Much of our work at Muslim Hands involves children and often revolves around education, especially with the increase in our orphan related projects. Providing care and education helps address the short term needs of a child but also helps provide for the future.

There are however many other children who are in need of help and many other projects that help improve the lives of children worldwide. The Muslim Hands Children's Fund is designed to support this work by helping those who are often society's most vulnerable and needy.

The fund encompasses a wide range of projects including working with disabled children, helping children in jail, caring and providing therapy for trauma victims of conflict and food projects, to name but a few…

Prison Children in Pakistan and Sudan

A mother being sent to jail is always devastating for a family. In many of the world's developing countries the consequences are even worse. Due to a lack of family or other circumstances, many children in areas such as Sudan and Pakistan are forced to live with their mothers in jail.

Not only is this experience distressing and traumatic for a child, it also deprives them of an education, recreation opportunities and in many ways a future. A recent survey showed there are over 500 such children in Pakistan's NWFP province alone!

One of the programmes Muslim Hands has undertaken in Pakistan and Sudan is support for prison children. We have provided funds for educational materials and recreation, prison schools and gifts for children.

Cleft Lip and Palate Correction Surgery in China

A beneficiary of the Children's Fund arrives at the hospital for her operation.

A cleft lip or palate is a birth deformity that leaves a child with a gap between their nose and mouth. Partly genetic, the condition is more common amongst certain communities and in certain areas. One such example is the Lin Xia region of China.

Children affected by the condition often have problems with eating, speech and sometimes hearing too. In addition, there is often a large stigma attached with a cleft lip with children deprived of affection from family, subject to bullying and later in life facing difficulties finding employment and a marriage partner.

Corrective surgery for the condition is highly specialised and expensive. For instance, in China it costs 300 € for each child. Consequently many poor children have no choice but to continue suffering. The Muslim Hands Children's Fund has paid for over 100 operations to be carried out in the Lin Xia region of China and we hope to help even more children.

Other Projects

Some of the other projects funded by the Children's Fund:

• Sports Equipment for Children
  Children in Gambia and Iraq received sports equipment to provide an avenue of recreation and to provide a sense of normality to their often turbulent lives.

• Post Traumatic Stress Therapy
  In conflict areas such as Kashmir or in the aftermath of disasters such as the Asian Tsunami many children suffer from trauma and related stress. The problem is only just being recognised but the Children's Fund provides counselling and therapy to help child sufferers.

• Rehabilitation for Disabled Children
  In many parts of the world children who are born or become disabled have little access to medical care and almost no hope of artificial limbs, physiotherapy or other help to allow them to lead a normal life and to provide for themselves. Muslim Hands has been working with these children catering to these needs and with your support will be able to help even more like them.

• School Feeding Projects
  Much of Muslim Hands' work involves the provision of schools or supporting local educational institutions. A problem that often arises, and especially in refugee areas, is children having little food at home and often missing meals altogether. In Sudan, for example, MH provides feeding centres at schools in the morning to ensure children eat breakfast and have at least one highly nutritious meal per day.

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