What Ramadan means to sponsored children

Every year Muslims everywhere celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer and charity. Children especially have certain games, toys and entertainment programmes related to Ramadan. Let's find out how children from SOS Children's Villages in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Sudan describe 'their' Ramadan!

Ahlam, 11 (a girl at SOS Children's Village Bethlehem)
On the first day of Ramadan I go with my SOS mother Wessam shopping to buy all the household requirements for the month. We buy fruits, vegetables, sugar, and the ingredients for all the sweets my SOS mother makes during the month. My favourite is katayef (a taco-like dish, where the pancake is stuffed with raisins, nuts, or cream, it is fried and then dipped into a sweet syrup).

We all help my mother clean up the family house. My three siblings and I each do part of the cleaning. We then decorate the house together. We hang lights and crescents especially for Ramadan around the house.

The thing I like most about Ramadan is eating iftar (the meal after breaking the fast at sunset). My mother makes some of my favourite dishes in Ramadan, like maklouba (a dish made of meat or chicken layered with rice and vegetables), mahshi (stuffed vine leaves or other vegetables) or mejaddarah (a Palestinian dish made of rice and lentils served with yoghurt).

Mohamed, 11 (a boy at SOS Children's Village Ksarnaba)
All the families get together during Ramadan and we have iftar together, which is so much fun. We also get to eat a lot of sweets and stuff we aren't allowed all the time, and we get to stay up a little later than usual.

The first day is usually the a special occasion when everybody celebrates together. We decorate our house with the small lights and with lanterns and my mother makes all my favourite foods, like fatoush, fried potatoes, soup, taboula (a Lebanese salad), 'shish tawook' (grilled chicken kebab), and 'kebba' (Lebanese style meat balls).

My favourite part of Ramadan is the time for sohour, which we usually eat right before dawn. My mother wakes us up and makes us eggs and cheese. But what I like the most is that time of the day, when it's still dark and so quiet and then the call for the dawn prayer signals the start of the fast and the last thing I do is watch the sunrise and then go back to sleep for an extra hour.

Abdel-Wahab, 13 (a boy at SOS Children's Village Khartoum)

In preparation for the month of Ramadan, my family first fixes the furniture and then does a thorough cleaning of the family house. We organise all kinds of entertainment activities and gatherings with our friends and all the families from the village.

My mother makes special sweets and drinks for Ramadan, and my favourite dish is aseedah (a traditional Sudanese dish made of corn flour dough and a sauce made with onions, garlic and ghee and sometimes other vegetables). We eat lots of dates during Ramadan because it's a tradition of the prophet to break the fast with dates. I love dates more than any other sweets so I'm usually really happy in Ramadan because we have a lot of dates in the house.

Last year I fasted for 19 days, and this year I hope to fast the whole month. Fasting teaches us how the poor people feel and makes us understand their need so that we can be kinder to them and help them more.

One of my favourite hobbies is playing football and that's what I do immediately after iftar with my friends. We go out in the SOS Children's Village's playground. I get very sad when the month ends because I enjoy it so much. 

And a happy Ramadan to everyone! May all our prayers be answered and our good deeds rewarded!

Sponsor a child or make a one-off donation to support children in need