"The teacher gave them the idea of financially adopting a family and change their life from 'nothing' to 'enough'," said Thurayya Murad, principal of My Little House. "The students went and visited the family members and were very concerned by their condition."
The project was a part of a subject the school requires from its students called “Life Skills,” which requires students to donate time or money to charitable organizations.
The group chose to visit one of the flood-ravaged areas of Jeddah and picked a needy family that was displaced by the flooding.
Students were very pleased with their work. “We are very proud of this project," said the student Lama Al-Khereiji. "I basically felt that I should show some affection to other Saudis who are in desperate need of our help."
Student Ruba Ashkan said she was shocked to see the conditions that the family was living in. “We saw how they were surviving in a very small house that was a disaster," said Ashkan. "The rooms were filthy and they had no beds to sleep on. They also didn’t have a fridge, oven, air conditioner or even closets to put their clothes in."
The family expressed thanks to the students for their concern and efforts. At the time the students discovered the family, it was subsisting on about SR500 a month earned by the oldest sister. Najla Bukhari, the project's manager at the school, said the father of the family was against asking for charity, and that charitable organizations declined to help because they did not have a male guardian with them when they approached the organizations.
“For three months, every Monday we went there," said student Lyeen Sharbatly. "We saw the improvements being made for the house and how the family was very excited and happy to see it."
Principal Murad said fostering charitable giving should be an integral part of a child's formal education. “Schools are not for education only," said school principal Murad. "They help to bring up students and to raise a good seed inside them. This is why we make sure that every student is a part of a volunteer project so they feel other people’s suffering. This is exactly what our religion asks us to do. So these kinds of projects make our religion stronger.
