By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
Uttarakhand: In Sattu Wali Ghati, a village on the outskirts of Dehradun District of Uttarakhand, Idoo Banoo, a widow, lives along with her son who works as a rickshaw puller and is the sole bread winner of the family. Idoo is totally dependent on her son for her needs,even as he struggles to arrange good meals for his family this Ramadan.
On 25 June, Idoo and over 300 people–mainly widows, laborers, orphans and poor people–from Sattu wali Ghati had a grand Iftar dinner organized by US based Indian Muslims Relief and Charities.
Over two thousand kilometers east from Uttarakhand, in the North East region of India, 12-year-old Smail Haque, an orphan, studies in Madina-Tul-Ulema Hafiza Madarassa in hilly area of Panjabari Ghy in Assam. Since the beginning of this Ramadan, he along with other Madarassa students, mostly orphans, had been excited about the Iftar on 12 June, as IMRC was going to serve them with delicious Biryani, fruits, dates and juice during the Iftar cum dinner.
“Having such food is a luxury for us. We don’t get to eat such good food everyday and since our Madarassa is in a remote and hilly area, less people turn to help us,” said Haque.
Over 2,300 kilometers from Assam, in Rajasthan Sharfuddin Ahmed, 45, a labourer lives in Alwar district of Rajasthan. He has to support a family of six. His family along with 1,000 other persons were served with hot meals under IMRC “Village Iftar Program” on July 1.
Every year US based Indian Muslim Relief & Charities organizes such grand Iftars across India for widows, orphans, poor and needy where thousands of persons are served with hot meals in Iftar and dinner.
This year IMRC reached 414 villages across 22 Indian states benefitting 95,109 persons.
“Iftars like these are the only opportunity for widows like me, where we can eat good and eat well,” said Chand Bee, 65 from Zainab Nagar Locality in Hyderabad.
Mukhtar Ahmed, 11, a Rohingya refugee living in a slum in Jammu, collects scrap to sustain his family. He along with his friends Surat, Alam and Hizbul came from their work early on June 26 to have hot meals at Iftar organised by IMRC for 600 Rohingya refugees at Channi Rama, Jammu.
“The food was too good. Me and my friends enjoyed the meals. I wish Iftars like these could take place every day,” says Mukhtar.
Notably, besides Iftar programmes, IMRC has also distributed 6,70,395 kgs of grain, over 48,75,600 (4.8 million) meals to 20,315 families benefitting 81,260 persons across 22 Indian states in this Ramadan, besides distribution of new Eid clothes among 12,401 poor and needy beneficiaries is already under progress.
IMRC made this ambitious project successful through its Hyderabad based sister organisation Sahayata Trust. While IMRC is responsible for raising money through its generous donors, help from volunteers as well as donations received online, Sahayata Trust is responsible for the implementation of the program on the ground and coordinates with several grass-root organisations across the country to reach out to the needy.