Sarudzai, a mother of five from Malawi, received Qurbani meat in 2020 because of dedicated Islamic Relief donors. She shared this message:
“We depend on farming and earn something from it after we sell our farm produce. However, the money is not enough to cater for all our needs hence we are also engaged in [other work] in order to support our family. I am also engaged in sand collection which I sell and earn an income from it.”
“We rarely have meat in our diet. We even struggle to buy soap so we wouldn’t put meat as our priority, we would rather eat vegetables for the whole week, than eat meat for a day then struggle to find food afterwards. Usually when we have meat, then it is when we have a visitor coming to see us. If the visitor gets tired of eating relish that we usually eat, such as dried fish, soya pieces or vegetables, they buy the meat for a change. We wish we could have meat regularly so that we are not embarrassed when a visitor comes, but alas! Our pockets cannot allow us.”
“Due to lack of money, we cannot have meat as our priority food, when we have nothing to eat in the house. Therefore, we opt to buy vegetables everyday so that the little money we have at that particular time, can take us through a number of days so that we do not starve the children”.
“I understand that meat makes up a considerable portion of a typical diet, as it provides our bodies with nutrients that are beneficial to our bodies. It is unfortunate that we are lacking these nutrients. However, we alternatively seek these nutrients from other foods as we do not have any other option.
“To be honest we are not fully comfortable with the life we live. Our main challenge is having enough money to buy sufficient fertilizer hence we always get low yield hence we mostly eat only once a day. I also have problems providing for the children’s school needs and whenever we get sick, we go to a government hospital because I cannot afford to seek medical assistance from a private hospital.”
“I understand it is a symbol of love. The meat from the sacrifice of Eid al-Adha is mostly given to others and that shows a true reflection of love. Today, my family and I will have meat, something which we never expected and we are happy.”
“We did not have relish and there was no hope that we could eat today but this meat pack has really rescued us from starving. The children are all smiles because they have not had meat in a while. It is a good feeling to see the children happy. The children are used to eating vegetables hence it was kind of “strange” for them to have meat. On top of that we have saved the money we could have used for relish today.”
“I have known Islamic Relief for quite a while now through the IR livelihoods and protection project and I am one of the beneficiaries”.
“I am short of words for what IR has done for us as a family today. I urge them to continue with the good work and remember us again in the next program.”
