OXFAM asked me....

In a bid to inspire others to discover their charitable side, Oxfam, one a the few charities I support, recently asked me to share my story by answering this simple question.

" What has inspired you to support Oxfam? Share your story!"

Here is what I had to say. Enjoy reading and unleash your deeply Good self!

Dear fellow Human Kind people !

As a child I traveled to accompany my parents who moved to work in Muslim developing countries. Working in education, my parents made the point of choosing to live outside expatriate camps and instead favoured living among the ordinary local indigenous people. Looking back, I feel I was very fortunate to witness and experience how very different people, could live side by side, be they poor or relatively richer, and how they naturally gave food, clothes and/or toiletries & essential basic medication to people in need. One memory that stuck in my mind was that our neighbours would regularly give food or part of their meal to passing by beggars who would knock on their doors at meal times on Fridays, or during the month of fasting (Ramadan). Keen to imitate such noble actions, which at first intrigued but later fascinated me, I too would soon urge my mother to help me prepare my own very special food pack ready to give to our weekly humble, yet dignified visitors. It is important to note that at the time, thanks to the kind and respectful attitude of our neighbours towards those special guests, it had never occurred to me they were people of lower status, nor indeed, that they were strangers to be feared. If anything, people appeared as though blessed to be in a position to share some of their best cooking with their special visitors.
Another vivid memory is that of an African dancer and tambourine whom, every spring, would come to perform extraordinary dance moves and sounds, all in exchange of food. I particularly remember the local children's excitement each time he visited. His fantastic outfit was made of knee-length goat's skin stripes attached around his waist and similar skin anklets, wrist bands and a head band from which hanged small seashell bells. Performing in a strange language, and after a few decades, his voice still clearly resonates in my mind. At the time seen through my child's eyes, this extraordinary character seemed to be of the same kind as our weekly visitors, only he was younger, more mysterious and all singing.

Later on as I grew up to become an adult and had moved back to the UK I realised I could help more needy people thanks to the many charities like Oxfam operating in more than one country . What's more there are so many good causes and so many locations were people need help, I decided to constitute a very personal portfolio of charities, which I would be supporting in turn and each in a different way.

Oxfam was the first charity I supported in the UK. I use it especially to donate or buy clothes, to buy Xmas gifts certificates, and to support various campaigns & projects. I also support Muslim charities (Islamic Relief, Muslim Aid etc..) especially during Ramadan, at times of emergency assistance in areas they have more access or expertise and for sponsoring orphans.
Today, a British Woodland Trust and a Protection of Animals Charity also feature in my ever growing projects/charity portfolio. Not that I have become a philanthropist millionaire , but as Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, " The action most dear to Allah is a good deed done persistently, however small it may be."

So thank you Oxfam, but also Muslim Aid, Helping Hands, The Woodland Trust, Amnesty International, Greenpeace and all the other 'human kind' charities, for delivering on my investment in 'Good'.

Anonymous Sadaqa (Charity) Investor