Umm Yousuf works as a messenger in a women-only office. We can say that she’s of friendly nature and a person that livens the office. She makes coffee and serves dates and desserts to employees, who can’t start their day without drinking some of her coffee. She always smiles, remembers God and asks for His forgiveness. She talks to employees about life, her sons and her daughters who have graduated from high school and are searching for jobs.
No one ever hears her complaining or whining. She’s always moving from one building to another delivering papers and documents. She never makes a fuss about the hot sun, the heat, or the endless work. She doesn’t know how to grumble and complaining is not in her nature. She is always happy to engage in light conversations and chitchats because she knows people already have enough problems and are unwilling to hear more misery.
Some people may have not noticed Umm Yousuf’s foot — she’s been limping for a few weeks now. Umm Yousuf has been feeling intense pain in her joints and her kidneys are not doing well. No one in the office could notice the black circles around her eyes. Distress and too much thinking make her stay up late asking God for His help.
Umm Yousuf is trying to make ends meet by collecting money for her residential rental costing nothing more than SR8,000. She managed to make arrangements with her other colleagues to save some money from their salaries. She needs to pay the cab driver who takes her to work, or when she and her daughters need to go to a wedding for serving coffee. As for the three younger children’s expenses, she gets them what they need.
The only thing that really exhausts her financially is her medication. One of the injections she has to take costs more than SR300. This is in addition to her high blood pressure medication and asthma spray for her little son Khaled. What she does most of the time is to use homemade remedies to help her carry on. Her children’s needs and the demands in life are very important to her.
Despite all this, Umm Yousuf has a tendency to capture people’s hearts with a smile. In between errands she sits on the stairs resting and greeting people. Her sweet prayers never stop and everyone loves to have her around and listen to her prayers.
I already mentioned that some people might not know of her desperate situation because she rarely complains or asks anyone for help. How many Umm Yousufs do we have who deserve our charity in order to meet their expenses?
It is our duty to look, search and find poor people who need our help so we can attain solidarity and social stability. We should stop giving to only those who pester us persistently.
