For Muslims, Eid-al-Fitr, celebrated this week, marks three days of celebration and feasting after the fasting of the holy month Ramadan. It is, HelpingACT founder and chair Mohammed Ali says, “a message of peace, love, prosperity, and harmony” – but festivals like Eid and New Year can also be an “additional burden on families who are already struggling”.
This Saturday, the food relief’s charity prepared 30 hampers for refugees and asylum seekers in Canberra: food, dresses, and toys.
Some were delivered directly to families; others went to Companion House, which works with people seeking safety in Australia from torture, trauma, and human rights violations. The number of refugees and asylum seekers from Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa (especially Sudan) has increased, Mr Ali noted.
Ramadan began on Monday 11 March and finishes today. During that time, HelpingACT held five iftars (fast-breaking dinners) at the ANU Muslim Students’ Association, and two dinners in partnership with Ginninderry and Kippax Uniting Church, Australia’s first church to host an iftar.
They are meals of companionship, but when Mr Ali visits ANU, he observes that the students are concerned about money and food. Auto-tellers and self-checkouts have reduced part-time jobs for students, and several international students receive food assistance from HelpingACT.
In fact, Mr Ali says, the food crisis is “getting worse and worse”: if last year food need in Canberra had doubled since 2022, now it is two and a half times more.
To address the food problem “straightaway and urgently”, Mr Ali would like the ACT Government to set up a discretionary grant for organisations like HelpingACT and street pantries, as they have already done for refugees and asylum seekers.
“I really feel pain for street pantries, because these are the people who, day in and day out, receive requests; people come there and take whatever they want to,” Mr Ali said.
HelpingACT supplies both long-life food and fresh fruit and vegetables to people in need – enough to feed a standard family for 10 days. Anyone who needs food assistance, including in emergencies, can request help online: https://www.helpingact.org/help, call Mohammed Ali on 0404 947 260, or email [email protected].
HelpingACT operates from a room in the Theo Notaras Multicultural Centre, Civic, but, given the increase in families who depend on food delivery, Mr Ali believes that the charity also needs a room on the southside.
“We see lots of such organisations working in the north or middle of the city, near the city centre, but the south area is completely dry,” Mr Ali said.
The south, Mr Ali says, is an old established area; Kambah is almost one-eighth of Canberra; and four of the five schools where HelpingACT serves breakfast are in the south area.
“That speaks volumes about the struggle of the families who are living in that area,” Mr Ali said.
Mr Ali would like to rent a room in a community centre from the ACT Government, or in the Canberra Islamic Centre or in a church. HelpingACT would set up a permanent food bank on the southside, and hold a barbecue once a month there. Such a base would mean families living there would have only a short distance to travel, rather than coming all the way from Tuggeranong to Civic by bus, as some do.
In the meantime, Mr Ali thanks HelpingACT’s volunteers and Canberrans for their generosity, and looks forward to Eid.
“Eid is a message like Christmas and Easter,” Mr Ali said. “It is a message of peace, love, prosperity, and harmony. If we start thinking along these lines, Canberra, [which] is a small heaven, certainly will become a wonderful place to live, where people love to intermingle with each other, learn about each other, and celebrate each other’s wonderful festivities together.”
