A food parcel for Jamilah
Jamilah is 40 years old and lives with her husband and two children in the village of Cot Madhi in Indonesia.
Whilst the tent that they live in has electricity and water, Jamilah describes it as a ‘tent of tears’. As she explains, “Ramadhan is a month that is full of mercy, so sometimes to welcome Ramadhan we cry because we remember the past that was so full of joy.”
In recent years, Indonesia has been plagued with economic, political and natural disasters.
The devastating tsunami of December 2004 resulted in over 130,000 people dying and a further 127,000 missing. Even before the tsunami, years of separatist struggle in Aceh and Papua had resulted in mass unemployment in the country.
Ramadhan food parcels
Islamic Relief has worked on development projects in these provinces to provide support in six main areas: health, water and sanitation, livelihood, education, orphan support and shelter.
Since 2000, IR has also distributed food in the Ramadan and Qurbani seasons to those affected by natural disasters.
Jamilah is one of the many people who received a Ramadhan Food Parcel from Islamic Relief. She was extremely grateful and tried to make the contents last as long as possible. Her family particularly enjoyed the rice and fruit.
As with her family’s tradition of spending every Thursday evening during the holy month of Ramadan reading Surah Yasin together, so she hopes that a food parcel from IR will become a similar tradition.
“It is important that we really thank you to the donor” said Jamilah to IR workers.
