Orphans to Benefit from Charity Walkathon

Milpitas resident Fariha Siddiqui is organizing a 5K and 10K event expected to draw about 500 participants for a good cause—orphanages in seven countries.

The nonprofit GiveLight will have its second-annual Walkathon on Oct. 2 at Sunnyvale's Baylands Park. Registration goes from 7:45-8:45 a.m.

The purpose is to raise money for orphanages supported by GiveLight in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Haiti, Indonesia and Somalia.

"We encourage [walkathon participants] to do their own fundraising," said Siddiqui, a volunteer. "They can set any donation amount they can easily raise."

A personal Web page can be set up by GiveLight to help with fundraising, she said.

But fundraising isn't the only way people can join the walkathon, she said. Another option is to pitch in $35 on race day for adults and $10 for kids.

Kids are welcome to participate on foot or in strollers, and there will be activities such as face painting and henna tattoos.

There will also be free T-shirts and lots of snacks.

GiveLight's work with orphans

After a year after the tsunami that devastated Indonesia in 2004, Sunnyvale resident Dian Alyan saw the completion of the first orphanage.

Nestled among the mountains of Takengon, the Noordeen orphanage is about 150 km outside of the worst hit major city of Banda Aceh. 

Alyan, a former corporate marketing executive born in Indonesia, changed her life's focus after she lost about 40 people in the tsunami.

"I felt blessed my whole life, including in my career," she said. "But despite my success, I felt a fundamental thing was missing–a sense of purpose."

As the founder and director of GiveLight, she focuses her skills today on fundraising to support orphanages in several countries, with mostly Muslim populations. At a dinner fundraiser last year, her organization raised a quarter of a million dollars. It was during Ramadan, a time when Muslims heighten their contributions to charity.

"People want to be a part of success," she said. "People want to be part of a noble cause. Everyone has something good inside of them that they want to manifest." 

The land for the orphanage was donated in Indonesia, and similarly, a family in Cupertino donated land to build an orphanage in Bangladesh for girls.

But there is still more work to be done.

There was a boys' orphanage in Bangladesh that Alyan visited, but when she saw 300 boys sharing three bathrooms, she said, "let's build 10 bathrooms."

GiveLight also provides funding for an extra meal so that the boys eat three times a day, instead of two.

A new orphanage is in the works for Sri Lanka, and has local connections in the South Bay. A family in San Jose donated the land. 

From Cupertino to Indonesia

Aladdhin El-Bakri, a Cupertino resident, took his son on a two-week trip last summer to Indonesia, where they stayed at the Noordeen orphanage.  

El-Bakri, a supporter of GiveLight, wanted to show his son, Beddiredeen, 10 at the time, how fortunate he was.

"It really opened his eyes," said El-Bakri about his son's experience, living and playing among about 35 orphans in the town of Takengon. 

A husband and wife live on the site of the orphanage, and a cook prepares the meals. The children wash their own clothes and have a system where the older ones watch over the younger ones. It's a large extended family.

But the orphans surprised him, too, because they were happy, he said. 

"The biggest shock to me—you expect to feel sad," he said, "but these children teach you what happiness is. They're genuinely happy." 

The orphans attended public school in town, and during their play time, enjoyed soccer, swam in the lake, and picked flowers from the mountains, he said.