MAKKAH, 7 August 2006 — There is a common misconception that Saudis in general lead financially secure and opulent lifestyles. This is something far from the truth; in fact there are many people in the Kingdom who struggle to provide the basic day-to-day necessities for their families.
Muhammad Saleh Al-Raffa, a driver who works for the Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah, is one such Saudi who relies on charity to make ends meet. Al-Raffa has eight children, three of them disabled.
Al-Raffa’s 22-year-old son, Ali, was born with a disability in his legs. He has spent thousands of riyals in treating him. One of his other sons is 18-year-old Ibrahim, who was run over by a car when he was young and suffered injuries including brain hemorrhage. Ibrahim has had to undergo surgery on a number of occasions.
Al-Raffa’s youngest son, five-year-old Yousuf, suffers from thyroid secretion — an illness that has caused him to increase weight. At present he weighs a staggering 48 kilograms, which is not in proportion to his age and has caused him a lot of health problems.
Despite all these problems, Al-Raffa continues to do all that he can and provide, even if it is little, money to treat his children and make life pleasant for them as much as possible.
Al-Raffa has been struggling for a number of years. Recently some good-minded people he knew helped him to get some land from the municipality in Makkah and take a loan from the real estate development office. Al-Raffa then built a house at a cost of SR240,000 for his family to live in. Al-Raffa needs to pay the sum over a period of nine years.
Al-Raffa has paid SR40,000 and is struggling to pay the remaining SR200,000. Feeling rather sad and despondent Al-Raffa is looking for charitable people that could put a smile on his face.
