Bangladesh's pandemic street kitchens

Charity organisation Mehmankhana is one of just a few charities striving to feed the poor of Bangladesh during the latest lockdown.

When Bangladesh shut down last year for more than two months, numerous charities, civic groups and political parties stepped in to help. They distributed food, cash, masks and sanitiser. However, a year later, pandemic fatigue has set in. There are just a handful of charities working on the streets and a high rate of hunger.

Actress Asma Akhter Liza set up Mehmankhana, a street kitchen, after seeing children breaking into a food store, as they had nothing to eat.

Asma Akhter Liza: "You can tell the adults that there is no food, but how can you say the same to little children? In the past one and a half years, these children who come here have become our family."

The charity now feeds more than 2,500 people a day.

The SANEM research foundation says that the poverty level in Bangladesh has rocketed to 40 percent, with businesses, schools and even government offices closed due to the pandemic. And whilst the government has spent $15 billion on boosting the economy and allowed some garment factories to reopen, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs.

Liza's brother Eraz Mahmudi was one of those that lost his job, but he is now the chief chef for the charity.

Eraz Mahmudi: "I lost my job as a maintenance engineer at a garment factory during the first wave of the pandemic. I was idly sitting at home when my sister Liza called me to join this humanitarian work. I rushed here to join the programme. And started working as soon as I arrived."

So grave and widespread is the situation that, in the evenings, even the middle class come to the kitchen for help.

Mohammed Arif lost his job operating a city bus.

Mohammad Arif: "This Mehmankhana is a blessing for people like us. At least we can eat without worrying for the next day. Before knowing about this place, I spent two days lying inside a parked bus, literally starving."

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