Foster Father Called a ‘Hero’ Because He Only Takes In Terminally-Ill Children*

Foster Father Called a ‘Hero’ Because He Only Takes In Terminally-Ill Children*

By Brianna Acuesta

This foster dad hasn’t had a day off since 2010

Mohamed Bzeek, Credit: Erika Aguilar

 

When it comes to fostering children, it’s already a rough process because of the unstable home life the children have and the constant change in parents. For the parents, it can be difficult assimilating the child to their new environment, rules, and schedule, let alone providing the emotional support that’s necessary for children that may have been through trauma.

For one foster parent in Los Angeles, Mohamed Bzeek, there are added challenges because of the types of foster children he takes in; he only accepts terminally-ill children that have exhausted their options because no other foster parents are willing to put in the time for these dying children. It’s understandable because the emotional strength that’s needed to deal with the constant sickness and eventual death are something that virtually no one can handle on their own, but Bzeek takes on the challenge with his huge heart.

“You have to do it from your heart, really. If you do it for money, you’re not going to stay for long,” Bzeek told PBS.

Credit: Children’s Hospital

Bzeek has said that it’s his Muslim faith that has kept him going all these years but that his late wife, Dawn, is who inspired him to open their heart and their home to these special needs children. She became a foster parent before they married and was involved in toy drives and other activities to help the foster kids in Los Angeles county. It wasn’t until she fell ill herself a few years ago that she found herself frustrated and unable to care for herself or the children. She died in 2014 but Mohamed has kept their dream of helping abandoned children going.

Mohamed currently cares for a 6-year-old with a rare brain defect called encephalocele, which caused her to be born with a small head and for some of her brain to be exposed as it protruded from her skull. Doctors removed the brain matter and she was removed from her biological parents’ care at just 7 weeks old, at which point Bzeek took her in. She cannot hear or see and only responds to touch; she also experiences daily seizures and her arms and legs are paralyzed. He also cares for Adam, his own 19-year-old special needs child who was born with brittle bones and dwarfism.

The 62-year-old foster dad has buried 10 of the foster children he has taken in and he says each death is difficult but inevitable. The baby that he and Dawn took in at the beginning of their time together died when she was just one-year-old as a result of a spinal disorder she developed because her mother breathed in too many pesticides during her pregnancy. He has cared for several children with similar brain defects as his current foster daughter, and he says this condition is a life sentence.

“The key is, you have to love them like your own. I know they are sick. I know they are going to die. I do my best as a human being and leave the rest to God,” he said in an interview with the LA Times.

Near the end of last year, Bzeek discovered that he had colon cancer and needed surgery to remove tumors the following month. It was tough for Bzeek because he employs a nurse to care for the children while he works during the day and when he comes home he is constantly caring for his children. He says he hasn’t had a day off since 2010 and had no time to have the surgery and undergo the care afterwards, but he had to make arrangements and the surgery wound up being successful. Throughout the whole process, he didn’t have anyone to lean on for support.

Credit: Erika Aguilar

“I felt about the kids who’s been sick for all their life. If I am adult, 62 years old, and I feel this, that I am alone, I am scared, nobody tells me it’s okay and it will be fine, this experience, this humbled me,” he told PBS.

After reading about his story in the LA Times, one good samaritan reached out to Bzeek and wanted to help anyway that she can. She started a GoFundMe page for him so that he could improve his home for his children and hire a second nurse for whenever he needs a break and the fund has skyrocketed since then. As of this publishing, the fund has reached nearly $500,000.

On the page, Margaret Cotts, the one who started the page, lists the things that Mohamed would like to use the money for. This includes fixing the roof, which has been extremely leaky for some time, getting central heating and air because his daughter’s brain doesn’t allow her body to regulate her temperature, buy a new wheelchair-accessible van because his current one is 14 years old, and pay for his son’s college education. If you would like to donate to the GoFundMe page to support Mohamed, you can do so here.

Source*

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Le Moulinet: Indigenous French Muslims

Le Moulinet:  Indigenous French Muslims

The amazing, first-time visual documentation of a handful of French families living in seclusion in secular France, after having converted to Shi’a Islam

 

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Post-Ramadhan Renewal: 5 Lessons to Live By

Post-Ramadhan Renewal: 5 Lessons to Live By

 

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Atheists, Whatever They Say to the Contrary, Really Do Believe in God*

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Muslims Across the World Celebrate Eid Al-Fitr*

Muslims Across the World Celebrate Eid Al-Fitr*

Eid al-Fitr, or the “feast of breaking of the fast” marks the end of Ramadhan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

With Muslims making almost one-quarter of the World’s population, celebrations are taking place in all continents.

The sun rises above a mosque before the morning prayer for Eid al-Fitr in Lipljan, Kosovo, June 25, 2017.

 

Muslims perform Eid al-Fitr prayers in Al-zahara square in Juba, South Sudan June 25, 2017.

