DHAKA: Saudi food assistance will allow thousands of Rohingya families to observe this Eid Al-Adha in a traditional way, refugee mothers say, as supplies in camps have been recently cut due to declining international aid.
More than 60,000 families — mainly Rohingya, but also host-community families in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district — will receive food baskets from the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center to help meet their immediate nutritional needs.
The distribution, undertaken by KSrelief’s local partner, Integrated Social Development Effort Bangladesh, has been underway over the past few weeks and has already reached half of the recipients.
“Priority was given to the most vulnerable households, including female-headed families, elderly persons, persons with disabilities, orphan-headed households, and families facing severe food insecurity among both Rohingya refugees and marginalized host communities,” S. M. Nazer Hossain, ISDE executive director, told Arab News.
“The support has significantly contributed to reducing food insecurity, strengthening dignity, and bringing hope to thousands of vulnerable families in Cox’s Bazar.”
Nearly 1.3 million Rohingya are currently cramped inside 33 camps in the coastal Bangladeshi district, where most of them fled from neighboring Myanmar in 2017, following a military crackdown in their native Rakhine state.
In the camps, they have limited access to job opportunities and education, and with international aid for the refugee community dropping since 2021, also to healthcare and food.
The KSrelief assistance comes as Muslims are set to observe Eid Al-Adha, one of two main holidays in Islam. In Rohingya camps, celebrations will be muted due to the UN World Food Program’s cuts to food rations last month.
“The latest food budget cut has pushed us into even worse conditions. Managing two proper meals a day now feels like a distant dream,” said Amena Begum, who takes care of her three sons and a daughter.
She has recently received a KSrelief food basket, which will allow her to prepare some special treats for children.
“Having special meals on Eid is a tradition observed by Muslims around the world, and we Rohingya do the same,” she said.
“My little daughter, Anjuman Begum, is fond of homemade cake and sweets. But for the last couple of months, I couldn’t manage any sweet dish for her. I am planning to prepare two or three types of sweets for my children on Eid. I’m really happy.”
For another mother, Asia Nur, the food aid came as a temporary relief in camp life, where for many years she has been unable to observe holidays as she did before becoming a refugee.
“The Saudi food aid has eased my daily concern of preparing meals for my family, at least for a couple of weeks. My children asked me to cook vermicelli on the occasion of Eid. Inshallah, I will prepare that. I already have all the ingredients ready,” she said.
“As a mother, it is a great relief when I can offer my children the dishes they ask for.”
