With just an hour left for the evening prayer call or Azaan, a dozen students tirelessly pack food packets near the Rohingya Refugee camp around Kalindi Kunj.
The group has come together to help during the holy month of Ramzan where Muslims observe a 30-day fasting period, seeking to break their fast only after evening prayer.
These students, who call their group ‘Zahra Foundation’, had started collecting funds days before Ramzan for the food distribution.
The students planned to distribute around 400 food packets on the first day to the refugees living at the camp. The group, consisting of mostly students and alumni of Jamia Millia Islamia dressed in black polo t-shirts with a logo printed at the back, had started their initiative in May 2017.
The refugees are left to their fate throughout the year without any proper nutrition. In Ramzan, when they have to fast (dawn to dusk), they should at least get nutritious food to break the fast. Therefore, we are trying to help them out.President, Zahra Foundation
While teaching the kids, we realised that many families couldn’t fast in the holy month because they weren’t sure of the daily bread. We started serving these people out of our own expenditure. But we realised it was impossible for us to feed beyond 20.President, Zahra Foundation
The group started selling Iftaar packets to the students around the locality and contributed the profit to the initiative. The group also started asking donations from friends and families.
A member of the group proudly adds that they distributed 2,000 packets last year to the people near the Yamuna Bank during Ramzan.
Apart from the Iftaar distribution, the group had set up an educational centre using last year’s profit, near the Yamuna Bank in Jamia Nagar, which caters to another 250 unprivileged kids from the locality.
The group had been teaching poor kids for free near the Yamuna Bank at Jamia Nagar for the last five years.
The day starts at 11 when the group starts the preparation for the evening meal.
Another member, an alumnus of Jamia Millia Islamia in his early twenties, said that a single food packet has fruit salad, pakodas, biryani, grams and dates.
Many people had turned up to receive their food packets. They were informed about the food distribution and every family was handed a signed slip for the evening distribution.
The group successfully distributed 250 packets on the first day, and they would go on to distribute more than 1,500 packets in the first four days.
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