QATEEF, 17 November 2004 — The Qateef Orphans’ Committee, a part of the Qateef Charity, would like to remind the local community that even in this holiday season the poor are among us. The Orphans’ Committee subsidizes the annual living expenses of 605 Saudi children in need. A part of the Qateef community for the last 15 years, the Orphans’ Committee is a lifeline for impoverished families. Despite the infrastructure improvements of recent times, Qateef is still considered a disadvantaged area. Many families already living in poverty before the death of their breadwinner are thrown into dire circumstances when left to fend for themselves. It is no exaggeration to state that without the intervention of the Qateef Orphans’ Committee the children in this program would be going hungry.
“It is a sad fact but in all my years working with destitute families in Qateef I have never seen even one that had a major improvement in living standards,” said Murad Al-Zayer, chairman, Qateef Orphans’ Committee. “Never once has a family come to us and said that they no longer require our support. These are women and children living alone. There are no opportunities for the women to obtain jobs that would pay enough for their families to survive, let alone be lifted out of poverty. All we can hope for is that by taking care of the children’s basic needs and by doing our best to keep them in school, that these boys and girls might have a brighter future.”
The Qateef Orphan’s Committee receives neither government nor corporate support. The students of the Dhahran Elementary/Middle School are the only group that provides them with any significant funding. The committee covers the expenses of the orphans through individual donations from the Eastern Province community.
“We offer an orphan sponsorship program where we ask people to give us SR2,400 annually to sponsor one orphan,” explained Al-Zayer. “Some people give this as a lump sum and others deposit an amount monthly in our bank account. We have all the sponsors fill out forms when they join the program so we have their complete details. In exchange for the sponsors’ support we tell them about the children they are supporting — name, age and performance in school. We want them to know how the children are doing so their bond with the orphans grows stronger. The fact is that SR2,400 is very little to pay to keep these children with their families, out of institutions and in good mental and physical health.”
The Orphans’ Committee finds the families in need from referrals from area schools. They only have resources to sponsor children in the central Qateef area. Not all orphans in the area receive support from the Orphans’ Committee. Those orphans whose families have the resources to care for them alone are up front about refusing the financial assistance, even when it is offered.
“It is well known that we check the resources of the families,” explained Al-Zayer. “Our basic criteria are that the families must have income of less than SR500 per month per family member and that the children attend school. We will even provide tutors or interface with the school in order to overcome any issues so that the orphans keep studying. We are caring for 340 boys and 265 girls. The boys receive aid to age 17 unless they are enrolled in higher training and then we will support them to age 20. The girls are supported to age 20.”
The committee provides each family enrolled in the program with a monthly stipend of SR100 per child plus SR50 per child for food and an additional SR100 per family. In Ramadan the children receive an extra SR50 for food plus coupons to be exchanged for new clothes for Eid. The families also receive free treatment at specified local clinics and discounts on medications, plus school supplies at the start of the academic year.
“This Ramadan we gave the boys coupons for SR100 and the girls coupons for SR250,” Al-Zayer explained. “The boys exchange the coupons at neighborhood tailoring shops for a new thobe. With their coupons the girls can buy readymade clothes from any of a dozen shops in the area. The bottom line is that we want these children to feel as good as anyone else at Eid, not like charity cases. That’s why we enable them to choose their own style of clothing. We also like to give local shops the business since the money to support this program is coming from the local community. The children get clothing coupons for both Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha.”
The Qateef Orphans’ Committee was audited during Ramadan by inspectors from the Ministry of Social Affairs and found to be in full compliance with all regulations. The committee has complete financial records dating back at least five years and can show disbursements to any orphan for the entire time that child was supported by the charity. In the past, mothers signed for receipt of their children’s monthly stipend by both signature and thumbprint. Currently the families receive checks but by the end of next month the committee is hoping to shift all the families to direct deposit at local banks. There are issues with some women opening bank accounts due to a lack of identification, but the committee is working to overcome the problems.
“What we want now is to see our program spread throughout the Kingdom,” said Al-Zayer. “We can demonstrate to interested organizations how to set up an Orphans’ Committee for their area. We have a completely computerized model that needs very little investment in time or resources. There is vast liquidity in the Kingdom and people interested in giving, but many don’t know how to help. On the other side, we have desperately needy children in this land of plenty. We urge interested groups to contact us.”
