It’s long been known that African countries are among the worst affected by poverty and hunger. Africa is the region with the highest prevalence of undernourishment in percentage terms, at 21%. On top of economic challenges, this year Africa also faced one of its worst climate disasters in recent history, leaving 346 million people hungry in the wake of devastating droughts.
This year, your Qurban helped to feed thousands of beneficiaries across 19 African countries. Your generosity provided them with nutritious food to sustain them for at least the next month. And in Uganda, your Qurban was personally delivered by our Global Ehsan Relief Singapore team.
The team consisted of Graphic Designer Muhammad Adam, Project Manager Alif Akmal and Head of Media Muhammad Sufi. The three of them experienced Africa for the first time ever for our Qurban Relief in Uganda. With the help of our partners in Uganda as well as the hard-working locals and volunteers, we ensured that your Qurban went smoothly and the fresh meat was delivered to the locals in need.
On their first day in Uganda on Eid ul-Adha, the team took a three-hour journey to a village in Kalungu District, a place where the animals were going to be slaughtered and packed. The location was quite deep in the province to ensure that the villagers aren’t able to rush for the meat.
Upon reaching, the team inspected the livestock to ensure that the animals were fit for Qurban. As many as 200 goats and three cows were slaughtered, with each goat benefitting four families, while each cow will benefit 16 families. Just on day one, a total of 848 families, or 4,420 individuals received fresh Qurban meat.
On the second day, the team and locals gathered the remaining goats to complete the slaughtering, skinning and packing of the meat. Around mid-day, they finally completed the Qurban and made their way deep into the eastern part of Busolwe village, which is a two-hour drive from Tororo, a town in Eastern Uganda. The team endured a bumpy ride up and down the unpaved roads and wet mud, due to the rainy weather the previous night.
The team carried out the Qurban meat distribution in the village to more than 3,000 beneficiaries. Alhamdulillah, families such as Mdm Jalia’s were tremendously grateful to have received the fresh Qurban meat.
Meet Mdm Jalia, grandmother to nine beautiful orphans. Her husband passed away 11 years ago and the parents of the children passed away a few years ago from an illness, as a result of insufficient medical attention and hygiene. A total of 10 people are currently living in this small mud hut.
Mdm Jalia is the sole breadwinner, tending to other people’s gardens to earn money for food. With the little that she earns, Mdm Jalia and her grandchildren can only afford to eat once a day. Other than the lack of food, the main problem that the family faces is housing. Once the children are all grown up, there would not be enough space for all of them to fit into the hut anymore. In addition, the lack of a water source also causes a problem for all the villagers, with the nearest water source being at least three kilometers away.
Mdm Jalia could not stop emphasizing how very happy and grateful she was to receive the Qurban meat this year. She expressed how the last time they had meat was during Qurban last year.
This Eid ul-Adha, your Sacrifice became their Blessings.