Women offer Eid prayers at Badshahi Mosque in Lahore

 

Men greet each other after the Eid prayers in Karachi

 

Indian Muslims offer prayers during Eid at the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi

 

Iraqis offer Eid prayers in the city of Najaf

 

Iranian women offer Eid prayers in western Tehran

 

Chinese Muslims visit Niujie mosque during Eid in Beijing

 

Chinese Muslims offer Eid prayers at the Niujie mosque in Beijing

 

 

Egyptians celebrate and try to catch balloons released after Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadhan at a public park, outside El-Seddik Mosque in Cairo, Egypt June 25, 2017

 

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad (3rd R) attends prayers on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, inside a mosque in Hama, in this handout picture provided by SANA on June 25, 2017, Syria

 

Iraqi children enjoy riding a mini car as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr, in Mosul, Iraq June 25, 2017.

Muslims in Indonesia mark the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadhan.

 

Sri Lankan Muslims offer Eid prayers at the Galle Face esplanade in Colombo

 

Muslims in Thailand mark the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadhan.

 

Muslims in the Philippines mark the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadhan.

 

Afghan children ride on swings during the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in Kabul, Afghanistan June 25, 2017.

 

 

Displaced Iraqi girls who fled their homes pose as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr, in Mosul, Iraq June 25, 2017.

 

Muslims in Taiwan mark the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadhan.

 

Men pray at the martyrs’ cemetery on Eid al-Fitr in Racak, Kosovo, June 25, 2017.

 

 

Source*

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God-consciousness After Ramadhan

 

Guyana President joins Muslims for Ramadhan Iftar*

Guyana President joins Muslims for Ramadhan Iftar*

President David Granger (seventh from right), British High Commissioner Greg Quinn (second from right) and members of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana during prayers

 

 

By Ray Chickrie

President David Granger joined the Muslim community of Guyana on Sunday to break the Roza or fast that the Muslim community in Guyana is observing because it is the month of Ramadhan.

The British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn and his wife also joined Granger at the Iftar dinner.

Granger spoke at the Ramadhan Iftar dinner, which was held at the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana’s (CIOG) headquarters in Georgetown.

“Guyana is a multi-cultural country. We can be proud, however, of our religious tolerance and social cohesion. Guyanese must do as we are doing this evening; we are eating dates and breaking bread to acknowledge one another’s differences and to share our common humanity,” the president said.

Since coming to office, Granger has heaped praise on the Muslim community of Guyana for its charitable work and community activism.

He said that Ramadhan also promotes the virtues of fellowship and friendship.

“Service to God strengthens relations with others through acts of compassion and sympathy,” the president said.

Speaking on the significance of Iftar, Granger noted that, when shared with persons of other faiths, it represents the importance that Islam attaches to the acceptance of differences and promotion of religious tolerance according to a press release from the ministry of the presidency.

The CIOG’s director of education, Sheikh Moeen ul Hack, praised the leadership of the country for the respect it has afforded the Muslim community of Guyana. Muslims make up about 12% of Guyana’s population and they are Sunnis from the Hanafi, Turkish School of Islam.

“We will continue to play our role as Guyanese and as Muslims and we see our role as complementing that of the government,” the director assured the president.

He thanked Granger for supporting the CIOG’s education drive, noting that “education is the enemy of prejudice and, for us to move forward and to develop our country, our people will definitely have to be educated.”

Source*

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Syria’s More Confident Assad gives Eid Prayers in Hama*

Syria’s More Confident Assad gives Eid Prayers in Hama*

His visit comes as a car bomb in Idlib province kills at least 10 people

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad attends prayers on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, inside a mosque in Hama (Reuters)

 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad delivered prayers for Islam’s Eid al-Fitr holiday in Hama on Sunday, the furthest he has travelled inside Syria in years, showing his growing confidence.

His visit came as a car bomb in rebel-held Idlib province killed at least 10 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

State television broadcast footage of Assad standing to pray in a large mosque in Hama behind its imam, with other clerics standing alongside and a large crowd of worshippers.

State news agency SANA quoted the preacher as saying that Assad’s presence in the city for Eid showed that victory and the return of security were only “a few steps” away.

Syria’s civil war has turned to Assad’s favour since 2015, when Russia sent its jets to help his army and allied Shiite militias backed by Iran turn back rebels and win new ground.

Since the war began in 2011, it has killed hundreds of thousands, driven millions more from their homes, sparked a global refugee crisis and drawn in regional and world powers.

The conflict is far from over. Rebels hold swaths of the country, including around Idlib province near Hama, and launched a new attack in Quneitra in the southwest on Saturday.

Rebels also hold the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus, parts of the desert in the southeast and a large pocket south of Hama around the city of Rastan.

As recently as March, rebels advanced from Idlib province to within a few kilometres of Hama, before the army and its allies pushed them back in weeks of fierce fighting.

However, the army drove insurgents from their biggest urban stronghold in Aleppo in December and have also forced several important rebel enclaves to surrender over the past year.

