Newlywed couple Shehzaan and Zainab Chunara decided to put the money they were planning to spend on their wedding toward a charity fund.
The average wedding costs around $30,000. Shortly before their wedding, Shehzaan and Zainab, both 24 years old, were stricken with guilt regarding those suffering from poverty. Zainab, the bride, had lived in India until the age of 12. During her time there, she witnessed firsthand the disastrous nature of the impoverished life.
“Until you see it, you don’t know how good you have it,” she said.
Shehzaan, the groom, has also had experience with poverty.
“I’ve seen poverty up close and it’s extremely heart-wrenching,” he said. “We felt like it was the right thing to do to give someone an opportunity to have clean water, an education and a roof over their head.”
Instead of moving forward with their wedding expenses, they chose to donate the money to the Aga Khan Foundation. The Foundation’s goal is to rid the world of poverty.
“[The Foundation works] to improve the welfare and prospects of people in the developing world,” says the Foundations website, “particularly in Asia and Africa, without regard to faith, origin or gender.”
The couple decided upon the Aga Khan Foundation because it works to empower those in poverty to help themselves, rather than giving simple charity. In addition to donating their own money, they urged their guests to donate the money they would have spent on wedding gifts.
“We humbly request that if you are planning on getting a gift for our wedding, please spend that money to make an AKF donation,” they said on their wedding website. “And tell us… come find Zainab or me and tell us “hey we were going to get so and so for you but we saw your video and made a donation instead” and that moment will give us the most happiness as we start our lives together.”
The wedding of Shehzaan and Zainab took place in December, 2015.
Featured image by Steve Parker, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
