Fasting for a softer heart

Ramazan is an annual physical, emotional and spiritual “tuning and service” for your body. It is the gift of pausing, reflection and recharging. One of the most powerful gifts of Ramazan is self-control. All year round — as we run past the graveyard of failed diets and New Year Resolutions to exercise — we tell ourselves that we cannot control our appetites. That it’s too hard. And yet, in Ramazan, we give up needs that we consider essential. If we can do this for 30 days, what stops us from exercising self-control the rest of the year?

For some of us, Ramazan is easy and we might forget that the month is meant to remind us of those who don’t have access to food and a month of kindness. In Pakistan, Ramazan can often be associated with fried food and lavish iftar buffets versus feeling hunger pangs and a heart that grows softer. Like some of us, my heart was growing hard this year, until I met some quiet and kind angels at the Robin Hood Army in Karachi.

Pakistan is a food surplus country. But millions go hungry to bed at night. The Robin Hood Army collects excess — not leftover — food from restaurants and shaadis, distributing them with dignity to those who need it the most. The Robin Hood Army has served over 286,000 meals to date and this is why I decided to cover them in a documentary series on Extraordinary Pakistanis.

What does it feel like to be hungry and poor? I guess it feels like the last few minutes before you’re able to break your fast, except, there’s no iftari on the table. And you’re not quite sure where the next meal will come from. Or even if it’ll come. I’ve been profiling Extraordinary Pakistani stories for the last five years but this was the first story, which broke me into tears. An elderly woman in Hyderi in Karachi had not eaten any food for three days. She was praying to God for food. By coincidence, the Robin Hood Army arrived minutes later to feed the entire community. She thought God had answered her prayers.

The other story which moved me was the young boy who ate a cupcake for the first time. He didn’t know whether to poke it with his finger or bite it. The smile on his face when he has his first bite shakes your core from the inside. How can we grow a softer heart collectively, to help those who share our hunger during the day but not our iftar in the evening?

Ramazan is a strange month. It forces the hardest of hearts to grow softer. And one of the best ways to help your heart grow softer is by helping others. “The problem in Pakistan is not the lack of food,” shares Sameer Beg, the head of the Robin Hood Army in Pakistan. “It’s the accessibility of food.” And that’s what the Robin Hood Army is trying to change by distributing excess food to those who need it the most. If you would like to volunteer as a Robin and help distribute food, visit Robinhoodarmy.com/join

Gifts are most meaningful when they are shared with others. And that’s what the Robin Hood Army does. Sharing the story behind positive role models like Sameer and the Robin Hood Army, lights a fire within our hearts, to go out of our way to help others. But the Extraordinary Pakistani team can’t do this alone. If you would like to donate to this cause, please visit launchgood.com/extraordinarypak. Our purpose is to serve as a social media platform, which shares extraordinary stories, connecting doers and donors in the process. If we don’t share these stories, no one else will.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2018.

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