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For over a decade, my mum has been running the Ramadan Food Packs project in our community in Arkilla, Sokoto. Every day for 30 days, she would cook freshly made iftar meals so the vulnerable, homeless and less privileged could break their fast in a dignified way.
Due to the 2020 pandemic impacting her business, she was unable to afford the expenses anymore. Knowing how many people relied on this project for iftar, I turned to crowdfunding online to keep the project going. For the past three consecutive years during Ramadan 2021, 2022 and 2023, we’ve raised about £5000 and fed hundreds of people. This year inshallah, we plan on raising £2000.
The funds would be used to purchase raw ingredients which include several bags of rice, sugar, millet and beans; fresh vegetables like tomatoes, onions and pepper; fresh poultry in the form of meat; cooking oil and cooking gas; and spices for seasoning. Here is a video from last year, where my mum shows you the ingredients purchased for the first 10 days of Ramadan.
There are many young and vulnerable people including “almajiri” - orphans who rely on the food packs for Iftar and even Suhoor and with your support, you’ll enable my mum to continue the project and provide our traditional meal of steamed bean cake (moi-moi), millet porridge (koko), and Jollof rice meals to at least 75 people daily.
The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said:
Whoever feeds a person who is breaking his fast will earn the same reward as him without anything being lessened from the reward of the fasting person. [Tirmidhi]
And Allah (swt) says in the holy Quran:
By no means shall you attain righteousness unless you give freely of that which you love, and whatever you give, Allah knows it well.[Qur’an 3:92]
As a grassroot community project, we have a 100% donation policy whereby all the funds go directly to the project. This project is also eligible for Zakat as the recipients of the donation are from underprivileged backgrounds.
Here are other ways to make a donation:
To donate in US dollars
Zelle ID: fateemahareeke@gmail.com
Venmo ID: @fatimaakinola
To donate in Nigeria Naira
Account name: Fatima Akinola
Account number: 0003816363
Bank name: Jaiz bank
The account details are my elder sister’s - Fatima A. Akinola. She’ll send the donations directly to my mum once it comes through to her.
Please note that my mum is in her 50s and due to her old age, she is unable to do all the chores herself. My sisters and I used to be the ones helping my mum with making the food but since we are all away at university, the entire workload has shifted to her. We intend to use some of the funds to hire support workers who will provide extra helping hands and help to keep the project running smoothly.