First visit to Hama during war

Assad has not made a declared visit to Hama, which is about 185km from Damascus, since the war began. Last year he delivered Eid prayers in Homs, about 40km closer to Damascus.

Early in the crisis he visited Raqqa, a city that has since become the Syrian capital of Islamic State and now faces an assault by a US-backed coalition to drive out the militants

The fight against Islamic State, which has attacked Western cities, has become the focus of Western leaders, some of whom have softened demands that Assad must quit to end the crisis.

In March, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Assad’s fate would be decided by Syrians, a change in rhetoric after years of insisting he step down to allow a political solution.

France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron, said this month he did not see Assad’s departure as a condition to end the fighting and the priority was stopping Syria becoming a failed state.

The U.S. and other Western states, along with Turkey and Gulf monarchies, have long supported some of the rebels, an array of groups that includes Islamist and nationalist factions. Assad describes them all as terrorists.

His military has said its focus is on the campaign in the desert, where it is advancing against Islamic State to relieve a besieged government enclave in the city of Deir ez-Zor.

Car bomb in Idlib

A car bomb killed 10 people in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported on Sunday.

The attack occurred in a market in the town of al-Dana, located in the north of the province near the border with Turkey, according to the Observatory.

Three people under 18 were among the dead and the blast also injured at least 30 other people, it said. Another bombing in the town after midnight on Friday killed two people, it added.

Rebel groups in Idlib province have been sporadically fighting each other since early this year. Rebels have also accused the Islamic State militant group of carrying out attacks in the area.

Idlib province is a major stronghold of rebels in Syria and is situated along the border with Turkey, one of the main backers of their rebellion against Assad.

Large numbers of fighters, along with their relatives and many other civilians, have moved into the area under amnesty after surrendering to the army in other parts of Syria.

Source*

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These 5 People don’t Spend Eid with their Families to make the Occasion Happier for Us*

These 5 People don’t Spend Eid with their Families to make the Occasion Happier for Us*

With Eid around the corner, please take a moment and wish well those strong folks who will be working during the holidays, instead of spending time with their families.

1. Our nurses

Nurses, along with doctors, are always on call during Eid. With a shortage in paramedical staff, nurses barely get time to wish anyone Eid as they are wrapped up in looking over patients while on call. One really owes to them because in times of panic, both the patient and their family are usually comforted by the friendly, caring nurses.

2) Our pilots

There are those traveling to be with their families for Eid, but then there are others who are taking them there but aren’t able to do the same. Many of us dreamt of being pilots when we were young because of how cool it sounded. Its way cooler that they provide such a service to us, expecting no appreciation in return.

3) Our firefighters

Years ago a fire took place on the first day of Eid ul Fitr at a dawat gone wrong. The day was saved as almost 30 firefighters reached the spot. While we’re grateful for such heroes, do we ever wonder how they were so ready? Because instead of being at their own family dawat, they were on duty, waiting to spring into action.

4) Our army and police personnel

A huge shout out to our men and women in uniform! These fighters sacrifice their time with their families (and sometimes their own lives!) so that we can have our Eid festivities in peace.

5) Our ambulance drivers

Unfortunately, an ambulance on the road with its signals blaring is not a unique sight during Eid. Ambulance drivers and their paramedics are always on call and prepared. We remember Edhi sab and all the work he did for our country and we should also be thoughtful of all who work in his name, like many ambulance drivers, who respect the values of Ramadhan and Eid as the season of caring for those truly in need.

Wall’s picked up on this insight to pay tribute to these unsung heroes of our nation, who sacrifice time with their family for all of us. Their TVC titled “Sorry Abu” revolves around the story a young boy named Ahmed who misses his father immensely during Ramadhan.

The TVC shows the son is obviously upset as he gets to see other families getting together for iftar, but he can’t spend time with his father as he is so far away.

However, he realises that his father, who is a doctor, is actually putting into practice the true meaning of Ramadhan by helping those out in need. The boy ends his letter by apologising to his father for not understanding before and sending him a token of appreciation to let him know how proud he is and how he will always be supportive of him.

The TVC really puts things in perspective as we wonder how many times we have taken our own family for granted, or how many times we have heard a friend complain about ‘being stuck with the family’ during holidays. We never realise how for many people, it is a luxury to be able to see their family.

Source*

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Ramadhan at an Israeli Military Checkpoint*

Ramadhan at an Israeli Military Checkpoint*

Every year during Ramadhan, tens of thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank take advantage of a temporary relaxation of Israeli movement restrictions in order to attend Friday prayers at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, which they are normally prevented from entering.

Israel uses the Qalandiya military checkpoint to control Palestinian movement between the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jerusalem.

Men over the age of 40, children under 12 and women of all ages are allowed to cross Qalandiya checkpoint and enter Jerusalem without military permits on Fridays during the month of Ramadan only.

Video by Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills

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