Gul-e-Zahra (age 5) a cute little girl with a smiling face living with her two brothers and mother. Zahra and her siblings are all school going. Her mother manages all the house chores and looks after her children. She keeps her house very hygienic and well disciplined. They do not have proper Kitchen so they cook out side the room, and the so called kitchen is organized very well and it is kept very hygienic for the healthy life of the children including Zahra. The house has two proper rooms along with little Veranda. The house has proper access to all utilities like water, electricity, and gas. These utilities make their lives comfortable.

Zahra gets up early in the morning and gets ready for her school. After coming back from school she takes lunch and afterwards some rest. In the evening, she goes for her studies and completes her school home work before giving some time for her recreational activities. At night; she spends her time with her family in watching TV and she takes her dinner together with her all family members and then she goes to bed.

But this was not the case for a long time when in 2002, Zahra’s father passed away due to Heart attack. Her father’s sudden death sent them to turmoil. They remained very disturbed due to death of the family member who was only source of their livelihood. They started to live without proper food, health facilities and many other social problems due to very poor livelihood resources.

Before the death of their father, they were living happy life and had easy access to food and other basic amnesties of life. The protection that gives a father to the family is itself a great support which vanished after the death of Zahra’s father. It also not only decreased the access to their basic needs but also her mother mostly remained sick and very upset that was affecting the children psychologically in terms of good rearing practices. Her mother faced lots of difficulties to meet the educational, health and other expenses of the children as she hardly could afford these.

But the day when a volunteer of Islamic Relief identified Zahra as a vulnerable and deserving orphan child, there was a glimmer of hope for her bright future and the rest of family. After formally processing her sponsorship request, Zahra started receiving the quarterly sponsorship. This sponsorship has relieved many hardships of Zahra’s family and especially her mother has been relaxed now. Her mother spends lot of time with her children and they are spending happy life after a long time. Sponsorship money helps Zahra’s mother to get the proper food, clothing, education etc.

Sponsorship helps Zahra to get quality education without any difficulty. She is going to her school regularly and is working hard for her studies. In very little age she mostly spends her time with her school books and doing her home work. Her mother is very satisfied that her one daughter could continue her education without any difficulty. She easily meets her educational expense. Her mother has become able to give education to her other children because her burden has been shared now by this sponsorship. This sponsorship not only helping Zahra but also her other siblings to continue their education. Zahra’s mother was able to make some savings and with those savings she has done some maintenance work of the house.

Zahra health has improved a lot along with other family members especially diet has become better now. Children are taking healthier food three times a day with fruits and milk in alternative days. They also take boiled water for drinking purpose and that is why Zahra is not reported any disease lately. Her mother is patient of kidney and lever so this sponsorship is also helping her a lot in getting her treatment.

“We are very great full to Islamic Relief and Donor who are helping us. This amount contributes a lot in our healthier lives. This sponsorship has enabled for my children the access to education and a good citizen of our society. We pray for long life and happiness of each person who is helping orphans” said Zahra’s mother with emotions.

There are thousands of children like Zahra who have lost their father and are now living in darkness and do not know about their future. But with little sponsorship one can change a child’s future.