Watch this video to hear what some of our team members have to say about raising money for Well #1:
Read about our team members' different experiences and stories while we raised money for Well #1...
Africa Needs Help
Read about our team members' different experiences and stories while we raised money for Well #1...
Africa Needs Help
by Mirac Kekik
Age: 13
We don't really see water as important, we just take it for granted. Sure, that might be easy to think here, in America, but what about Africa? The people there are practically dehydrated almost all the time.
We decided that building a well would be a great idea to help everyone there out. It costs a lot of money, so we decided to do fundraising to get all the money. When we first started to raise money though, I honestly thought that getting all 2,500 dollars would be a very long stretch, but we did it, Alhamdulillah.
To raise money we did a bake sale, gave scarves with donations, and set up a booth about the Well Project at Masjid Ibrahim, and informed people about what we were doing. These things not only raised a very large amount of money, but were also very fun to do! Now back in the present, we have raised around $4,000+, and are already on our way to raising money for a second well! My thoughts from before, and my thoughts now about the project are very different, now I feel like we could achieve anything as long as ALLAH (SWT) helps us!
A Well for Africa
by Tasneem Wilson
Age: 16
When I first found out about the well project for Somalia I was extremely excited, but when I heard our goal was 3,000 dollars I got a little bit worried. I wasn't sure that we would be able to make that much simply asking for donations in exchange for a five dollar scarf. I was afraid people wouldn't be all that interested.
When I first began advertising I focused mostly on other Muslims. But then I realized that non-Muslims at my school, The Charter School of Wilmington were also eager to help. I talked to my friends, and then they told their friends, and before I knew it, I had to go back to the Zakat Foundation Delaware Center for more scarves. They were excited to buy/donate money for the pashminas and chose to wear them around their necks instead of on their heads. I sold more scarves to non-Muslims than Muslims, much to my surprise. All in all, I think I raised close to 100 dollars from non-Muslims alone. We managed to exceed our goal in much less time than I had anticipated, Alhamdullilah.
Raising Money For a Well in Africa
by Furkan Kose
Age: 11
The people in Africa are dying of thirst every day. Either they die of that or for lack of clean water supply. Since they have no other water source they are forced to drink water from dirty places. If the people there had a well they could have clean water supply. When the kids in Delaware found this out we decided to make one.
So from November 2011 to February 2012 we raised 3000 dollars. I will tell you how I helped raise the money. The two main things I did to raise money was sending an email to all my friends and relatives and the other way was making food for a bake sale.
The first thing I did was send email. I send it to my uncles, aunts, mom's friends, my mom's aunts and uncles and other people. I was pretty successful, Alhamdulillah, because many people gave money due to that email.
The other thing I did was to cook for a bake sale. At home I made pastries. Other people cooked too. Then I went to the Zakat Foundation Delaware Community Center and along with other people bought and sold different snacks.
This is how I helped pay for building a well in Africa. Inshallah it will help many people who are dying of thirst.
A Rewarding Experience
by Mandy Hamed
Age: 12
Being a part of the project to raise money for the well in Africa has been such a rewarding experience. Personally I raised some of the money by selling pashminas to my friends at school. When we first started this project, I thought that we could do it but i never believed that we could have raised 3,000 dollars in the short time that we did.
Raising this money took hard work and effort. Raising this money has made me feel like I could be a part of something bigger than just me and the small world I live in. When I first found out that 3 weeks ago we still had $1500 to raise I had hopes for us but did not expect to really achieve our goal. Thanks to all of the hard work from our team we got it done and Alhamdulilah we did it.
Raising Money for a Well in Africa
by Yusuf Kose
Age: 9 years old
From November to February we raised money for a well in Africa. First we had a booth in a book sale. I made a well to act as a donation box.
After that my mom told me that we are having a bake sale. I decided to make small wells and sell them at the bake sale. It took me about 2 and a half hours to make 10. I also made some cheese breads to sell. We had the bake sale at the ZF center.
After that we had enough for making a well in Africa. That is what I did to help raise money to build a well in Africa.
Bake Sale
by Huda Kose
Age 7
We had to raise money for a well in Africa. One person thought we should have a bake sale. I made borek and put sparkles on cupcakes. When we went to the ZF center we studied English and then the bake sale began. There were brownies, bread, cookies, magic cookie bars, halwa, cupcakes, cake and borek. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the mini wells. My brother Yusuf made mini wells. One was for $5. The bake sale was good. We got more than $200.
The Road to Clean Water
by Nur Kose
Age: 13
In November 2011, a group of kids, including myself, decided to work together to raise funds for building a well. When we heard that the Zakat Foundation of America would be able to build a well in Africa if we could raise $3,000, we couldn’t wait to get started. It was tremendously exciting to think that we could help out in providing clean water for people halfway across the world.
