Atul Kochhar & Islamic Relief team up to raise funds for Yemen
Credit: Atul Kochhar, Jonahid Miah
With families facing ongoing armed conflict, displacement, disease and economic decline, an estimated 24 million people are now in need of humanitarian aid to survive.
Two Michelin-starred Chef Atul Kochhar will be helping to raise emergency aid for the people of Yemen today by holding a live cooking masterclass on Instagram.
Responding to his friend Jonahid Miah’s request to help with a fundraiser, Atul will be cooking a Caribbean recipe at 6pm this evening for Islamic Relief’s Yemen Emergency Appeal.
The armed conflict in Yemen is “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world” with over 17,500 civilians killed and injured with a quarter being women and children, according to the Human Rights Watch.
As a volunteer for the international aid agency Islamic Relief, Jonahid has setup a donation page on Just Giving where he is hoping to raise £500: https://justgiving.com/fundraising/jonahid.
Jonahid told FtLion that he was delighted when Atul suggested wanting to do more than just donate by volunteering his time in helping with the actual fundraiser.
While Jonahid revealed that he only knows the chef through social media, he added: “When I reached out to ask him to donate, he said he wanted to do more and suggested this masterclass.”
Posting the news on Instagram, Atul said: “This time I am requesting a donation from you all to help save lives of little children in Yemen.
“I am grateful to my friend Jonahid Miah and Islamic Relief UK for asking me to contribute my services to this important cause. May God bless us all with happiness, harmony and love.”
Reacting to the collobaration, food blogger The Modern Pakistani Cook House said: “This is wonderful chef Atul, and I’ll most certainly be donating to this most urgent cause. Thank you so much for this and can’t wait for your 6pm live tomorrow.”
With 19.7 million people in need of basic healthcare and 18 million in need of water and sanitation facilities, Islamic Relief is currently on the ground in 19 of Yemen’s 22 governorates, providing essential food aid.
While Jonahid’s donation page has thus far raised £363 of his £500 target, he is now hopeful of reaching his target with the help of a world renowned chef.
“We have an obligation to do all we can to help people suffeirng around the world,” he said, adding: “If you can’t speak out against oppression, then we can donate. And if we can’t do that, then we can at least hate it [the oppression] within our hearts.”
Atul will be streaming the masterclass live at 6pm on his Instagram account @chefatulkochhar where he and an Islamic Relief representative will also be talking about the concept of alms-giving, or ‘Seva’ in Hinduism and ‘Sadaqah’ in Islam.
