“Lebanon Debate”
The case of the child Khadija has changed. We addressed the issue of public opinion in Minya, after an influential publication addressed her health condition, and raised question marks about the way the municipality, the Zakat Fund, and local authorities dealt with the donation campaign launched by a number of young people to help her.
The author of the post, who identified herself as Khadija’s teacher at Al-Nabi Kazibar School, recounted that she witnessed the deterioration of the child’s health condition, leading to her being deprived of her seat in the classroom, stressing that she was one of the active and well-paid students. She strongly criticized what she said was preventing volunteers from collecting donations under the pretext of “distorting the public view,” considering that Khadija needs support, not skepticism and abandonment of responsibility.
The post opened a wide debate in Minya, between those who saw that the priority should be to save and support the girl, and those who understood the need to scrutinize donation campaigns, in light of precedents of fraudulent cases in which cases of illness and need were used to raise money.
Local authorities in Minya expressed reservations about the municipality’s ban. They made it clear to “Lebanon Debate” and asked about the reason for the absence of an official and reliable mechanism to verify the condition and provide treatment. They believed that the solution is not to prevent individual initiatives, but rather to organize and supervise them, or to transfer donations directly to the hospital and medical authorities, in a way that protects donors and ensures that the money reaches those who deserve it.
As for the phrase “distorting the public appearance” attributed to the municipality, the authorities considered that if there were doubts about the campaign, they could have turned to a regulatory and monitoring body instead of just preventing, especially since the case concerns a sick girl from the region, “and everyone knows a member of Minya,” as she put it. But Khadija’s case, in her opinion, raises a question that goes beyond Minya, the municipality, and the Zakat Fund: Where is the Lebanese state when the family of a sick child cannot afford the cost of treatment?
It is not normal, as these parties say, for securing medicine and hospitalization to turn into a campaign on social media, or for treatment of poor children to become dependent on their families’ ability to mobilize donors. In light of the accumulated economic, social and health crises, the need appears more urgent for an effective social and health protection network that protects the most vulnerable groups.
