Middle Eastern adventure

I met a guy outside the masjid and he was telling a small group how he was about to leave for Syria. Apparently he goes every year to help the refugees.

We asked him to describe the adventure and this is what he had to say.

Firstly they were going in the name of a big Organisation.
The organisation had sent literally millions ahead. In aid.
This band of brothers first goes  to Jerusalem.
They go knowing that they would battle to get past the border and they go with no assurances that they will get through. They were all dreading the experience at the hands of the female Israeli borders officials. We asked him why they were mostly female soldiers at the border post but he had no answer.

When, if they got through they would sit for nafil ehthikaaf in the holy mosque.

A few days later they  go to Jordan and arrive at the Syrian border where the refugee camps are.

Apparently they only need to raise enough for the flight.

The local hospitality, is all they survive on for the duration of their adventure.

A wealthy Jordanian Dr provides everything they need in the way of accommodation and provisions.

They leave everyday for the refugee camps.

They lay tables and pack hampers and provide help at the most basic level for a few days and come home in time for Eid.

It occurred to all who were listening to this, that there was something off here.

Why would the Jordanians invest so much for so little in return.

Could they not get manual labour from Jordan or even the camp itself?

Why bring South Africans, and apparently young boys from all countries to set tables and spend daylight hours in the camps, if not to achieve something greater.

We speculated that these ambassadors were meant to tell the world about the plight of poor people in the camps. And those who went year after year for the adventure, thinking they were rendering a service by their table setting prowers were doing the good Jordanian doctor a disservice.

We encouraged the young man to start a program at mosques when he returned to tell the good people of our country what was really going on. To tell us what we weren't able to read between the lines of  Sky and CNN.

This we believe was what the good doctor had in mind when he spent his money on their "education" .

Insha Allah we might even get the kind of first hand accounts of the lives of our brothers and sisters in need.