| Written by Mohammad Khalil Al-Sibai: Al-Mabarrat Charitable Association was founded in 1978 through an open thought, as an Islamic, humanitarian, educational and civilizational project that seeks message-driven human development and the building of a virtuous human being: one who believes in God and His messages, who is educated, cultured, aware and productive, open to the issues of the age, who gives life strength and openness and takes part in making the future. The religious marja', the late Allama Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, set out to establish institutional work by way of reality and of meeting its needs. The idea of building institutions that incubate Islamic work took root by urging good people to contribute to establishing them, and by adopting the rule through which the work continues, under the slogan: institutions remain and persons pass away. The director general of Al-Mabarrat Charitable Association Dr Mohammad Baqir Fadlallah spoke and said: The blessed month of Ramadan has passed for the fifth year in the shadow of the absence of Allama Fadlallah, who left a great void, not only at the level of the association but at the Islamic, intellectual, jurisprudential, social and human level. His absence was an extraordinary shock, because he was the tent that sheltered the humanitarian institutions he had built over tens of years, and he was the knot of untying and binding for all the difficulties, problems and impediments these institutions face. Fadlallah added: In the present month of Ramadan we raised a slogan for what this noble month carries of charitable and humane meanings and indications, bearing a single heading: Together we complete the journey of goodness and love, and with goodness and love we complete the journey together. Two central iftars were held for men and women in Beirut, and five branch iftars in the various Lebanese regions, whose proceeds went to the association's orphans and to supporting the activities, programmes, plans and projects. The association comprises 9 orphanages embracing 4 thousand male and female orphans; 15 academic schools and 6 vocational institutes whose pupils number 22 thousand, among them 1,200 included pupils with learning difficulties; 3 institutions for hearing and visual impairment and language and communication disorders embracing 600 people with disabilities; a university among the higher education institutions; 4 health and hospital institutions; the embracing of dozens of elderly people at Dar Al-Aman for the care of the elderly; an institution for social services concerned with programmes for the poor and the orphans; a centre for educational diagnosis; more than 40 cultural and message-driven centres; sports and scouting clubs; the support of hundreds of university students; the empowerment of hundreds of students in vocational education; in addition to productive institutions that cover part of the deficit of the care, social, educational and cultural institutions. Fadlallah added: Inside the care and educational institutions, programmes have been carried out for orphaned children to meet their sponsors and benefactors, who invite them to their tables so as to bring joy and gladness to the faces and hearts of these orphaned children. Lebanese society is still very well - with the people of giving and generosity in it - and we still keep to Orphan Honouring Week, by inviting groups of orphans from the various other care institutions, from all the Lebanese regions, to shared iftar tables and to meet around varied activities, so that they may get to know one another and practise hobbies and recreational programmes suited to their ages. He continued: We secure holiday clothing and a holiday gift for all the orphaned children, who number 4,000 orphans, including the special social cases, by communicating with major traders, owners of sewing and ready-made clothing factories, so as to strengthen the culture of giving. The orphans' needs of clothing, shoes, toys and various gifts are secured for them directly, or by providing purchase vouchers from commercial shops so that they may buy from them what they see as suitable for them. Fadlallah affirmed: The social services office, which belongs to the institutions of the late Allama Fadlallah, has provided and still provides food and provisions rations, health services and financial offerings to tens of thousands of needy and self-respecting families, and secures holiday clothing for all the orphaned children who are outside the association's institutions. Projects in progress He revealed that there are projects in progress, among them a centre for multiple disabilities at Al-Hadi Institution for Hearing, Visual and Speech Impairment, in addition to the establishment of Al-Sadek Al-Amin Mabarrat in Jouaiya, and another, Al-Hawraa Mabarrat in Riyaq in the central Bekaa, and the Al-Sayyeda Zeinab health and social centre, and a home for the elderly in the town of Jouaiya in the Tyre district, and the Al-Mustafa Health and Social Centre in the town of Kabrikha in the Bint Jbeil district. Fadlallah added: The association's founder, the late Fadlallah, wanted the association not to be tied to any party body, internal or external, nor to any state, near or far, but rather to the good people among the donors and the payers of zakat - even its institutions, its schools and its centres, which arose, grew and developed, were not built from the donations of any party body or foreign state. Only in the July 2006 war were there gifts from the State of Kuwait and the State of Qatar, both thanked for their charitable efforts, in the context of general contributions to rebuilding what the Israeli enemy destroyed 9 years ago. Spending on the various programmes and projects during four years since the departure of the founder Sayyed Fadlallah amounted to 83 million 204 thousand 249 US dollars, collected from good people and benefactors, individuals and institutions, in Lebanon. Fadlallah concluded: Five years after the departure of Allama Fadlallah, whose absence constituted a great challenge in the association's journey, the will of those in charge of it - administrators, employees and educators - was enough for them to be at the level of drive, challenge and steadfastness. In the association there is an administrative body composed of 12 persons that meets regularly each week, and its members are persons known for truthfulness, trustworthiness and competence. There is also a general planning council and a council for auditing and oversight, both linked to the administrative body; and, as the late Fadlallah recommended, there is a supervisory body comprising people of knowledge, thought and experience, from Lebanon and abroad, who contribute to building the institutions through their material and moral giving. |
