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Recursion

(56,582 posts)
Sat Oct 17, 2015, 12:41 AM Oct 2015

Sikhs set up 'langar' in IS territory to feed Yazidis

You've got to love the Sikhs.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/other-news/Sikhs-set-up-langar-in-IS-territory-to-feed-Yazidis/articleshow/49251449.cms

Large-hearted Sikhs have taken their traditional community kitchen to one of the most dangerous places on earth today - Syria. Giving a twist to the concept of langar, a group of Punjabi NRIs has collaborated with locals to provide fresh bread to nearly 14,000 refugees daily in the strife-torn region for several months now.

Langar Aid, an extension of UK-based NGO Khalsa Aid, is located in the Pesh Harbour area, about 35km from the Kurdish city of Duhok and 10km from the Syrian border. Almost 70% of the members of Langar Aid are with Punjabi roots, besides some European volunteers as well.

Instead of the classic kitchen, Langar Aid set up a bakery because IS fighters were destroying any food coming in for the Yazidis. While Khalsa Aid provided the machinery and Joint Help for Kurdistan gave a new building to house the bakery , the local government in Duhok is providing free power.

UK-based Indy Hothi, a 27-year-old economist-cum volunteer of Indian origin said, "We set up a bakery at a refugee camp for Yazidi people to provide a self-sustaining solution. Support in the form of food for distressed people has been there for over a year now and organizations from Sweden are helping run the bakeries. Help is also pouring in from Serbia and Greece."


Notes:

1. "NRI" means "Non-Resident Indian", i.e., a member of the Indian diaspora. (Confusingly, even if they move back to India, they are still called "NRIs" if they retain foreign citizenship; my mother-in-law is a "Resident Non-Resident Indian".)

2. The whole "X-cum-Y" thing still makes me giggle, but it's very popular here. So you'll see "Aaswad, restaurant-cum-bar" or "Rajput, salon-cum-spa". Indian business English. Gotta love it. (It did give us "prepone", as in "let's prepone Wednesday's meeting to Tuesday". I'm still working on getting people to simply use "pone" for setting the meeting date in the first place.)
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