British-Pakistani women in Manchester help needy during COVID-19 lockdown

MANCHESTER: A group of British Pakistani women in Manchester have created a community support group to fight challenges caused by COVID-19 lockdown in Ramadan.

The initiative which is led by Roshi Javed, a leading community activist, is providing medical supplies, food, safety and security to National Health Services (NHS) staff and individuals in need.

Javed started the initiative, in association with Muslims for Britain, with up to 30 Muslim families from Manchester who provide aid as well as collect donations to run the program.

“I felt that I had a duty as a Muslim to help my community in need, I am born and bred in Manchester therefore this city is very close to my heart,” Javed said.

Atifa Shah, of Muslims for Britain said, “We have distributed 3,000 hot meals to the NHS and key frontline workers and the homeless. We have also distributed over a thousand food packs to vulnerable communities such as the elderly and people living below the poverty line. We have achieved all of this just within the last month.”

Every Friday, over a hundred bags of food rations are provided to mosques and food banks across Manchester, who distribute them to families in need. During the weekends, the group distributes face masks and gloves to key workers in stores across greater Manchester who may be vulnerable to the coronavirus, revealed the organisation.

Network activities to distribute aid are organised through social media outlets such as Facebook and WhatsApp, where various members are designated roles to achieve charitable goals. This also helps adhering to the social distancing guidelines in the UK.

Farhat Rasheed Khan, a volunteer of the group, said, “I donate weekly to this charity; this country has given me so much security and love, so the least I can do is to give back to people in need, also this is what Islam and Ramadan is all about.”

Within the last week, the network successfully has provided hundreds of rations every week to local NHS hospitals and vulnerable people across Manchester. However, due to Ramadan, this number has increased as the charity tries to provide to Muslim families in need.

“Ramadan is a holy month and we have a large number of Muslims in need due to the financial collapse in UK and due to businesses shutting down many Muslim families are struggling. We are reaching out to more people this month," Javed said.

Since the lock down, up to two million British citizens have applied for government welfare and universal credit and claims of job seekers allowance have soared up to 300,000.

According to Greater Together Manchester, a charity combating homelessness, over 5,000 people are homeless across greater Manchester.