I run the distribution room at Al-Ayn. I serve up to 150 widowed mothers every day. Each woman takes a ticket and waits for her turn to be called to a private booth where she collects her monthly aid and is asked about the physical and mental health of her children. On this day, the distribution room was full of mothers with young babies. These mothers had lost their husbands when they were pregnant. Many of them are still very young in their early twenties even. In Arabic, children who are orphaned as fetuses are called ‘those who have not seen the light’.

They may not have met their fathers, but we will care for them till we see them shine.