Mahatma Gandhi once said, “There are so many hungry people. To them, God has no other shape than bread.”
You understand the meaning of hunger when you are deprived of food. Talking about solutions to this problem people safely assume that hunger stems due to lack of food, which is not always true. It is also due to the food wastage.
With a hope to change the hunger problems in his city, a social activist from Hyderabad has made it his life’s mission to feed 400 people daily. Outside Gandhi General Hospital and Dabeerpura area, Azhar Maqsusi arranges free food for the needy every day.
According to FAO estimates in ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2018” report, 195.9 million people are undernourished in India.
His childhood was not full of roses. It was tough and full of difficulties. “My father died when I was four years old. There were many days when my family and I used to sleep hungry,” he said.
With whatever money he had, Azhar started distributing food since 2011. “One day, I saw a woman struggling for food. By that time I had started working, so I purchased food for her. That was the day when I prayed to God to show me a way to help poor people,” says Azhar.
Slowly people came to know about him and supported his cause by helping him out with the groceries. “I then extended the programme and started distributing free food at Gandhi General Hospital four years ago. Three to four hundred people eat food at Gandhi Hospital and Dabeerpura area daily,” he added.
“On days when I don’t get any work and I don’t have money, I come here for food,” said Jagdeesh, who is a laborer by profession. From Hyderabad, slowly the food initiative was extended to Bengaluru, Raichur, Tandoor, and parts of Jharkhand and Assam.
“Around 1000-1200 people are fed daily under our free food distribution programme. I want to extend this further. I am contented to help the poor,” Maqsusi said.
To help Azhar in his cause:
- You may donate:
Sani Welfare Foundation
Bank: Bank of Baroda
A/C No: 09390200000531
Ifsc code: Barb0charmi
Address: Devan Devadi Hyderabad Telangana
- For more details, visit here.
Even though India’s food security is not reliable and numerous reports shed light on the challenges that lie ahead of us, we can do our bit and bring about a change. There are many factors that make India’s hunger crisis much complex but we can do our bit and help at least one man to go to sleep on a full stomach.