Amal Al-Sibai Saudi Gazette Ramadan is the month that brings out the best in people. Besides fasting, Ramadan is best known as the month of giving. For a proactive, energetic, and bighearted university student, Malik Al-Ghanmi, and his two sisters, Ramadan was also the month of the birth of a small coalition of family members and friends that developed into a full-fledged and far-reaching non-profit charity organization. Their inspirational story started out with a unique idea and generous intentions. “Most Muslims during Ramadan focus all of their charities and humanitarian efforts on feeding the poor. Countless well-wishers take it upon themselves to distribute dates, juice, and a warm breaking of the fast meal to families who cannot afford such luxuries on a daily basis. This is a highly commendable act but very few people think beyond the holy days of Ramadan. Not much consideration is given to the poor families during the Eid celebrations,” said Tasneem Al-Ghanmi, co-founder of this noble project. “Every woman and girl deserves to rejoice on the day of Eid and put on a beautiful dress, and every man and boy has the right to a clean Thobe and new garments to wear to the mosque for the Eid prayer. The aim of our organization is to provide decent and attractive Eid clothes each year for families living below the poverty line, as well as to promote volunteering in our community,” continued Tasneem. Three years ago, Malik, Tasneem, and Mawaddah started their project Kiswat Al-Sayida Aisha at home. The Arabic word kiswat means clothing or garments to adorn and to cover and it has a strong connotation in Saudi culture to mean the celebratory Eid clothes. And Aisha is the name of the siblings' mother and the name of the Mother of the Believers who was known for her. They let all their friends and relatives know that they were collecting new clothes and used clothes in good condition to package into Eid gift bags and give them to families in need. News of their project quickly spread.
“Donations started pouring in at quantities more than our home could encompass and the number of volunteers who wanted to help out also grew exponentially each year. Our work was met with much positive feedback that we were able to find supporters to help our organization expand. Dallah Academy of Volunteerism has become our main and official financial sponsor. “The management at Aya Mall has offered us a large space in the mall to do our Ramadan work, free of charge. We have also partnered with Al-Birr Charity Society to give us important data on poor families in Jeddah, such as the number of household members, their ages, and gender so that we can correctly match our supply with the society's demand,” said Al-Ghanmi. This year they have already started at Aya Mall. Volunteers gather every night after Taraweeh prayers and the organizers have a very efficient system to follow: first they lay out all the donations, discard any damaged items, separate the garments according to gender and size, count, neatly fold them, package them in bags, and label each bag with the number and type of items inside. There are two separate areas for the men's and women's volunteer teams. If work goes as planned, they should be done by the 19 day of Ramadan. The group, Kiswat Al-Sayida Aisha, has invited people in Jeddah to volunteer, serve their community, and experience an amazing feeling of camaraderie and giving. They have advertised their work through the social media like Facebook, Twitter, and What's App, and over 300 young women and 100 young men have joined the volunteer teams.
