Your zakat means together we can protect children who have nobody
A donation to SOS Children’s Villages is a promise to a child who has lost everyone and everything that matters – their parents, their home and their community – that they will not be alone in the world.
We understand how important it is to you that your donation brings good to the world and helps those who need it the most. After all, your zakat isn’t just a charitable gift, it’s an act of worship and devotion.
Right now, millions of children who have lost their parents need our help. Left alone in the world, these children have no one to protect them from harm, to make sure they can go to school or are taken care of when they’re sick, or even to hug them and let them know they are loved. Our SOS parents offer children a second chance at a happy and loving childhood within a family that makes them feel safe and supported.
Your zakat donation will go towards helping the world’s most vulnerable children, supporting those growing up in Pakistan and The Gambia.
Here are some ways your zakat can help change children’s lives for the better
Help us reach more abandoned children in Pakistan
We provide a safe, loving home to children without parents, but many more need our help.
There are 4.2 million abandoned children in Pakistan. We have offered a loving home to as many children as we can, but there are so many more in need of our help. In our village communities in 14 of Pakistan’s major cities, hundreds of children who have lost their parents are growing up in a loving family with an SOS mother as well as brothers and sisters. Your zakat could help us offer even more children a happy and safe childhood and a better future.
By donating just £20 a month or £240 a year, through your zakat you could ensure that more children have a safe place to call home if they are left behind and can’t be with their own families. Zakat donations can also be utilised to pay for the higher education of those SOS students who qualify and wish to study for a degree. Such an SOS student was Sajjad* who, after losing his mother in the devastating 2005 earthquake, moved to SOS Children’s Villages Islamabad with his three brothers. He went on to study Civil Engineering at TEVTA and is currently employed as a surveyor. It costs SOS Children’s Villages in Pakistan £1,875 to support one SOS student in higher education per year, including university fees, materials and living costs.
You can find the official fatwa documentation here.
Support families torn apart by poverty in The Gambia
The Gambia is not only one of Africa’s smallest nations, it is also one of the poorest.
Our staff at SOS Children’s Villages in The Gambia have been supporting children who can’t be with their parents since 1980, and have been in the rural village location of Basse since 2007. Children with no one to care for them can find a loving home in one of the 12 SOS families in Basse. Currently, there are 112 children and young people in SOS Children’s Villages in Basse, and all the children of school age are in education.
This year, Bologbaa*, who grew up in the Basse Village, completed the access course to receive admission to the University of The Gambia. Most children finish their education at high school, but he has ambitions to study medicine. “This is another step on the road to fulfil my dream and become a doctor, thank you to my SOS mother Rose who has always supported me”. Your zakat could ensure even more children in The Gambia have a much brighter future, so please support SOS Children’s Villages in Basse by donating just £20 a month or £240 a year. By donating from £20 a month you can help an abandoned child feel loved, safe and supported.
How your zakat will be spent
We know how important it is that the money you donate through zakat supports the most vulnerable children in some of the world’s poorest countries, which is why we will allocate the money to the location of your choosing. The children who grow up with us need the security of knowing SOS Children’s Villages will always be there for them. Our village communities are their childhood homes, a long-term lifeline for them, so they can grow up as close to a family setting as possible, feeling safe, loved and secure. We know this support gives the children in our care the best possible start in life as well as securing their future. Thank you so much for your incredible support.
Our fatwas advise that donors can give zakat for the support of children in the care of SOS Children’s Villages, and it is accepted that 20% of this support goes towards core costs such as delivering charitable activities and investing in sustainable growth to increase our impact.
Donors in the UK may wish to refer to fatwas issued by the closest Islamic country to them, the Holy Quran and sayings by Prophet Mohammad about children without parental care.
If you’re a UK tax payer, your zakat donation can be increased by 25% under the Gift Aid scheme without it costing you anything extra. This means a donation of £10 could be worth an extra £2.50 to us! Funds received from Gift Aid are spent where the need is greatest.
Got a question about any elements of our work or how we will spend your zakat?
We’ll be happy to talk you through it. Please get in touch with our Supporter Care team on 01223 365 589 or hello@sosuk.org
