Working behind the scene, this extraordinary Muslim Iraqi woman has been helping Christians and other people displaced by the fighting in her country, paticularly those victimised by the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group.
People have never heard anything in the news about Dr. Sarah Ahmed, an Iraqi dentist, but she is there "protecting all of the Iraqi Christians," according to Canon Andrew White, "The Vicar of Baghdad" who is the head of one of the most prominent relief charities helping thousands of Christians displaced by ISIS, The Christian Post reports.
For the past few years, Ahmed has been traveling all over Iraq to bring clothes, medicine food, and other essential items to the Christians, Yazidis, Muslims, Shebeks and others who have been displaced from their homes, tortured and raped by ISIS militants.
"We think and hear about Islamic terrorism all the time. What about Islamic people working for the protection of Christians?" asked White, the former chaplain of St. George's Church in Baghdad during a visit to Washington last December.
White revealed that the work he's been doing is actually being done by Ahmed, who is now the director of operations for the White-founded Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East.
Last week, Ahmed spoke with The Christian Post from Kurdistan, describing her experiences running all over northern Iraq to make sure that the needs of displaced persons are met.
"I am a very faithful person," Ahmed told CP. "I believe that with all the amount of [humanitarian work] that I have been doing and have been doing out of good faith in my heart and not for fame or money or anything, just out of my desire to help, I feel that God is always there for me and kind of protecting me and being around me to be able to reach all these areas and all these people."
"I know what a lot of people say about Islam but my Islam that I believe in is a religion that is very peaceful and believes in helping others," Ahmed said. "You cannot sleep while your neighbour is hungry or suffering."
A former resident of Baghdad, Ahmed went to the United States in 2010 to study dentistry. Ahmed met White, a fellow Iraqi, at a function in New York. Ahmed eventually became a part of the Christian charity being run by White, starting as a clinic volunteer.
Ahmed said her being a Muslim does not interfere with her work in the Christian charity, adding that for a time she even took residence inside a church in Baghdad.
"It never crossed my mind. I feel no difference," Ahmed said. "I work for the Christians, Yazidis, Jews, everybody else. For me, we are all equal. I don't differentiate that much."
Ahmed is tasked with organising and delivering food and other essentials to internally displaced persons in the Kurdish region, who have been left homeless after ISIS militants seized their properties.
