WORK IN LONDON UK

Fear; we’ve all felt it. Fear for ourselves, fear for others, fear for the future. It’s a really powerful and unsettling feeling. It can make us feel sick, panicked, stressed. It has the ability to make us turn cold towards others. To put up isolating barriers.

History tells us that in times of fear and uncertainty, it’s all too common for this to happen – for people to turn away from one another. The sentiment expressed by Pastor Martin Niemöller in his poem “First they came for…” is no less relevant today – when fear and intolerance threaten to divide us.

Never before has the need to break down barriers been more important.

Tagore wrote his iconic poem ‘Where the mind is without fear’ in 1900. In it, he sketched his vision of the nation he wanted India to be. He dreamt of an awakened country where freedom of the mind and spirit would remove all fear of ‘the other’. Where differences of caste, creed, religion or any other prejudices aren’t cause for division and separation.

Five years later, in 1905, he witnessed the British try to break up Bengal on the basis of religion. In one move, a close-knit community of Hindus and Muslims would be pulled apart and set against each other.

Rather than allow his beloved country to be divided, Rabindranath-ji made a stand for unity by invoking the spirit of Raksha Bandhan (in Sanskrit, ‘the knot of protection’). He asked the people of Bengal to take to the streets and tie rakhis on one another as a vow of protection and mutual respect between Hindus and Muslims. The statement was clear: Do not divide us. We are all brothers and sisters here.

We wholeheartedly share in Rabindranath-ji’s vision, and we believe it is now our turn to say: Do not divide us. We are all brothers and sisters here.

So last Raksha Bandhan we made our own call for unity. Every person that visited our cafés on the day of Raksha Bandhan was offered a rakhi – white, as a symbol of peace – and invited to tie it on someone of a different faith, nationality or culture, as a vow of solidarity and protection.

Tying one of these rakhis created a bond, which meant that you would stand up for that person, regardless of who they are or where they are from.

The bonds that were tied last year, still exist now and hold a deep and important significance for us all. They show that we are all committed – bonded – together to protect and care for one another; that tolerance and compassion visibly outweigh intolerance and prejudice; and that we choose to support each other and celebrate our differences, rather than be divided by them.

For every rakhi that you tied, we donated £1 to Seeds of Peace, a charity that helps teenagers from conflict regions to learn the skills of making peace. In total, we – and you – tied 8,000 rakhis and therefore donated £8,000 to this extraordinary charity.

We can think of few more apt things to do at this time and so this year, we’re celebrating Raksha Bandhan again and inviting you all to tie rakhis on one another. We hope to see as many of you (if not more!) joining us as we strengthen the bonds that bind us. Take a look at what we have planned here.

Thank you most sincerely for supporting us last year. If you too would like to make a donation or learn more about the fantastic work of Seeds of Peace, please visit www.seedsofpeace.org.

Bhawani Singh Shekhawat is the CEO of Akshaya Patra – an extraordinarily brilliant charity that we first linked up with during Ramadan in 2015. At Diwali the same year, we made the partnership permanent. After three years, we’re still immeasurably proud to help them feed millions of children each year and stop hunger being a barrier to education in India. Bhawani is a dear friend, and – along with our partnership with Magic Breakfast here in the UK – joining forces with him and Akshaya Patra is one of the best things we’ve ever done.

Whirling around the school playground with a huge smile on her face, 13-year-old Kirti mesmerises everyone with her graceful dance steps. Her friends encourage her by clapping as loudly as they can to the rhythm of the songs.

This bright, energetic girl dreams of becoming a professional contemporary dancer, and is so passionate about fulfilling her ambition that she walks 10 miles to reach her after-school dance lessons. Kirti studies at a school in Bangalore and receives a free freshly cooked, nourishing lunch every day through our Food For Education Programme. She is just one of 1.6 million children across 11 states in India whom we currently provide with lunch and therefore enable them to attend and stay in school.

Just as Dishoom’s ethos is to bring people from all walks of life together over a delicious meal and break down barriers in doing so, here at The Akshaya Patra Foundation we also believe in the power of food to break down barriers. In our case this is to work towards eradicating childhood hunger as a barrier to education. ‘Akshaya Patra’ translates as ‘unlimited vessel of food’. We want to give every child the energy and security they need to realise their full potential and become the very best version of themselves.

We are the largest non-profit school meal provider in the world, and have won multiple awards. The food we serve is hygienically cooked in our state-of-the-art kitchens and efficiently transported to over 13,000 government schools every day. We rigorously test our food to ensure it is meeting, and in fact exceeding, the nutritional content required – the majority of our dishes are loaded with fresh, seasonal vegetables. Our menus are regionally tailored, and we serve a different meal each day to keep the children guessing what they will be having for lunch, which further encourages them to continue to attend school. For many of our beneficiaries, their school lunch is often the only full, balanced meal they will receive all day as their parents cannot afford to provide them with the food they need to grow healthily.

Why do we focus on India? Because one in three of the world’s malnourished children, and over 30% of the world’s illiterate population, lives in India. A staggering 3,000 children die across the country every day due to hunger, and over 15 million children do not currently have access to a school lunch, with many of them dropping out of education and turning to child labour in exchange for food. These deeply shocking statistics highlight the urgent need for our work, and motivate us to strive towards achieving our mission of reaching 5 million children by 2020.

