Diary of a Traveller Distance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder, Amani Ali - 13 The Prophet (saw) advised to: “Take benefit of five before five: Your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before you are preoccupied, and your life before your death” I’ve been thinking about this Prophetic advice a great deal over the past few months, its important to check yourself often and assess where you are in life. I have very few regrets in life, but if I had to have one it would be that I wish I did more of what I loved doing and sooner. Nothing in my life has given me a sense of fulfilment and happiness as doing the charity work that I was blessed enough to get involved in. I fell into the NGO sector with my feet running and regret nothing about it. If anything its that I wish I took advantage of my youth before my old(er) age and my free time. I guess this is why when I see young people being proactive and taking heed of this advice that I feel a sense of pride and happiness for what theyre about to achieve. I draw on my experiences from Islamic Help a lot, after all they were the first charity I joined and I learnt so so much from my time there. It was there that I met a bunch of young, passionate and talented group of people. My time away from them doesnt start from when I set foot in Thailand but from May 2014 when I left Islamic Help. I miss them, I don’t say it or perhaps even show it much but how can I not? We worked alongside each other every week for years and I learnt a lot from them. Distance does make the heart grow fonder and it also makes you appreciate other people. So this is a thank you to a team of people that never cease to amaze me, as time goes on I will write about all of you but for now I want to talk about one of the special people that I met and grew to love. Amani Ali, I met her when she was 17 I cant recall her first event but I definitely recall the volunteer meeting she attended. I was a bit concerned that she was too underage to volunteer, she looked like a 12 year old, not that much has changed there! I never noticed how quick she grew, she was at school back then but now she carries a full time job and lives alone in another city. She went went shaking buckets to organising her own fundraisers and delivering aid internationally. If I’m being honest I think I underestimated her in the early days, I didn’t recognise how smart she really is. Or how driven she is, consistently throughout all the stages of her studies and work life shes never left the charity sector. She makes time for it, she takes advantage of her free time before she has none and her youth before her old age. She gets things done she is a go-getter! In Ramadan 2013 she walked 15 plus miles whilst fasting to raise money for orphans during the day and it didnt stop there, she dragged her sore body to the IH offices and stayed for the duration of the day and night to help me with the appeal. She was obviously tired so I asked her ‘Why don’t you go home Amani? You must be shattered’. ‘I told you I was going to help you’ It didnt sink in then the sacrifice that she made and that she is reliable. A quality so rare in this world. I think her attitude is probably what I love the most, she has a twinkle in her eye - shes fearless. She doesnt do boundaries or limits, I guess theres pros and cons to that but its admirable. Not many 19 year old leave their city, family and friends behind to start a career elsewhere but she did. Not many people accomplish what she has at such a young and tender age. She’s raised thousands for charity, and given up her time and energy to help those in greater need that us. Shes just come back from her second deployment in Jordan, Amani Im so proud of you! You do my head in like no other. Some days I want to knock you out, but your like the little sister I never had and I love you more for that. I pray that Allah subhan wa t’ala guides you and protects you. I pray that He forever blesses you with his Love and Mercy and I pray that you take benefit of the five before five. Im proud of the woman your becoming, and everything your achieving. xoxo
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 01:30:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015