An aid organization that helps children and families all over the world got its start after a chance meeting between an Iranian girl and a California woman.
Delfarib Fanaie and her husband had traveled in 2006 to an Iranian orphanage to adopt their third daughter when Fanaie was approached by another girl, Sepideh, who asked plaintively, “Why can’t you take me with you?”
That question haunted Fanaie after she returned to the U.S. and led her to co-found Moms Against Poverty, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that provides food, housing, healthcare and education opportunities for disadvantaged children and their families in the U.S. and overseas.
Since its founding 12 years ago, MAP has had an impact on 1 million people in 14 countries. Today its primary focus is on programs in the U.S., Iran, Cambodia, and Senegal, Fanaie told GV Wire℠.
One of the goals of MAP is to break the cycle of poverty by giving children opportunities, such as building schools in their communities, that will enable them to be self-sufficient and help lift their communities.
But nutrition is also a focus because it’s important for brain development and for learning…
