Success story: Nidal Mostafa’s distinctive voice and how it changed his life

It was Nidal’s distinctive singing voice that caused both his and his family’s life to be changed forever.

While Africa Muslims Agency (AMA) staff were visiting local medical centres to carry out checks and needs assessments, they heard a voice singing in the distance. When they followed the voice, they found Nidal and approached him. Around him, were a group of people surrounding him, moved by his powerful voice. Those gathered around started crying when they learned about his story.

It was this point that AMA and Nidal got introduced properly together and were able to go over to the tent where he and his family lived.

Nidal told them that he was originally Syrian, from the city of Daraa, but was forced to move to Lebanon as the war in Syria escalated and put peoples’ lives in danger.

When the AMA staff went to Nidal’s tent to check on it, they found the family living in inadequate conditions, which staff concluded that it could not even be considered a camp.

The family were facing numerous challenges, from food insecurity, to difficulty accessing vital services such as healthcare and schools as well as a poor shelter.

According to Jihan Kaisi, an AMA representative, Nidal’s family situation was one of the worst the team had witnessed in a long time.

“Their tent was almost always flooded, their beds were wet and had mould on them, and there was also lots of rats and insects in their home,” she says.

“Nidal would also get sick a lot because of the conditions the family were in,” she added.

In addition to this, the family also faced harassment from other neighbouring families in the camp, who mistreated them and made life extremely difficult. The family did not feel at home, and felt like they could not settle properly, constantly fearing for their safety and wellbeing.

Despite this, Nidal’s joyful spirit remained undeterred, and he would continue singing. When his mother would get sick, he had one particular song he would always sing for her in order to make her feel better.

In 2022, due to donations coming in for the family, they were able to be moved from an unmanaged camp to a managed camp.

After the family moved, they started to feel a lot more settled and secure, with a sense of normality returning to their lives again.

The change in camps meant that Nidal was finally able to make new friends, and continue developing his talent of singing and reciting the Quran.

Ever since being sponsored, Nidal was able to start going to school, and studying subjects he enjoys.

According to Fatima Kaisi, project co-ordinator at AMA, Nidal now has high ambitions of becoming a pilot when he’s older.

“When we asked him what he wants to be when he’s older, he said that he wants to be a pilot so he can take his family around the world and travel with them,” she said.

Now Nidal is much happier, and enjoys developing his skill of reciting the Quran and singing Islamic songs.