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Mohammad Masud braved the scorching heat of Dhaka’s summer to cross the Bangladeshi capital in a rickshaw and line up at the last charity, which is still providing food to people who have fallen into poverty due to the pandemic.
Hundreds of unemployed or struggling security guards, transport workers, domestic servants, and homeless children ate their meals and lentils in Mehmankhana or “guests’ dining place” nearby.
Masood, 28, told AFP: “I am hungry all day.” “I don’t have enough money to buy food.”
Last year, Bangladesh was closed for more than two months during the first COVID outbreak. Hundreds of charities, civil organizations and political parties distributed food, cash, masks and disinfectants to the unemployed.
But as the pandemic continues, people’s fatigue with the coronavirus has begun, and people are increasingly reluctant to provide funds for goodwill. The new lockdown began in July, but only a few charities are on the streets.
“Last year we received a lot of cash donations,” said Jasim Uddin Khan of the Shonge Achi Foundation, which helps poor people, stray dogs and even monkeys in Dhaka provide food.
“We haven’t received many donations this year. There is significant fatigue in charity work.”
According to official data, more than 21,000 Bangladeshis have died from the coronavirus, but experts say the number of deaths is at least four times higher.
For the ten years ending in 2020, Bangladesh’s economic growth rate averaged 7%, which helped reduce the poverty rate to 20%.
The SANEM Research Foundation said that during the pandemic, with the closure of businesses, schools, and government offices, this rate has risen to 40%.
Although the government allowed some garment factories to reopen and spent US$15 billion on stimulus plans, hundreds of thousands of people were still unemployed.
Groups like Mehmankhana have stepped up their actions, but more and more people are starving.
“Some days I only eat one meal,” said Johra Begum, the 27-year-old mother of four children in the Mehmankhana queue. She lost her job as a domestic servant.
In March last year, after Bangladesh’s first nationwide lockdown began, 36-year-old actress Asma Akhter Liza and her cousin launched Mehmankhana.
They say they provide food to more than 2,500 people every day and proudly tell customers that they can “eat as much as they want.”
Lisa said that when she was feeding stray dogs outside, she saw children trying to break into a food store, and she decided to start this charity.
She said: “I think stray dogs will be hit hardest during the lockdown.”
“But then I saw this intrusion, and I realized that thousands of people, including many who had decent jobs before the lockdown, were starving.”
At first she borrowed money to fund the kitchen, but now she has received private donations from all over the country.
Lisa said that many middle-class people now come to street kitchens at night, “they can enjoy some kind of anonymity.”
She said that about 10,000 people ate there during the recent Muslim Eid al-Fitr.
One of her patrons is a 45-year-old trader Selim Ahmed (Selim Ahmed), who said his daily income has shrunk to less than 100 taka ($1.20).
“Without Mehmankhana, many people would go hungry,” he said.
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