Hooman Keshavarzi, founding director of Khalil Center, a growing Zakat Foundation mental health project in America, visited three of our facilities in Gaziantep, Turkey, and Sigharuna Kibaruna Clinic in Antakya serving children with mental and developmental delays and injuries, February 18-19.
“I was incredibly pleased to see that behavioral health was a key component of treatment at the clinics,” said Keshavarzi, a doctor of psychology and licensed psychotherapist.
“I don’t think we realize the impact of our dollars in such places and conditions. Our sadaqah charity – that we might simply put in a Zakat Foundation box – may be saving the life of someone. Yet because we are so distant from the actual experience, and we can only see the donation box, it can generate a feeling of indifference."
The trip enabled Keshavarzi to assess how Khalil Center’s mental health specialists around the U.S. can optimize Syrian refugee psychological treatment in Turkey.
“The appreciation [the refugees] have for Zakat Foundation is great, and [so was] how much honor they showed me because of their gratitude for it.”
