Walking miles down dusty paths after long, bumpy rides in trucks and on motorcycles, and listening to the stories that those in need tell: this is how field staff and volunteers get ready for Ramadan in Kenya.
As the holy month approaches, Zakat Foundation of America volunteers and field staff are going door-to-door in communities around the world to identify families that need food aid.
The Zakat Foundation of America field representative and a group of volunteers have been combing the Kenyan countryside to reach families who can benefit from a Zakat Foundation of America food package https://www.zakat.org/campaign/2014-ramadan.
"They have been going to the furthest remote areas on four-by-four truck," the field representative wrote in a report this week. "In other areas where trucks cannot go, we have been hiring motorbikes and where the motorbikes could not access the families, we just walked on foot."
On reaching the families, he wrote, "we have been interviewing them about their life, their work and their needs."
Families who will receive food packages fall into one or more of the following categories:
Income is less than $2.00 per day
Headed by women
Caring for a terminally ill person
Families with many dependents such as elders, children or people with disabilities
Caring for one or more orphans
Families headed by children, or children living alone
Pregnant and breastfeeding women
Internally displaced persons and refugees
Converts to Islam (reverts)
Elderly widows living alone
Those who have been released from prison
"Alhamudulillah, we have been able to reach many marginalized Muslims," the field representative wrote. "Most of them are overjoyed that we are reaching them. They feel remembered and cared for by other Muslims."
Zakat Foundation of America invites you to send that message of being remembered and cared for to needy families around the world by donating food packages this Ramadan.