Over the past 6 months, I've done a poor job at keeping Overcome supporters up-to-date. The truth is that there hasn't been much to share and the purpose of this post is to explain why.

First, some background...

Overcome began in early 2015. But it only took shape during the Ramadans of 2015 and 2016 because I blocked the holy month out for it. In other months, it had to fight for my attention because I was otherwise focused on earning a living (I have 5 kids!). So, whilst it existed for 2 years, progress was very slow.

In January 2017, I realised that I could only make faster progress if I gave it as much attention outside of Ramadan as inside Ramadan. This meant that I'd have to earn my living through Overcome, rather than alongside it.

So, with the blessing of istikhara, I began to explore how to achieve that. I calculated my family's minimum income needs and the doors to F2F fundraising opened up. Overcome was able to secure more of my time outside of Ramadan and we were off!

But then the unexpected happened...

In May 2017, my family and I decided to move back to England. Although this was for the children, I was excited as being in England would be great for Overcome. The only problem was that our minimum income need in England would be more than Jordan. And, though this was a problem for both me and Overcome, every problem has a solution.

I thought I could solve it by pitching Overcome to investors as a startup that offered "Reward on Investment". But raising funds was easier said than done and we got back to England in July without a solution in hand.

I then spent 2 months exploring various options before deciding to let Overcome pay me whatever it could and leave me to make up the deficit on the side. And by mid-September, Overcome had most of my attention once again. Lots of progress was made and I was punctual in sending updates.

But it didn't last long...

On November 12, emergency gas workers shut down our electrics as they discovered that the gas piping of our home was conducting lots of electricity. We had been complaining to our landlord for 2 months, but he simply strung us along and his negligence led to a near disaster.

Complaining to the council led us to discover that our home had previously had a big fire and that half of it (including my home office) had been converted illegally. We also discovered that our home's safety certificates were fake. And instead of reforming himself, our landlord went from passive to aggressive.

Working from home can be a dream come true. But in my situation, it had become a nightmare. I couldn't concentrate on anything... not Overcome, not my health, not earning a living, nor anything else.

I tried to resolve matters outside of court, but our landlord was not willing to change. We had our first court hearing in March and, although litigation is also distracting, it reduced my uncertainty a great deal as I was now working with a defined system supported by experts to help me along. Our next hearing is in August.

Back to Overcome

Of course, I'm still committed to realising the Overcome vision and I've been able to dedicate complete days here and there. But otherwise, since mid-December, I've been on an indefinite leave.
 
Serving God is the intention behind everything I do and pausing my contributions to Overcome has been painful. I'm now certain that I need complete support from the community to realise the vision. This means proper financing and a network of professional volunteers.

I have a plan to achieve that and all recurring donations are being directed towards it. And, along with completion of the charity registration process (which is now being handled by a trustee), Overcome's future appears to hinge upon it.

Until then, earning a decent stable income must be my priority because my family has a greater right over me. I hope from Almighty God that He allows our vision to be realised sooner rather than later and I'm grateful to our donors, trustees and advisors for their ongoing trust and support.