Growing up in a family where kindness and helping others are core values, Rania Ali says she has thought about peacemaking since she was a child. Rania started working with the Khartoum Cheshire Home during her sophomore year. The Khartoum Cheshire Home is a rehabilitation center for disabled children in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. The Home provides healthcare, meals, shelter, and peace of mind to area children in need. Their website is https://www.khartoumcheshirehome.org.

Rania worked through the DC chapter of the Muslim American Society to raise $800 for the Home. She also made sure all contributors received an education about the Khartoum Cheshire Home and the specific needs it has. Rania presented donors with a list of requested supplies and made their website available for additional information. Subsequently, she worked with the Home’s renovation team to allocate the money toward much-needed surgical supplies, office equipment, beds, and living expenses. Rania, bilingual in English and Arabic, also updated and translated the Home’s website into Arabic to help members of the Sudanese community access their information.

While visiting her relatives in Sudan in July 2021, Rania was able to see first-hand the changes the donations had made at the Khartoum Cheshire Home.  She said she realized that this was not the end of her contributions for the Home, and she vowed to continue her work toward international and local relief.

Rania is an active member of Edison’s Student Muslim Association. Last December she joined other Fairfax County Public School students at Edison High School in One Fairfax, a peaceful protest to call attention to an incident of Islamophobia at another area high school.

Rania recently worked with her aunt to collect masks for the Al-Maamoura Children’s Cancer Center in Sudan. She also serves as Treasurer of the Black Student Union, and is part of a group working with local Black-owned small businesses to help them advertise throughout the community.

Rania realizes what a big difference small acts of kindness can make and she believes that a “dollar goes a long way.”  Rania says she is dedicated to helping children, and she hopes to become a pediatric Physician’s Assistant.