Hello Everyone!
You must have heard that there are thousands of Afghan refugees currently in Wisconsin. They don’t have much since they had to rush to America after the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Some were fortunate enough to bring a backpack of stuff, but many had nothing. When I watched this news on TV, I wanted to do something for them. But I didn’t know how. Luckily, about two weeks ago, my mom forwarded me a flyer saying that Afghan refugees in Fort McCoy Camp need traditional clothes for women and children such as scarves, long kurta salwar, shirts, pants, hoodies, jackets, and more. Since most of the refugees are Muslim, they would not prefer clothes such as shorts, tank tops, etc. I was really excited after my mom shared the information and suggested that I could volunteer for this project. At first, I was worried. “How will I collect all the traditional clothes?” I checked my mom’s closet, where there were a bunch of traditional clothes, my clothes, scarves, and so much more! I was so relieved. We collected all the clothes, but that wasn’t enough. I kept on searching for some of the old clothes that I wanted to donate. We reached out to our Sunday Project families, and so many people donated. Family friends and neighbors came forward to donate clothes and support me. Soon our living room was filled with piles of clothes. My friends Nova and Abby came with their mom to help out. We all folded them and put them in boxes so we could take them to the center. We had more than ten boxes packed within 48 hours, and it just made me so happy that we all did this together and donated so many clothes to people in need.
At first, I started alone, but at the end of the day, we were all working together (Like in High School Musical). When I went to school on Monday, my father dropped off all the boxes at the downtown Islamic center. According to him, all the boxes were really heavy. I was glad that at the end of the day, I wasn’t alone doing this project. We are getting more and more clothes day by day. Fort McCoy is no longer accepting clothes, so I’m currently thinking about ways to help. What else can I donate? My next goal is collecting money for donations by doing a little bake sale. I love baking and this is the time to use the skill.
Thanks, everyone, for all the support for the Afghan Refugees. May God bless you!
“Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember, you don’t live in the world all of your own.”
~Albert Schweitzer