A mother’s helpfulness impressed her daughter so much that the girl grew up and she has worked for a charity named, “Bag of Baghdad”. The charity now provides free food to 300 Raqqa’s families in need.  The charity has been run by only women.

BEREA EL-ALI

Raqqa –The role of parents in their children’s education is vital. We learn many things, including how to be good towards people, in solidarity with them from our mothers. Suad Muhammed saw how her mother was helpful and in solidarity with other people when she was a child. She is now 43 years old and she has worked for a charity named, “Bag of Baghdad” for years.

Suad Muhammed has carried out humanitarian aid projects in Raqqa city of NE Syria. Helping those in need has become her philosophy of life. Suad Muhammed is also a teacher and she thinks teaching and relief works are actually not different from each other.

She began to help her neighbors with her mother when she was 13 years old

Suad Muhammed started helping her mother deliver clothes to their neighbors in need, “My mother and I collected old clothes and then distributed them to those in need. My mother always told me that you should find beauty and solidarity, if you do good things; good things will happen to you.”

She secretly gave education to 40 children in her home when schools were closed down due to ISIS

After Suad Muhammed became a teacher, her first goal was to prepare children for the future. But ISIS took the control of Raqqa city and closed all schools in the city. Suad Muhammed never gave up teaching, “I secretly brought several children together in my house and gave lessons to them. Then the number of the children increased to 40 in a short time.”

Suad Muhammed told us that there are thousands of families in need due to the ongoing war and economic crisis in the country. She decided to found a charity named, “Bag of Baghdad” on February 3, 2021 after recalling how her mother had helped the people around her. The charity is like a big kitchen. Suad Muhammed told us that they come to the kitchen early in morning to start cooking.

She works to open 2 more kitchens

“Let’s help those in need so that we can build a collective life,” Suad Muhammed said that they have worked on opening two more kitchens; one near El Cezra junction and other near Rumaila junction.

Most of the volunteers working for the Bag of Baghdad are women

The number of volunteers working for the Bag of Baghdad is increasing day by day. Suad Muhammed told us that her teacher friends have also supported them and that the volunteers are women, who lost their husbands or were injured in the war.

Now, the Bag of Baghdad has 14 volunteers and most of them are women.