Iftar for everyone: How a non-profit serves the community during Ramadan
Non-profit organisation Unknown is going out every night to feed the masses from every religious background for Iftar during the holy month of Ramadan.
Co-ordinator Yusuf Bukhari said they have been feeding various communities every year for 15 years with funding received from private sponsors and with the help of volunteers.
He said: “The month of Ramadan is very holy and sacred for us. Every Ramadan, we like to go all out to help people, not only Muslims but also non-Muslims, especially when it comes to feeding the hungry.
“We are a private organisation called Unknown. We do not want any recognition or fame for what we do. We have private sponsors who donate their money, and we make sure that we do the right thing and implement it properly according to Islamic laws.
“We are all volunteers who are not getting paid to do this.
“We go into different areas every single night for the whole month of Ramadan, especially in the underprivileged areas. We don’t have iftar with our family, but we prefer to make the sacrifice and do it for the sake of the Creator, and people can benefit from it.
“We do not care if you are Black, White, Muslim or another religion; you are most welcome to join and have a meal with us.
“Some of the areas the volunteers have fed in were Bishop Lavis, Cafda and Gugulethu.”
On Sunday night, the group were in Delft and Bukhari said that on Monday they plan to go into Langa, before going to Tafelsig in Mitchells Plain on Tuesday and Bokmakerrie in Athlone on Wednesday.
He explained: “We do it at the start of every Ramadan, every year. People are struggling and can’t afford to make ends meet.
“We try to at least give people a nice meal. We have grown-ups, pensioners and children standing in the line for a nice hot meal and that makes us happy knowing we fed an empty stomach and that the donors' money are going in the right direction.”