Make A Difference

I remember a few months ago , My friends and I were introduced to a man who would push us to make a difference . A man who forced us to look at things from a new perspective regardless of what the norm was .
I would love to mention his name but I would have to make sure it is okay with him . So for the time being let's call him Prof. A .

Prof A had a philosophy . In arabic: "إن لم تزد شيئا على الدنيا فأنت زائد عليها "  [If  you do not add anything to this world , then you are simply an addition/burden on it] and then he would ask you 

Are you simply an addition or do you have something to add? 

it's a simple statement yet so profound in meaning and very much true . After a 2 hour long conversation over dinner with prof.A . We were all very much inspired to make a difference , to leave something behind in a city that we had no tribal/family ties to.
After much thought we decided the best addition one could ever make was that of knowledge . like the famous quote " Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day , teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime" . At the time we were 5 girls , so we decided to each financially support a child who could not afford education. Surprisingly we did not have to go far to find such children . a few doors away from our own house we found 3 familes with 8 children, all of which were staying at home yet of school age, and some loosing a parent.
Our initial plan was simply sponsoring 5 children , soon we had 2 other girls in and now we could sponsor 7 kids . At the time it was almost the end of the school year , so we decided to enroll them into a Quranic school . After explaining to the dugsii teacher what we wanted to do , he offered to take in the 8th kid as well free of charge .

I know it might seem like a very straighforward , easy to execute kinda plan right ? WRONG!!
In a Country that has been over exposed to NGO's and free handouts , the parents of the children were very skeptical of our intentions and in no time news was spreading of "These Arab girls who were working with an NGO and were offering to pay for tuition".  and as people estimated how much of the funding we were slipping into our pockets and how many thousands of dollars we were selfishly holding back , the clan ideology came into play : on more than one occasion we were told to help our Clan's needy instead of those we were not related to. - "Your people need it first" .

A few months later ,On eid we were able to give out a humble sum of money to the families of the children [3 families in total ] and an exceptional woman who herself raises 4 children by picking up trash from families for less than 25cents per pick up.
 Now we are planning on adding another 5 children to the Quranic School and this time an aunty from Saudi Arabia has taken up their sponsoring and paid an advance for 5 months.

In my opinion this is a very humble addition to a community that has given us personally the chance at a higher education. It is only fair to give back and hopefully InshAllah those of you reading this will be inspired to make a difference as well regardless of how big or small it may be . And in time I hope these very kids grow up and in turn give back to their communities and so forth .
- Contribute within your means , any way you can to your communities . Do it not for the love of fame , or for a name , or even with the expectations of an applause . Do it simply for the sake of leaving good behind and making a difference