Ramadhan With MJ Children

My mom took me to an orphanage when I was a child. Mom and her friends held a charity event to help children in there. Some of the children lived far from their parents; some of them had no family. Even though my father had passed away, I felt so lucky at that time because I had family.

When I grow up, that memory stays in my mind. Some people out there lives in poor condition. Then I met Miftahul Jannah (MJ) Foundation. I was a job seeker and didn’t have much money to help their programs by giving scholarship. So I decided to apply as a volunteer to arrange activities for children in MJ. 

In Ramadhan, their schedule was very tight because it was the right time to increase our worship to Allah. There were over 30 children who spent every afternoon in MJ with various activities until break the fasting. Reading Qur’an, watching Islamic movies, singing, drawing, crafting, and playing. Sometimes we had invitation from donors to breaking the fast outside MJ office.

There were 2 volunteers, Ayu and me. Handling large group of children wasn’t easy. A group wanted to play quiz, others wanted to draw picture. There was also some “trouble-maker” who disturbed other child. All we could do was being patient (a little bit of yelling) and solved it one by one. 

In angkot, on the way to breaking the fast invitation

I remembered one breaking-the-fast invitation from a company in a restaurant. We had divided the children into some groups with one leader each. The children were so excited because they could eat in famous restaurant. We had already arrived at that place since 4 p.m. but we couldn’t enter because we had to wait for the donor. The restaurant was almost full but the donor hadn’t showed up. We were so worry and thought it might had been cancelled. 10 minutes before adzan Maghrib finally they came. Fiuh…Alhamdulillah, everyone was happy.

Sharing makes our life happy. The more we share the more we have.

– Baa Baa Black Sheep

Interacting with them everyday made me realized that those children need attention and affection which they didn’t get from their family. Their parents were busy working as labors, cleaning service staffs, or maids to cover their daily needs. That’s why they liked to study and play in MJ. Knowing this fact made me feel so grateful about my happy life.

Doing homework while black out

Sometimes I forget to express gratitude to Allah for simple things I have every day. Family, good food, even fresh air that I can breathe every second for free. I never regret my Ramadhan filled with life-time experience as a volunteer in MJ. I had only small role but I was so happy to do that. Those children taught me how to keep the spirit to learn and say Alhamdulillah in this challenging world.

This blog post is presented in order to join FED Challenge conducted by Fun Blogging Community