08.16.18

What Qurban Means for a Single Mother with Special Needs Children

  News

In Kosovo, Hafize, 55 years of age, runs a female headed household. Hafize has six children and her youngest child is disabled.

The annual Udhiya/Qurbani Project provides an opportunity for people who cannot afford to receive meat products gaining the nutritional benefit of an Islamic Relief Meat Packet.

The project involves the distribution of fresh packets to the most vulnerable people – women, children, the elderly and refugees.

Life in a Female-Headed Household

Hafize does not have access to a steady flow of income. Purchasing meat is rare, she mentions,

My children, one of whom is disabled, associate meat with special holidays like Qurbani as those are the times we have meat in our diets.

As a female head of household, having children with a disability, life has challenged me a lot. Most of the time we cook with flour as it is cheap. So our main meals are usually pastry. Alhamdulillah my children do not complain and enjoy it.

Meat is not part of our regular diet, we rarely consume it. My children, one of whom is disabled, associate meat with special holidays like Qurbani as those are the times we have meat in our diets.

The Expense of Meat

Buying meat is very challenging and expensive for us. Some local families try to help us out every now and then. We live in a village and I try to plant vegetables in order to avoid buying things. We are a large family and things are hard, my youngest children are going to school and my eldest had to stop because we cannot afford it.

Eid-al-Adha, for me and family, means solidarity and bliss. On that day people come and visit us and we feel united and close to each other. The meat pack from Islamic Relief gives us an opportunity to access foods with higher nutritional value. The Qurbani meat lasts a while for us. We divide the meat into small pieces and put it in the freezer so we can have it with other meals.

I am thankful for the Islamic Relief staff for Qurbani, and also helping my children with schoolbags, stationary, and all  our difficulties.

For More Information about our Qurbani Guidelines you can click here or here for our Qurban Projects.


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