The teachings of my religion, Islam, encourage me to assist all people, especially those with special needs. Bringing happiness to the handicapped and their families motivates me to work with KSH.

Mudi Al-Essa, born in the 1920s, was nine years old when she used to assist her father in giving aid to unfortunate people he used to sponsor. She also remembers her mother sending her to donate some garments to unfortunate women and children in the community. When she was 28 she volunteered to work with the Jordanian Arab Child House Society (ACHS) from Kuwait. Mudi also worked hard towards establishing a society for assisting the handicapped people in Kuwait, the Kuwait Society for the Handicapped (KSH).

Mudi Al-Essa received traditional schooling in Kuwait. From the age of nine she used to help her father to support the needy people in her community. In her teens, Mudi and her mother learned the seamstress trade, and they very often donated some of their garments to the less-privileged women and children of the community. Some years later, Mudi volunteered to work with the Jordanian Arab Child House Society (ACHS) from Kuwait, successfully raising 13,000 Kuwaiti Dinars in 1948 for Jordanian homeless children. The success of helping an expatriate woman patient in Kuwait in 1962 inspired Mudi to establish a society for assisting the handicapped people in Kuwait, the Kuwait Society for the Handicapped (KSH). However, her work was a personal initiative, contingent upon generous donations and still unofficial. In 1971 the Kuwaiti official authority licensed KSH to formally operate in Kuwait. Now, KSH offers permanent full board accommodation as well as medical, social and psychological care to hundreds of unfortunate people in Kuwait. Also, it provides children with daycare between 7am and 2pm to help working parents, and arranges home visits by trained nurses for handicapped people who are confined to their houses so that they can receive medical care. In the late 1980s, Mudi established an orphanage in Hanan, a village in east Sudan, to assist the displaced children who had fled to Sudan because of the civil war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. She has also co-sponsored similar children's projects in Jordan, Lebanon, India and Pakistan. Mudi, who is now in her late 80s, attends her office every working day from 9am to 1:30pm. She emphasizes, "The teachings of my great religion, Islam, encourage me to help all people, especially those with special needs. Bringing happiness and peace to the handicapped and their families motivates me to continue work with KSH members."

Arab Child House Society (ACHS) Kuwait Society for the Handicapped (KSH)