Jalsa Salana has started a crusade to supply roti breads to over 50 food banks across the UK.
The UK’s largest Islamic convention saw a crusade to supply thousands of roti breads to food banks across the country.
Held at Oakland Farm in Alton, Hampshire, Jalsa Salana attracts over 40,000 participants from the Ahmadiyya Muslim network from around the world.
The three-day conference will be attended together by members to share the percentage values of “neighborliness,” “love,” and “spirit” and reflect on their faith.
The venue’s pop-up kitchen serves three cooked meals a day to visitors to the event, which began on Friday, while its roti factory churns out around 10,000 new roti buns an hour.
This year, conference organisers have unveiled a Bread for Britain crusade, in which 10 packs of 20 roti breads will be distributed to more than 50 food banks across the United Kingdom.
Zaki Ahmedi, 22, from Manchester, delivered roti bread to a food bank in Bordon, East Hampshire, on Saturday, saying “in times like this we all love each other. “
“Being part of this campaign is really important to me because I know other people are going through a cost of living crisis and my religion teaches me to serve humanity,” said Ahmedi, a paralegal.
“In times like this, we all love one another, regardless of our ideals or devout backgrounds. »
The crusade aims to address the problems of lack of trust in food on the part of food bank users.
Faraz Sethi, a 38-year-old chartered physiotherapist from Hampshire, has worked at the roti factory since he was five and called it a “phenomenal responsibility”.
“It’s a family culture where my brother and uncles stay, so it’s a very close-knit family environment – we supply food to 50,000 to 60,000 people,” he said.
“It’s coming (to Jalsa Salana) to share the neighborhood, share the community, the love, the spirit.
“We love to see other people coming here from all walks of life, from other countries and from other backgrounds.
“Feeding them 3 times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, with hot rotis is a phenomenal duty and I think I will continue to do so until the day I die. “
His son, 10-year-old Zachariah Sethi, celebrated his year by running at the Jalsa Salana roti factory.
“I made some friends there and it was a lot of fun running around the roti factory,” he said.
“We need to help and we need to make each and every Jalsa the most productive Jalsa. ”
Iffat Mirza Rashid, a 25-year-old student at Cambridge University and a volunteer in the convention’s press and media department, said the crusade aims to “unite the country. “
“Jalsa is vital to me because it is an event run entirely by volunteers, which indeed shows the strength of humanity when we come together to work selflessly for a united cause,” he said. -Declared.
“In this case, the cause is to promote peace, justice and community, all of which are incredible values for me as a Muslim and Briton.
“Bread for Britain, this crusade to distribute 10 packets of 20 rotis to food banks across Britain, from north to south, is a way of uniting the country. “