Between the alleys of the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip; the smell of food is emanating from a kitchen that is dedicated to providing meals to the poor and needy families serving as a safe haven for these families experiencing difficult economic conditions in the Gaza Strip.
The ‘Charity kitchen’ became the address for the poor and needy people of the city of Khan Younis providing them with break fasting meals in the holy fasting month of Ramadan the month of good deeds and blessing in a reflection of cooperation and cohesion with the poor and needy families.
The smell of food in the place gives a sign that the cooking phase has come to an end and that the distribution of meals to the beneficiaries has begun making their way to the homes of the poor where hot and delicious meals are served.
In the morning hours chef Abu Fadi 51 goes to the food preparation location to start preparing hot meals for the poor families who start arriving there by the afternoon to receive their meals.
Abu Fadi feels very happy preparing and cooking the food using his time to read the holy Quran while waiting for the food to be ready.
The 20-year-old Amir Farwana places the meals in special boxes announcing the start of the distribution as part of a group of volunteers that prepare meals and food for the needy.
Speaking of his feelings while packaging the food for the poor and the needy families Farwana told the PIC reporter that he feels joy while doing his work hoping that Allah will accept it from him.
Once young volunteers finish preparing meals for the beneficiaries dozens of poor households begin receiving meals which mainly include meat with rice or other Palestinian dishes such as okra cowpea beans and others.
The 50-year-old Marwan El-Baz one of beneficiaries got his fish with rice meal. He told the PIC reporter that “The difficult conditions and his inability to work because of suffering from a cartilage in his back is what made him receive such meals.”
El-Baz who supports a family of nine hopes that the difficult conditions experienced by our people will end soon.
El-Baz noted that he receives a meal from the kitchen known as Al-Tikiyya (Imaret) twice or three times a week due to his difficult economic condition expressing his thanks to the sponsors of this project.
Saeed Farwana one of the organizers of the project said that the project is a result of the generous efforts of three well-known businessmen in Khan Younis city who agreed to establish this facility to serve as a haven for the poor and the needy.
Farwana explained that the idea was well received by the good people in the city encouraging many charitable people to participate in providing assistance for the kitchen.
He pointed out that the kitchen opened its doors to the poor and the needy during the month of Ramadan stressing that the work will continue throughout the year with the efforts of benevolent people.
He added: “At first it was limited to the old town but with the efforts of benevolent people it extended to cover all areas in the city.”
He continued: “We started distributing meals to 300 poor families and these days we give meals to 700 families” noting that the kitchen does not accept the donation of any political party and donations are limited to individual donors only.
He noted that the meals offered varies from popular Palestinian dishes to main dishes such as chicken fish and rice to cover the needs of the poor and preserve their dignity.
He pointed out that the rate of meals provided per day is up to 150 meals all of them take their way to the poor and needy families making those running the project feel happy hoping that they will be rewarded by Allah especially during the holy month of Ramadan.
In order to determine who is in need for such meals a social worker helps the kitchen to ensure that these families meet the conditions of needy families making them eligible to receive these meals.
He pointed out that the kitchen provides one or two meals a week for each family explaining that some large and poor families get 3-4 meals a week due to their special condition.
The charity kitchen known locally as Al-Tikiyya hopes that the work will be developed to cover 1000 families in order to provide the largest assistance possible to the poorest families in the city of Khan Younis.
