They live in Kabul and the wages they earn barely allow them to survive. Without opportunities or a serious education, these boys are stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty that’s very hard to break.

But with the help of generous donors like you, Islamic Relief is giving children like Sultan a chance. You help create opportunities for sustainable livelihoods in Afghanistan and around the world.

Sultan is now getting vocational training and an education at Islamic Relief’s vocational training center in Kabul. There, he studies to be an auto-mechanic. When Sultan is done with his studies, he wants to open an auto-body shop where he can start a business, earn a living and continue working towards a brighter future for him and his family.

By planting seeds of opportunity within every community, we empower individuals like Sultan to impact change within their communities and create a better tomorrow.

Your generous donations can help support sustainable livelihood projects that give people the skills and tools they need to help themselves now and well into the future.

Donate now to Islamic Relief’s sustainable livelihood projects and see the lasting difference your charitable contributions can make for generations to come.

Dinner Provided | Babysitting Provided

Join us March 17-18, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Virginia to receive the vital training you’ll need to be a member of this important team.

** Training will be held at Islamic Relief USA headquarters in Alexandria **

At this session, participants will receive training in managing and assisting with individual and group crisis intervention..

You will also receive an orientation to Islamic Relief USA. Individuals who complete the training will be certified.

You must be at least 21-years old to participate. Send your resume to volunteers@irusa.org to sign up.

You can learn more about Islamic Relief USA’s Disaster Response Team by clicking on “Virginia” under Training Schedule.

Join us April 14-15, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in New Jersey to receive the vital training you’ll need to be a member of this important team.

** Training will be held at Alghazaly High School **

At this session, participants will receive training in managing and assisting with individual and group crisis intervention..

You will also receive an orientation to Islamic Relief USA. Individuals who complete the training will be certified.

You must be at least 21-years old to participate. Send your resume to volunteers@irusa.org to sign up.

You can learn more about Islamic Relief USA’s Disaster Response Team by clicking on “New Jersey” under Training Schedule.

Join us March 31-April 1, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Illinois to receive the vital training you’ll need to be a member of this important team.

** Training will be held at Islamic Association of North Texas **

At this session, participants will receive training in managing and assisting with individual and group crisis intervention..

You will also receive an orientation to Islamic Relief USA. Individuals who complete the training will be certified.

You must be at least 21-years old to participate. Send your resume to volunteers@irusa.org to sign up.

You can learn more about Islamic Relief USA’s Disaster Response Team by clicking on “Illinois” under Training Schedule.

Join us March 31-April 1, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Texas to receive the vital training you’ll need to be a member of this important team.

** Training will be held at Islamic Association of North Texas **

At this session, participants will receive training in managing and assisting with individual and group crisis intervention..

You will also receive an orientation to Islamic Relief USA. Individuals who complete the training will be certified.

You must be at least 21-years old to participate. Send your resume to volunteers@irusa.org to sign up.

You can learn more about Islamic Relief USA’s Disaster Response Team by clicking on “Texas” under Training Schedule.

Join us March 18-19, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in California to receive the vital training you’ll need to be a member of this important team.

** Training will be held at ACCESS California: 2180 W Crescent Ave Ste C in Anaheim **

At this session, participants will receive training in managing and assisting with individual and group crisis intervention..

You will also receive an orientation to Islamic Relief USA. Individuals who complete the training will be certified.

You must be at least 21-years old to participate. Send your resume to volunteers@irusa.org to sign up.

You can learn more about Islamic Relief USA’s Disaster Response Team by clicking on “California” under Training Schedule.

Yellow Brick Road

Islamic Relief USA communications specialist Nada Shawish discusses new options and the power of financial education for struggling Americans. 

In the “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” a tornado strikes rural Kansas, and farm girl Dorothy is knocked out with a blow to her head. When she comes to, her aunt and uncle’s home is sent up into a whirlwind with her inside.

Floating in the cyclone, the house is in shambles, and everything seems lost while Dorothy crouches down in horror.

Many Americans have felt like Dorothy during the past several years, huddling with their families as recession swirled around them and tore at their livelihoods.

For those who were already living on the edge, like Neima Naeem, the financial crisis has been a devastating shock.

“We just don’t have a chance to get out of this cycle,” she said.

The financial crisis has made living near impossible for millions of Americans, but some organizations are offering solutions to help people get back on track. Individual Development Accounts are giving people a second chance and a way out of poverty.

Shattered dreams

Neima immigrated to the United States several years ago looking for more opportunities—a better life, the “American Dream.”

But that life was nowhere to be found. School programs were too expensive, and she couldn’t manage to secure a reliable job with an income that she and her disabled son could actually live on.

And when the financial crisis hit, Neima’s financial situation spun out of control even more quickly than some of her more financially stable neighbors.

Today, an estimated 26 million Americans do not own enough to survive at the poverty level for three months. More than 50 million Americans currently live in poverty, and an astounding 17 million of them are children.

Minority- and female-headed households are suffering in even greater numbers.

At least 25% of female-headed households have zero or negative net worth and more than 30% of minority-headed households have zero or negative net worth.

While the economy has shown signs of improving, it’s hard to see that down in the trenches. Unemployment rates are getting lower in the United States, but families are still losing homes, and unemployment is still twice the rate it was in 2007. New jobs being created are mostly part-time positions averaging only $19,000 a year. That’s well under the annual income considered the national poverty line for a single individual.

For people who don’t have an education or specialized training, prospects of financial security are really slim.