We know that with full stomachs and enquiring minds, the pupils we serve are shaking up these odds and building a brighter future through accessing the transformative power of education. 78% of parents we surveyed perceived that their child’s health had improved. There are also noticeable improvements in the cognitive development of the children we reach, with 85% of their teachers reporting that the proportion of students achieving higher grades has increased. We have been operating since 2000, and have seen many inspirational cases of young people going on to fulfil their ambitions thanks to accessing childhood education. For example, our previous beneficiary Saraswati is now an MSc in Biotechnology and she is currently pursuing a PhD.

For girls like Saraswati and Kirti, the opportunity to attend school is not always certain – girls living in developing countries are often the first to be withdrawn from education when their family is experiencing financial difficulties. However, educating girls has an undeniably powerful ripple effect, which we are determined to encourage. Evidence published by the World Bank shows that educated women “tend to be healthier, earn more income, have fewer children, and provide better healthcare and education to their children.” When gainfully employed thanks to the lifelong gift of education, a young person can also lift two to three family members out of the poverty cycle.

Feeding 1.6 million children every day and scaling up to reach millions more children who need Food For Education is certainly not something we can achieve alone. We are therefore hugely grateful to everyone at Dishoom for supporting us so generously and wholeheartedly. Every lunch and dinner eaten at each of their restaurants means that one child in India receives a hot, nutritious and life-changing school lunch in return. To date, Dishoom has donated over 4 million school lunches.

Dishoom’s invaluable support has played, and will continue to play, a significant part in making our ambitious goals a reality, and I am excited to see where this partnership will take us together. For now, I will bring my focus back from large numbers to the fundamental difference that we can make to one child’s life if we concentrate on dedicating ourselves to serving them. All of the pupils at our partner schools sit down and eat the meals we provide together, which encourages unity and equity amongst the children.

Every day, when Kirti tucks into her tasty lunch with her friends, the food we provide gives her the energy to learn and to play and, above all, to dance. Keep dancing Kirti, we are behind you every step of the way.

Bhawani Singh Shekhawat, CEO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation UK

For more information, or to donate, visit www.foodforeducation.org.uk

It’s a funny thing, hunger, isn’t it? Not the everyday hunger that most of us feel before mealtimes, but real, gnawing, empty-bellied hunger. It’s like being too hot or too cold or thirsty or absolutely bone-tired; when you’re in the grip of that feeling, it’s the only thing you can focus on. It makes you anxious and irritable. You’re certainly in no mood to tackle a complex problem, or to knock out a piece of work you feel proud of. All you can think about is your growling stomach, and how you can get something – anything – to eat.

But like those other urgent, all-consuming needs, hunger can be relieved almost instantly and with a very simple fix; and once relieved it is immediately forgotten. Our minds do not dwell on hunger unless they are forced to. This, quite literally, is food for thought – food (or the absence of hunger) enables us to think, to learn, to achieve our potential.

And yet today, in 2016, over half a million children in the UK will arrive at school too hungry to learn. Half a million. That’s the same as the entire population of Manchester. And a hungry child cannot concentrate. A hungry child will not absorb information. A hungry child is more likely to be disruptive, or turn up late for school, or not turn up at all.

Many children qualify for free school lunches. But the gap between these meals is a long one, and if there is nothing to eat at home, a child turns up to school in the morning with an empty belly. Hunger speaks louder than any teacher, so these children are missing out on half a day of learning, every day.

The impact of this is huge – not just for the child’s health, but for their future. There is a strong link between eating a healthy breakfast and educational attainment. So, without access to food in the morning, students may not get educated. The most disadvantaged and vulnerable members of our society will become even more disadvantaged and vulnerable. And a huge swathe of the next generation will never even begin to realise their potential. In terms of social mobility, breakfast (or lack of it) can literally be life-changing.

This is shocking. It sounds like a sort of dystopian nightmare – half a million people trapped in a cycle of poverty and denied the opportunities and the basic human rights that others freely enjoy.

But this is no nightmare. It is happening right here, right now, in London, and all over the UK.

In 2015 we came across Magic Breakfast, a charity aiming to end hunger as a barrier to education by providing nutritious breakfasts to its partner schools. Thanks to their amazing work, over 23,500 children start their school day with a healthy ‘magic’ breakfast, enabling them to attend class with full bellies and enquiring minds.

Magic Breakfast support as many schools as they can, but have almost 300 schools on their waiting list. The cost of each simple, healthy breakfast – bagels, cereals, porridge, juice – is relatively small. An annual investment of just £13m would solve the problem entirely – and make a world of difference to these children’s futures.

So – we decided to do something about it. Last year, for the month of Ramadan, we decided to donate a ‘magic’ breakfast for every guest who dined with us. (We also donated a second meal by way of Indian charity Akshaya Patra.)

We were inspired by the partnerships we’d established and felt compelled to do more. So, for each and every breakfast you eat at Dishoom, we now donate a ‘magic’ breakfast to a school in London. And we will continue to do this. A meal for a meal. Simple. As of the end of March 2016 – we’d donated 154,934 ‘magic’ breakfasts to fuel children’s learning.

(We don’t add this cost to your bill or ask you to make a donation in our cafés. We support Magic Breakfast for every breakfast we serve because we believe their work is important and urgent.)

Donate now

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