When one person earns an income, the whole family – children, spouses, grandparents – benefits. At ILM, we believe in helping to provide opportunities for project participants to make a better life for themselves and their loved ones.
When one business start-up loan is repaid, this money can be used to help another family, and another and so on. When your one donation is recycled to help family after family, earning livelihoods for years to come, this is a form of Sadaqah Jariyah, or ongoing charity.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “When a person dies, his deeds come to an end except three: a continuing charity…” (Muslim) Give, and the reward could outlive you.
Sadaqah Jariyah is a form of charity that keeps on giving long after you have left this world. While a monetary donation or food donation can help to make a massive difference, its effects are merely short-term. By gifting someone the opportunity to earn a sustainable income, affording their own food, water and shelter, this has a greater and ultimately more rewarding long-term effect.
ILM’s Livelihoods campaign is designed to support not just one person, but an entire family – spanning multiple generations. In the communities we work with where such opportunities are usually few and far between, we are ensuring that more and more families need not rely on charity to see them through. Parents can support their children who, as they grow older, can continue the business and earn a living to support their loved ones. The benefits of this Sadaqah Jariyah gift never end.
In India, we are providing female headed households with a grant, along with the necessary training and equipment to help them start a business. Once their businesses start making a profit, the women promote community self-help groups from which they can expand and diversify existing businesses and, more importantly, help other women benefit from similar grants to start new businesses.
Not only have we helped these women to earn an income and support their immediate families, but the local economy is also stimulated and, in their self-help groups, women have taken the initiative to create community-led saving initiatives.
Our Livelihoods campaign helps people to purchase rickshaws, set up a farming cooperative, open a farm shop…anything that generates an income and is self-perpetuating. Simply put, without your continued support we would not be able to continue the development of our Livelihoods appeal that has already had a big positive impact on the lives of widows, orphaned children and families in the communities we work with.
Single or monthly donations of any amount will help towards our Livelihoods appeal.
