Accident claims student

By Stewart Ronald McGee

A University of Calgary student was hit by a car and killed on Fri., Oct. 22. Moath Abdalla Sabbah, a fourth year Mathematics student, was busy repairing a flat tire along the south curb of 26 Ave. near 49 St. S.W., when a truck swerved in his direction and hit him, sending him flying 10 meters. Moath passed away in the ambulance ride to the hospital. He was 22 years old.

The man responsible for the hit and run incident turned himself into Calgary police on Saturday night and there is suspicion that alcohol was involved.

Moath’s senseless death was not only devastating to Moath’s family and friends, but also the entire Arab community in Calgary. His funeral service was held on Sun., Oct. 24. Friends and family were both proud and in disbelief as more than a thousand people went to the Mosque to show their respect.

Because Moath was well known in the community for being an extremely kind and generous person.

“Moath was the kindest person in the world. He always was there to lend a helping hand. It is a major loss to both the community and university,” said one of his close friends, Noor Abu Shama’a. “He just loved life. He was so passionate about teaching and really wanted to become a math teacher. He was the type of person who would just come over to your house with his hands full of either food or gifts. He always had a smile on his face. He was just so kind.”

Moath was also very passionate about world issues and was a very involved individual. He was the Vice-President Academic for the Palestinian-Canadian Students’ Society on the U of C campus and helped organize successful events such as the Norman Finkelstein event last year. His work with the PCSS gave the Palestinian people hope for the future in both Calgary and the Middle East. He was also the co-creator of the Muslim Orphan Sponsorship group. He and a few others organized this group to help orphans all over the world.

Moath’s latest project was building a school for orphans in Ethiopia, this project is now called the Moath Sabbah Project. Moath was in the middle of organizing a fundraising event for his Ethiopia project. The Muslim Orphan Sponsorship group has now decided to name the school they build after Moath as a way to honour him.

“Moath helping to build a school for the orphans in Ethiopia comes as no surprise,” said close friend and fellow PCSS member, Rami Shabaneh. “He was so generous with his time and was constantly trying to inform people about the project. The school is going to cost $8,000 to build and will be able to support and house 500 orphan children. If there is any extra money, the money will be spent supporting other orphans in third world countries.”

If you would like to support the “Moath Sabbah Project” or any of Moath’s other causes please contact Noor Abu Shama’a at (403) 708-5493 or email mizzrasheed@hotmail.com.