As we reach the blessed month of Ramadan once again, alhamdulillah, Muslim families across the country are gathering to exchange greetings, going to the mosque for night prayers and enjoying their first suhur together as a family in preparation for Wednesday's fast. Everyone is happy to be together for this month of worship.

Actually, not quite everyone is happily together with their families. There are some families we don’t hear much about that are not having such a wonderful time. These Muslims, our neighbours, living amongst us feel the absence of a loved one more acutely at this time - like young Bilal:

"I feel sad and angry as I didn’t have this Ramadan with my father. I’m 8 years old and I have had just one Ramadan in my life with my father.”

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Bilal’s problems are not on the news very much. You won’t hear imams talking about him in the mosque after tarawih. Since no-one wants to really get involved in helping families like these, they are left to suffer alone, praying for some relief to come to them before Eid.

“I was wishing to have my father with me, even in the last days of Ramadan. I didn’t lose the hope that my father will come till the last day of Ramadan. I was dreaming that my father will come tomorrow, on the day of Eid."

The problems of these families are not easily solved. We, at HHUGS, can’t bring this boy’s father home before Eid.

But we can help. We can provide a supportive call to his mother who doesn’t know what to say when her son asks if Daddy is coming soon. We can provide a food pack and shopping vouchers to help Bilal and his family get through the month. We can arrange an Iftar for Bilal and his mum to be invited to. We can send Bilal a card and a toy for Eid in his father’s absence. We can organise an Eid party so they have some happiness with other families, even if their fathers cannot be with them on that special day. We can even take him to see his father in jail on Eid day, and bring one family together for one day at least.

We can do all these things inshaAllah - but we need your help. All of this needs your support. We need your du'a and we need your donations.

If every one of you reading this email clicks on the donate button, we together, all of us, can make a difference. We can’t erase all of Bilal’s problems. But we can do something.

Please donate. Get off to a good start this Ramadan - for you, and for Bilal.