JEDDAH, 7 January 2006 — The 7.6 magnitude earthquake that rocked Pakistan on the morning of Oct. 8, which killed tens of thousands and has since left millions in the cold, struck a chord in the heart of a poor Turkish boy. In a letter to Pakistan, the boy said he came from a poor family yet wished to help the country with whatever he had.
“I’m the son of a poor family. I don’t have father. My mother is sick. We have two million (old Turkish liras) to buy bread. I’m sending you one million of it, because today I found bread in the garbage. Tonight we’ll break our fast with that. With this one million, buy bread for children in the earthquake areas. This money is ‘halal.’”
One million old Turkish liras is about 75 cents. Turkey’s new currency, which knocked six zeros off a million, went into effect Jan. 1. The letter, which was sent in October or early November (Ramadan), appears on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s website.
