Back in 2010, I took a photo of a child named Ahmad in my district, Haska Mina, Nangarhar. This was during my visit to the area right after we left our refugee life in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakistan. I shared this photo on Facebook, with the thought that if we educate him, Ahmad would become a scholar, but if we don’t, he might be brainwashed and used for a terrorist attack.
After a few hours, one of my Afghan American friends on Facebook, Zia Bahadar from the USA, made a donation to help a child buy new clothes, shoes, school bags, stationery, and books. I went to the child’s home, gave him the cash, and asked his parents to buy the necessary items.
After returning home, I expressed my gratitude on Facebook to a generous man who made some donations. One of my Facebook friends, Mariam, who is an Afghan-British girl, appreciated my act of kindness and decided to send some donations as well. I used her donations to help underprivileged people and shared my activities on Facebook. When Mariam’s mother learned about what I was doing, she too decided to contribute. This was the start of my charity work, which still continues to this day.
Over the past 13 years, anytime someone sends me donations, I use them to help poor people and share my activities on Facebook. During this time, I have bought more than a hundred school bags, children’s literature books, and stationeries for children. I have also provided wheelchairs for disabled people, arranged tents for schools, distributed food rations to the neediest, bought new clothes for poor children during Eid and New Year festivals, sent children with heart defects to foreign countries, arranged special meals in different orphanages during Eid and New Year festivals, and empowered poor people through work and education.
