Late on the vibrant eve of Eid al-Fitr, Heba Rashed was faced with an interesting, albeit unorthodox proposal: a donation of a single Vodafone top-up card to her NGO, the Mersal Foundation. The text, sent in by a young woman, had been well-meaning and simple: “I want to donate to the premature babies you take care of, but I don’t have money,” it read. “I only have a top-up card, and I would like to donate it.” Rashed, as Founder and CEO of the Mersal Foundation—a health charity born in the sleepy suburbs of Maadi, which provides pro bono medical treatment to all nationalities without discrimination—accepted the donation without a moment’s hesitance. “I wanted [her] to feel happy regardless of what she donated,” Rashed expressed to the BBC. Once the young woman sent in the card’s code, which offered a user 10 EGP worth of mobile service, Rashed made the decision to auction off the card as a means of fundraising for Mersal. She urged large cooperations to contribute, along with individuals. Despite this, the cause attracted little attention early on; Rashed’s vocal attempts fell on deaf ears, and only…
