Allah, see you soon in the giving, love, good, and bestowal world,
Assalamu Alaikum
Thank you.