Despite our excitement and eagerness, however, we had no clue how we would be able to raise so much money. ‘After all, we’re only kids,’ we thought to ourselves. We didn’t realize at the time that the fact that we are kids would help us a lot.
Our main team consisted of about seven to eight kids and our parents who helped us get started. Our first step was to make a poster to let people know about our well project. A well-known super crafts person in our community is Sister Barbara and she made an amazing poster for our project. Its colors attracted everyone who came to the Zakat Foundation Delaware Center where we displayed it. In the center of the poster was a large blank thermometer, waiting to be filled up. Each time we looked at it, we kept thinking of ways to fill it up.
Our first tactic was to ask our friends, family members, and classmates for money. Zakat Foundation provided us with pashminas (scarves) to give as gifts to those who donated.. The profits we made on selling the pashminas would go to our well project fund. Pretty soon, we had given away most of the pashminas to our friends at the masjid, classmates and teachers at school, and our neighbors. Many wanted more than one color. After a few weeks of working for the well project, alhamdulillah, we were able to fill up the thermometer until the $300 mark with a thick red marker.
We felt very successful after we reached that $300 until we looked up at the top of the thermometer. $3000 is a lot more than $300!
By the time January came in, we had about $1,500. Our parents suggested that we should have a goal for when we want to finish raising up the $3000 for the well. When they said the end of February should be our goal, we thought that it would be practically impossible. How could we raise so much money in such a short amount of time?
Our well project team met together and discussed different ways we could raise money. We came up with ideas such as having bake sales and setting up tables in front of Muslim businesses. Our team members were busy raising money that second week of January. All except for me. That was the week I caught a virus from my sister who had caught it from my other sister who had caught it from one of my brothers. So, I was sick in bed with a fever for a week.
I felt left out as I lay there in bed, hearing my siblings working hard to raise money for the well project. My 11-year-old brother Furkan sent an email to every single person on his email list, asking them to donate money for the well project. He asked his friends, our parents’ friends, and our relatives. The very next morning, many of them replied, pledging different amounts of money. In such a short time, Furkan had raised a few hundred dollars!
Meanwhile, my 9-year-old (almost 10!) brother Yusuf made a little cute model well. Using a small cardboard box, some paper, and lots of duct tape, he designed a 3-feet well. He used that well at a book fair for our Masjid’s Islamic school and quite a few people donated money because of it.
The book fair was the first event our well team attended to raise money. After that, we scheduled a second event. With the help of our parents, we were able to reserve the stage in the New Castle Farmer’s Market. In the very center of the New Castle Farmer’s Market is a stage where different groups present sometimes. On few occasions, singers come and sing a few songs to the shoppers. So, we reserved the stage on a Saturday afternoon and we planned to take our well and poster there for a few hours. However, that was the one day that we got our first snow of the year and our plans were immediately canceled.
We never did get to reschedule that event because the stage was already reserved for the other days we were available, but we pulled through with our next plan - a bake sale.
The bake sale was lots of fun - even for me who does not not like to cook. Each member of our well team came up with something to bake such as brownies, cupcakes, cheese breads, and lots more. My siblings and I stayed in the kitchen for the two days before the bake sale.
I had gotten a snowflake cupcake pan from Joann Fabrics a little while ago and was eager to try it out. I got out a cake mix and made batch after batch of snowflake cupcakes all day. The snowflakes were so cute that it was so hard not to eat them. I had to keep pushing my siblings away from them.
Finally, when all the batches were done and I had almost 150 cupcakes, it was time to start frosting them. Now that took even longer and it was hours before all my cupcakes were neatly frosted in rows on trays. My sisters were delighted to sprinkle the sprinkles all over the cupcakes.
While I did the cupcakes, my mom helped my brothers make Turkish cheese breads and pastries. The house smelled delicious, only, we couldn’t eat any of the yummy foods we were making.
Before we left for the Zakat Foundation Delaware Center for the bake sale, I was sure to get some money to buy things. I didn’t eat much before we left and was eager to see all the baked goods that would be for sale. Before our Tuesday tutoring classes began, I helped set up the bake sale tables. When the classes were over, I hurried over to buy some goodies.
I was glad to see that the mini wells my brother Yusuf had made for the bake sale were not all sold yet because I had wanted to buy one for myself. They were so cute!
When we counted the money after the bake sale was over, we were so surprised to see how much we had raised. We got over $250 in the bake sale.
After the bake sale, my mother gave us the good news. Our goal was to raise $3,000 but we had raised more than $4,000! With Allah’s help, we were able to reach our goal and get more than was necessary. All of a sudden, we got a wonderful idea. It would only take another $3,000 to make another well and we already had $1,000 of that. We could raise more money for a second well!
We have already started raising money for our second well and are hoping to build many more wells in Africa, too, insha Allah. We feel great to be able to help others and hope others will join us in our efforts to help people around the world.
