Meals take many forms around the world but not everyone is lucky enough to be able to choose what they eat. This is something that 44-year-old Nottingham man Yasrab Shah sees regularly on his travels around the world to help those in need.
One trip to Yemen proved a real eye-opener. He was having a conversation about what they would want if they could have a dream meal.
“When asked what would it be, they said a potato," said the father-of-three. "People were rummaging through garbage and sleeping rough. I was told that if you get ill in Yemen, you will just die.”
Yasrab works for charity Muslim Hands, which was founded in Nottingham in 1993. It is based on Gregory Boulevard and says it works in over 30 countries supporting livelihoods and education as well as water and health projects all over the globe. It also runs orphan sponsorship schemes in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
This year, Yasrab travelled to Poland in response to the war in Ukraine.
He said: “Before Ramadan [this year] I was in Poland and I was saddened and shell-shocked, the vast majority of people coming through the borders were mothers and children. We have been providing blankets, clothes and food.”
“It’s been massively humbling as the whole charity sector saw a downfall of donations during the pandemic but we have seen the opposite.”
Yasrab said that he thought that the rise in donations was due to empathy levels. During the pandemic, Yasrab feels that money that may have been spent on leisure activities was donated instead.
Muslim Hands relies heavily on public donations and with the cost of living rising in this country, Yasrab is concerned that less people will be able to donate. He said: “Ramadan is a month of empathy, we choose not to eat out of choice, but other people around the world have no choice. The cost of living affects the donors we get donations from but it is an Islamic teaching to give in the good times and the bad. When you stop giving, you’ll be given less but we’ve been very humbled in response to everything we have gotten so far.”
Another country he has been big issues in is Afghanistan, which he visited in December 2021.
“In Afghanistan there are huge problems, in the country there are 9 million people in danger of going hungry," he said. "To get money out [civilians] have to pay 5%, it’s very restricted. 4,000 babies died in January and what’s happened in Ukraine has knocked that off the media but for us, it hasn’t.”
Shahid Bashir, Muslim Hands Deputy CEO added: "We are humbled by the generosity of our supporters from the UK and abroad over the past 28 years. Through their donations we have been able to work in over 30 countries and distribute over £200 million worth of aid.
"Not only has this provided life-saving relief for victims of some of the biggest emergencies we have seen in the past three decades, as well as lesser known disasters and conflicts around the world, but it has helped us realise our long-term vision of eradicating the root causes of poverty and creating a fairer world for all people."
