"We were moved by Khaled's ideas since his program started airing months ago on the satellite TV channel Iqraa," Kareem Anjin, the representative of the International Tiba Charity in the southeastern Romanian city of Constanta, told IslamOnline.net on Monday, January 23.

"We have swung into action and started putting some of the program's ideas and projects into effect."

He said 10 enthusiastic young Muslims took the initiative and translated into Romanian all materials related to the program on Khaled's Web site.

"There are a lot of Muslim youths out there, who want to do something for their religion and country. They were lacking the right guidance until they were inspired and later personally encouraged by Khaled and his milestone program," Anjin said.

With no room for complacency and promoting development through faith, Khaled launched his pioneering "Life Makers" program in February 2004.

He recently said the program has drawn so far 12,000 proposed projects from Muslim youths worldwide.

Khaled's hard work paid off with the establishment of the "Life Makers Union" during hajj as an international NGO to fund development projects by Muslim youths.

The union is financed by a host of Muslim businessmen led by Board Chairman of the giant Arab Radio and Television (ART) network Saudi Saleh Kamel.

First Project

Anjin said the first project was the distribution of clothes donated by rich Romanian Muslims among the poor.

"We wanted to tell rich Muslims that they do have a responsibility towards their needy fellow Muslims," he added.

They launched a nationwide campaign to collect clothes for the poor and posted leaflets inside mosques, Islamic centers and on Tiba's Web site.

The Muslim activist said their charity drive appealed to a large cross-section of Muslims in the country.

"Mosques have been receiving generous donations from remote areas ever since, and we have now three trucks laden with clothes."

Anjin said the campaign drew Muslim attention to the fact that there are many poor fellow Muslims in Romania, especially in the forgotten southeastern village of Al-Hajjan, which derived its name from the Arabic word hojjaj (pilgrims).

Islam first entered Romanian in the 13rd century at the hands of Turks through this village, which is home to 80 Muslim families and a grand mosque.

There are five Muslim graveyards in the village, indicating that in the past it was home to an even larger Muslim community.

There are some 70,000 Muslims in Romania, mostly hailing from Turkey and Albania. They make up two percent of the country's 22 million population.