30/04/2023
"We prayed on the ground and our cries were heard in the seventh heaven" said a frail gaunt Rashid when we reached Sunderban with 180 packets of Ramadan Kits two days before the onset of this holy month of spiritual self reflection,devotion and worship.
Rehnuma e Niswaan distributed Ramadan food kits in the suburban areas of West Bengal as a part of their yearly food kit distribution programme to help the poverty striken areas have a spiritually dedicated Ramadan without having to worry about food needs when breaking their fast at daybreak. Our target area was Chandipur,a village in Sunderban, located at 125 kms from Kolkata.
Out team of volunteers lead by Dr Shaharyaar Salim surveyed the area of Chandipur and made sure that the kits reach the neediest of all before people at better positions financially. Thorugh the method of identification through Swastya Saathi Card we made sure that the kits reached the right people and as many families as possible with no family getting more than one kit.
The beneficiaries included widows,senior citizena and handicapped individuals who happen to have no source of income but still fast in the holy month of Ramadan.
Our next distribution of kits took place in Kolkata with people coming from underdeveloped areas of Kolkata, Thopthopi,Canning,Baruipur Mallikpur and Kamarhati. Several checks were made and it was ensured that the beneficiaries showed their Swasthya Saathi Card to us before we handed them the kits. Since we covered a couple of areas here, a total of 220 kits were distributed on from Bright Street.
Our third and final distribition of Ramadan kits for the year 2023 took place from Narkeldanga as according to survey reports, there were too many deserving people in this area who lived barely from hand to mouth . Even though we tried our best and gave away a total of 110 food kits ,there were people still left who were needy but could not get the kit.
The conclusion that we came upto after covering some major areas in Kolkata and outskirts is that we need more hands and more kits to reach out to maximum number of people.
TO BE CONTINUED
