For years ARAHA has worked with communities like churches, synagogues, and mosques,  to raise awareness and funds for the Horn of Africa Region. But we wanted to extend that to something more tangible, something we can instill confidence, and inspire the community with. We wanted to empower them by providing a direct link to the impact being made with the projects and partnerships.

This is how Faith in Action was established.  A campaign in which we work with communities to help them select an impact project such as water well,  or even establish a sister village in which they can perform multiple projects for greater impact.

One of the first to take on this campaign was the Northwest Islamic Community Center (NWICC) in Plymouth, Minnesota. “We want to make sure that we can feel where we are making a difference.”  Said Tamim Saidi, a pharmacist by profession, and a board member of NWICC. Mr. Saidi was one of the key members of the Islamic center to champion this campaign and bring in a new way of making a difference.

water well sponsored by NWICC for the faith in action campaign

“We wanted to have something that we could put our anchor on, and say ‘this is our sister village’ ”  Mr. Saidi said passionately. Today, NWICC has taken Harirad Village in the northwestern part of Somalia as it’s sister village.  The consecutive years of drought in this region have crippled this village. With a population of about 4,000 people, who mostly depend on livestock, this partnership couldn’t come at a better time.

With NWICC’s efforts and the ongoing campaign for the village, they were able to fund a water well serving 300 families, fed over 100 families, and sponsored 3 orphans.  It is partnerships like these that can move to inspire people and communities. When you build a bridge across the world between the sponsor and the beneficiaries, the two communities seem to align and the world tends to be a smaller place.

“They don’t know us, we don’t know them, but we are doing this purely for the sake of God”

These are the types of donations, and gifts that go beyond the dollar or the tax benefit. It is built by relationships established across the world;  love for your fellow human being, and love for changing someone's life. The like of it is that of homemade food cooked with love by your mother, compared to a restaurant dish – there is no comparison.  No matter how fancy that restaurant dish may be, nothing can replace the special ingredient of love. This is why the Faith in Action Campaign and the sister village is so important.