Giving a gift with hot food deliveries for Ramadan in Leeds

It’s been hard watching our friends who went through so much in Calais, and arrived here with so much hope, be disillusioned as they wait months and months for their asylum claims to be heard.

They have been cooped up in hotels for months, eating substandard food and being isolated. Being frustrated that they can’t work or study and having no control over their lives has left people depressed, and scared over what their fate will be.

One of the few high points has been partnering with Give a Gift Leeds to do something special for people who are fasting during the month of Ramadan. Every week, we have delivered over 200 hot meals to refugees to break their fast at night.

Many of us take a home cooked, nutritious and flavoursome meal for granted. To these guys, it was a treat. Some of these people had not had an enjoyable meal in months.

The standard of the food coupled with not being able to leave their rooms due to the COVID restrictions has really taken its toll on mental health. Many are feeling particularly low and one resorted to a suicide attempt as a desperate way out.

We have been able to deliver meals to these people to give them something to look forward to, something to brighten their day and a reminder that they are human beings and this is what they deserve.

The feedback we received was amazing. One gentleman said: “They came organized and gave us very good food, better than the hotel food. Thank you all for your efforts that you have made for us.”

Another couldn’t believe his luck: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

To support our work and ensure that more refugees are treated as human beings please go to: Care4Calais.org/donate.