Cricket League

First prize 10 and under

Ayat Jaffar, age 9 Avon, OH

Helping Out

Over winter break, I went to Umrah. Umrah is an Islamic Pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. I went with my mom, dad, and older sister. We went around a big black stone and between two big mountains seven times each in memory of Prophet Abraham and his wife.

Our family and other families who had also come all the way from the United States were all set to do Umrah. We each got our own headphones so we could stay in contact with our religious leader, who would guide us in prayers.

Suddenly, I saw a mother and her son looking very sad and gloomy. “What’s wrong?” I asked them.

They explained to me that they had not gotten a set of headphones because there were none left. Therefore, they would not be able to hear or follow the group leaders. The mom was almost in tears since she had come all this way, and now she couldn’t even complete Umrah, which is done only once in a lifetime.

My mom consoled her, but she was still very sad. I whispered to my mom, “I could give her my headphones.”