According to an estimate by UNICEF, there are 140 million orphan children around the world, of whom 15.1 million have lost parents. From this standpoint, the American Zakat Foundation, through its participation in the 54th annual ICNA conference in Illinois at the end of June 2017, focused on providing care and sponsorship for 240 orphans, which came on top of the list of requests of the 2000 Zakat. In an atmosphere of reminder of mercy, gratitude and benevolence for others, many local communities coming from all over the country attended the conference. Although the numbers of sponsorship requests were rather large, the provision of sponsorship for one person is considered an achievement because of its importance on the life of an orphan, and as a result of generous donor support, Zakat was able to provide care for twenty children during participation in the conference. Orphans are the weakest link, as they live in tragic circumstances as a result of losing their parents or one of them, so they cannot face life on their own and they lack the most basic rights of shelter, education, health, food and clothing. Once the orphan gets sponsorship, his life changes completely. Orphans, like other children, have dreams that they want to live with dignity, but their dreams and aspirations can only be fulfilled by finding someone to sponsor them and financially cover their expenses. It is noteworthy that the Zakat program began to sponsor orphans in 2001, when it began to work in the state of Ghana, to spread later and cover 14 countries distributed in different regions of the world. Orphans sponsorship money goes directly to them and nothing is deducted from them for other expenses.
