Mohamed was my cousin Ahmed Hishams best friend, seeing the mark Mohamed left on his life is my motivation behind this application, allah yer7amo wa yighfrilaho. On April 15th, I awoke to a horrifying day. War had broken out in my beloved Sudan. Within weeks, my family had fled their homes, and everything we knew of our cherished Sudan was left behind. As the months passed, the emotional toll phased. Allah has blessed mankind with the gift of forgetfulness, as time passes, our pain fades. As my mind began to clear, I only then realized the true impact of the war. Although my family fled, the act of losing our home was a blessing. Many had no option but to stay in Khartoum, to survive amidst the fighting. Harrowing statistics began to come out of Sudan. “20 million people facing acute malnutrition”. I felt hopeless, what could I do? My effect on the world was so miniscule. As I vented to my friend, he gave me a word of advice. “Yaseen, it’s impossible to change the world, but maybe you can change one person’s world”. It was at this moment I realized, my job is not to change the world, rather it is to do whatever I can. Around the same time as this conversation with my friend, I had the idea to make a Sudanese soccer team in my area to play against an Ethiopian team run by my friend. I posted an instagram story telling people to text me if they were interested. Dozens responded. I decided to expand into a tournament. I selected a captain for each nation and allowed them each 12 players. Suddenly I had 8 teams ready to go, and I began advertising the “DMV Cup” , a world cup in the DC, Maryland, Virginia area. Then it hit me, “What if I use this as a fundraising opportunity and send the money to Sudan”? I googled the phone number of “Sadagat” a Sudanese charity and called them to explain my idea. It was official, Sadagat set up an online fundraiser. To begin raising funds, each player paid a $10 player fee. My mom and her friends set up tables with information about the current war, as well as places to donate. Through the grace of Allah, we were able to raise around $2,300, all to be donated to Sadagat’s food kitchens across Sudan. As the tournament came to a close, I texted my friends at Sadagat and asked “How many meals will the money raised provide”? “Over 5,000”. It hit me at this moment that I didn’t even come close to feeding the millions in dire need of aid in Sudan, but I was able to help change the world for 5,000 people. I realized on August 9th, the day of the DMV Cup, that my job in life is to be an upstander. My purpose is to help my people of Sudan, and so I decided to make the DMV Cup into something more. I made an instagram account, and called it “Al Amal initiative”. On the surface, this means the initiative of hope, a ray of hope for all of the Sudanese struggling, but on a deeper level, it is a testament to my Aunt Amal, who passed away from breast cancer eight years ago. I am currently planning a winter edition of the DMV Cup, utilizing the blessings Allah has provided me with to be an upstander for my family of 50 million Sudanese brothers and sisters, Inshallah hoping to continue changing the world, one person at a time.