Ramadan for Muslims In Direct Provision
Every Ramadan, there is nothing like eating your own mother's food and there's nothing like getting together and cooking meals in your own Kitchen. Unfortunately, living in a direct provision (DP) center in Ireland, means you don't have access to a kitchen and you are forced to eat whatever the DP centre provides in the times that are not friendly for fasting people. The food is also not culturally appropriate and doesn't come from the heart. For this ramadan, the Muslim asylum seekers living in Direct Provision in Dublin City centre have asked for help making their own iftars (breaking fast meal) every night. The money fundraised here will go towards buying the supplies/ingredients they need to cook their delicious native foods for Iftar in a borrowed kitchen outside the centre where they can cook these meals and eat together. It'll support approximately 30 people in DP with iftar every night & also sahoor meal before sunrise. Whatever is left over from the funds will continue to support the families living in DP to cook their own meals. This is not a new initiative and the year prior, the women in this DP centre, started Cooking For Freedom . In their own words, they describe their project: "Cooking for your family..a precious gift we rarely have and we have it once or twice a month each due to your generosity . We cook in borrowed kitchens with ingredients bought with your donations and then bring it back to the hostel to feed our families. Thank you. W and our children get to eat our own native food on at least one occasion a month.....and we get to pull together doing something so basic....it’s precious."
Inshallah, let's make sure that this Ramadan, it is not just once or twice a month these families can cook food from the heart but every night.