“If you don’t have money and you don’t have an education, you don’t even have a chance,” Neima said. “You can’t do what you need to do or what you want to do with your life.”

A way out

When asked what she needed to get started toward the kind of stability she wanted for her family, Neima replied, “money.” She knew what she needed to do and how to do it. She just needed the money to start. But for Neima, like millions of other Americans, funding is hard to come by, especially when you’re starting from scratch. Without any way to save money or access to credit, she was stuck trying to scrape up enough money to live on, without a chance for growth.

But Neima found a way to break free from this cycle. She started the business she had always dreamed of—a beauty salon just for women that offers hair, nails, skin care, henna designs and makeup tutorials.

“I wanted to provide a service to women of the community,” said Neima.  “I wanted to offer an option of having a more private salon, just for women. We never had that before.”

The tool that helped her break out was an Individual Development Account, or IDA.

She found out about IDAs from a friend, and soon after signing up, she was finally on her way to getting her cosmetology certification and business licensing, which were too expensive for her to get on her own.

IDA programs teach people how to save and handle their finances, and give them a boost with their savings. New participants work toward reaching a financial goal, like starting a business, getting an education, or buying a home.

One such program, through Islamic Relief USA and Capital Area Asset Builders, plans to make IDAs available to residents of the greater Washington, D.C., and Baltimore area. The goal is to equip families in need with financial knowledge and match the amount they are able to save to help them build a better future.

The Individual Development Account program through Islamic Relief USA and Capital Area Asset Builders will offer people like Neima the starting point they need—one that can help provide the support to start something new.

First, participants are required to open a savings account, and set a goal for an asset to save for. Then, savers are required to complete a Money Management course and training related to their specific goal. Finally, participants save each month and watch their money grow.

When families reach their savings goals, they receive matching funds.

“I saved $2,000,” Neima said. “I was so proud of that. And then my IDA matched it with another $2,000. This kind of money was so valuable. I couldn’t have started my business without it.”

Islamic Relief USA’s IDA program will match savings at a rate of $3 for every $1 participants save.

Research from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and the Assets for Independence program (AFI) suggest that IDA programs aren’t just a temporary fix. They work. IDA participants are 35% more likely to own a home, twice as likely to attend college, and 84% more likely to own a business.

Better days ahead

Since 1999, more than 1,000 program sites have helped more than 80,000 people to save, build their assets and pursue education, training and business opportunities.

As for Neima, now there’s really no place like home.

Her in-home business is doing well, and she now has regular clients who come to her for her beauty services.

“For people like me, this really gives them a chance—helps open doors,” Neima said, “I’m just thankful for this opportunity. Now, I can take care of myself. It feels good.”

And she has even bigger goals. One day, she hopes to move to a bigger space where she can employ other beauticians and grow her business.

She’s building her own yellow-brick road, one brick at a time. All she needed was a few tools to get started.

“After all,” she smiles, “you have to start from the beginning so one day you can grow.”

This article is part of Islamic Relief’s Sustainable Livelihood program series.

Islamic Relief USA is dedicated to helping fellow Americans succeed. Find out more about how you can help your neighbor in need today.

Outside Afghanistan’s biggest cities are makeshift camps where people go when they have nothing. Families go there after fleeing from violence, or just when they can’t find any work in post-war Afghanistan and can no longer afford to live in the city.

In these camps, mothers, fathers, grandparents and little children try to survive in tents or rough huts that do very little to protect them from the weather.

This winter is so cold that they are literally freezing to death.

Watch this footage, captured by Islamic Relief staff in the field in Afghanistan, to see for yourself.

The New York Times has reported that at least 22 children froze to death in January 2012 in camps around Kabul. One of them was 1-month-old Ismail, the son of Juma Gul. “He was never warm in his entire life,” his father told a reporter. “Not once.”

When the camp residents have a little money, they have to choose which to buy—a little fuel to stave off the freezing cold, or a little food to fend off starvation. For many families, they can’t have both.

Some once had blankets or warmer clothes, but they’ve since sold them to buy food, because that was the greater need at the time. Now children are walking in the snow with bare feet.

Please help suffering families. Donate today.

Ghulam Faroq lives in one of these camps with his wife and his two children—4-year-old Mustafa and 2-year-old Ruqia. He used to have a job in a factory and a rented house in the city, but after work opportunities disappeared, he had to move his family to a tent and beg for food: “This year the winter is very cold and we need fuel and food,” he told an Islamic Relief Afghanistan team. “Those are things that will keep us alive for the rest of the winter.

“I would like to ask donors of Islamic Relief and my Muslim brothers and sister to help us in the cold weather,” said Ghulam. “We do not have anything at all. If the cold weather remains for a few more days, we will not be alive.”

How Islamic Relief is Helping

Islamic Relief’s donors have provided life-saving support to families in these camps in harsh winters before. Now our teams are preparing to provide relief in this especially difficult winter. An emergency distribution will aim to help 1,000 of the families in greatest need in camps near Kabul. Families with vulnerable members, such as infants, young children and the elderly, will receive food and other necessary items to help them survive the winter.

Our help is needed in this emergency relief effort! Please donate today.

Islamic Relief has been working in Afghanistan since 1992 and has an office in Kabul. Islamic Relief’s early work in Afghanistan combined emergency relief with economic development initiatives, in addition to drought relief and food assistance. Later projects added education, water and sanitation, livelihood support and rebuilding of community infrastructure. To learn more, visit irusa.org/afghanistan.

Check out these photos taken from the field:

HOW YOU CAN HELP