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Forty years ago, Sabariah Binti Hussein—better known as Sister Sabria—landed in Montreal after responding to a job offer as a teacher for children with special needs. “Given my experience, I believed I was the ideal candidate,” she says.
Nicknamed “the Mother Teresa of Montreal,” Sister Sabria was looking for a change of scenery at the time. “My father and mother had passed away. I felt a bit alone. I really wanted to go somewhere else, because my sisters had gotten married and I was going to end up on my own. And I don’t like that. So I felt I could venture further if I went abroad and gain more experience,” she recalls.
Even then, back in her native Malaysia, Sister Sabria knew her way around a stove. “I worked in a restaurant, cooking Western dishes in Kuala Lumpur,” she says.
Upon arriving in Montreal, Sister Sabria immersed herself in her work as a teacher with children. Soon after, she met the man who would become her husband. “I was living with my mother-in-law,” she remembers. “I started working, then helping people in need. My mother-in-law asked me, ‘Who are these sandwiches for? There are only three of us, but you’re cooking so much.’”
Sister Sabria then shared her secret: the food was for people experiencing homelessness. “She was so happy that she said, ‘Alright! Next time I’ll make the soup, and you’ll make the sandwiches!’” she recalls. “She taught me how to make French-style soup, Canadian-style soup. That’s how I learned the tastes of people living on the street.”
Charity begins at home
Later on, Sister Sabria settled in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighborhood and joined the mosque of the Muslim Community of Quebec (CMQ). “I got to know more and more people, and I met many Muslims who also needed help,” she explains.
One anecdote perfectly sums up her character—and her altruism. “I clearly remember the furniture my husband had bought that I gave away. The second time, I did the same thing—I gave away brand-new furniture, completely new. He ended up without furniture for about a year, maybe two,” she recalls. There was nothing to sit on. “So I told him, ‘I think I’m not in the right place.’ My husband had had enough of me!”
The teacher then turned her apartment into a self-service aid center. “Where we had all our shelves, instead of books, I put clothes so people could come and take them. I also started giving out food products like oil, flour, sugar, and so on. I arranged everything so people could take what they needed easily, like in a grocery store, but without having to pay,” says the caregiver.
Over time, Sister Sabria met several families in need and got to work, notably in collaboration with the leadership of the Montreal chapter of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.
This marked the beginning of a series of collaborations with other organizations and for other causes. This year, for example, the Sister Sabria Foundation joined Human Concern International to distribute winter coats and boots to children. “Very often, every month, there’s always another organization supporting us, helping make a project or program a success,” Sister Sabria says with delight.
In 2017, collaborators suggested creating a foundation to continue the work. “They proposed the name ‘Sister Sabria Foundation,’ which I initially completely disagreed with. But they explained that they chose the name because more and more people wanted to know who was behind the project,” says the woman who doesn’t like to draw attention to herself.
Soon after, the organization acquired a building at 5271 Saint-Hubert Street in Montreal. This allowed, the founder attests, the organization to reach even more people. “To date, we have been able to house 400 individuals and families,” says the woman who also founded a shelter for women. The foundation runs several programs that support vulnerable people. Over nearly 40 years, more than 700,000 meals have been distributed, and hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised to support various causes.
People first
The Sister Sabria Foundation is also a large team of volunteers from diverse backgrounds. “There are Tunisians, Algerians, Moroccans. There are also Asians who join us, as well as Palestinians and even Iraqis. We have sent aid to households of various origins,” Sister Sabria explains.
Above all, it is the relationships that are built that make it possible to do more. “Alhamdulillah, they accept me as I am, even if I can sometimes be unpleasant,” the founder apologizes. “Sometimes it’s so hectic that there’s no time to think.”
Yet the bonds formed remain strong. “Our friendship is so strong! I truly appreciate their kindness and warmth. The bond that unites us is like that between a mother and her children,” she confides about her team.
Now 78 years old, Sister Sabria is of an age to be a grandmother. Still, it is the title of “sister” that suits her best. “Personally, I find that when people call me ‘sister,’ my heart softens and feels younger. If they called me ‘grandmother,’ I don’t think I could do my work as well; I would feel very old. I feel younger this way, and I can work with younger generations,” she says happily.
Today, it is this love for youth that motivates her every day. “The strength that allows me to keep going comes in part from the love I receive through encouragement from the younger generation,” she insists. The next generation often comes from those who came before. “Some stay in touch—students from McGill and Concordia, for example. Their children join them. They keep contacting me, with renewed energy, Inshallah, with a younger generation,” Sister Sabria notes.
All the better, because for her, the work is far from finished. “I want to do more. And it’s never enough,” says the woman who has not finished giving. She encourages everyone to do the same. “We must play our role as a society in Montreal. I think we must do more than that. As a society, as a Muslim community, we can support one another by putting other programs in place,” the founder argues.
A piece of advice? “Even if you don’t have enough, give—give anyway—because Allah will help you. And I always think about the gratitude I feel. When I give, I receive more. When I give again, I receive more than I expected,” declares Sister Sabria.
“You know, I barely realize that this has become part of me and an integral part of my life. That means, I think, that in the end I will always want to give—even with my last breath, at the end, at the moment of my death,” says the benefactor, who is experiencing health problems.
“Think about the future this way: ‘The more you give, the more you receive, the more you think of others.’ And the more you think of others, the more people will help you. Inshallah!”
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