Aashir Khalil
“Stories like Zakaria’s remind us of a simple truth: our shared humanity is far stronger than the prejudice that seeks to divide us.”
Zakaria found the wallet while out with his friend and has returned it to its owner. A Glasgow-based Palestinian refugee refused to accept a cash reward after handing back a missing wallet with over £1,000 cash inside to its owner as reported byglasgowlive
Kind-hearted Zakaria Salem was with a friend when he found the wallet last month. Inside it was a bank card, £1,050 in notes, a £1 coin and the owner’s identification.
He contacted Positive Action in Housing, a human rights charity, to inform them of the find and make sure the wallet and its contents reached its rightful owner.
Zakaria, who found the wallet in Edinburgh, said:
“As you know, I don’t speak English, so I have the wallet with me now. It also contains a bank card. To be honest, I don’t know how much money is in it, so we should return the wallet to its owner”.
“If you can reach the owner of the wallet, ask him to send you his address and phone number. I have no problem going to his residence and returning his wallet. I apologise for the inconvenience.”
The Glasgow-based charity contacted Edinburgh Libraries and the city council. A few days later, the elderly man who owned the missing wallet got in touch. When he realised that Zakaria was a Palestinian refugee, the man offered to pay him £200 from his wallet for his honesty.
However, the dad-of-three, whose family are living under bombardment in a torn tent in Gaza, said:
“Thank you, but this isn’t my right; it’s his money. Thank him profusely. My happiness lies in him receiving his wallet in full.”
A spokesperson for Positive Action in Housing said:
“Zakaria really needs money to pay for his son’s university fees so he can study from his mobile phone with lecturers whose universities and entire infrastructure have been bombed out in Gaza, and to pay for food and electricity. But he did the right thing and refused to take money from an elderly man.
“The gentleman asked us to wish Zakaria well. We agreed to send his wallet by special delivery so he received it the next day. Zakaria went with a member of our staff to post it.”
Zakaria is hoping to bring his family over to the UK from war-torn Gaza.
In another beautiful story, from the southside of Glasgow, a Syrian family who live near Kenmure Street opened their doors on Sunday, June 21, to their neighbours and the community to join them for Syrian style Sunday brunch, inviting anyone to attend.
The family, dubbed “a ray of hope in these hard times”, grow their own cherries, plums, apples, strawberries and so much more on the small patch of green outside their home. And they wanted to welcome the community in with open arms.
PAIH continued:
“So next time you hear refugees, Muslims and people of colour being vilified in the press, remember Zakaria and the Syrian family. Remember that the criminal actions of a tiny minority are being used to smear entire communities, while countless acts of honesty, decency and kindness pass unnoticed.
“People should be judged by their own actions, not by their race, religion or where they were born.
“In recent days, you will have heard about the attack on five Muslims in Edinburgh and on a Muslim woman reportedly being deliberately struck by a car in England. These incidents are deeply troubling and frightening.
“We fear that violence and hate crime, incited by the billionaire class and those they promote on their powerful media platforms, will continue to rise, leaving visible minorities feeling increasingly isolated and unsafe. At a time of economic uncertainty, far-right groups, promoted by billionaires who prefer us to blame immigrants rather than the obscenely wealthy, continue to exploit fear and division.
“Stories like Zakaria’s remind us of a simple truth: our shared humanity is far stronger than the prejudice that seeks to divide us.”
The charity are currently helping Zakaria to try and bring his family, including his trained pharmacist wife, over to Scotland and have reached out to the Home Office. According to the charity, the Foreign Office has offered to assist to evacuate his wife and youngest son, but the Home Office need to agree.
