(Photo: Family handout)
Elham Asaad Buaras
100-year-old Londoner Dabir Islam Choudhury has raised over £200,000 (and counting) for charities walking laps around his communal garden while fasting. The aid will be distributed to orphaned children and vulnerable families in the UK, Bangladesh, Gaza, Syria and Yemen.
When Choudhury, was in self-isolation for six weeks, he saw that there were so many people contracting and dying of Covid-19 and he wanted to help them.
He asked his son, Atique, 57, to help him raise funds,“I told him 100-year-old Colonel Tom Moore was raising funds by walking in his garden. I asked him if he can walk 50 laps to raise funds. My dad replied, ‘I can walk for 500 laps,’” Atique told The Muslim News.
Choudhury’s grandson, Rishi, 22, started a JustGiving page, and they expected to collect £1,000, they hit that target “within eight hours,” said Atique.
Choudhury now says he won’t stop walking as long as donors keep donating. He wakes up early in the morning to do his walking. “He is very healthy. He used to be a professional footballer in Bangladesh,” said Atique, who is the owner of Yum Yum Thai Restaurant in north London.
Choudhury told The Muslim News that he will continue to walk for the whole of Ramadan. “I am very happy that during the holy month of Ramadan we have been able to raise funds for the needy and the helpless in the UK and Bangladesh and many countries. I would like to thank everybody for the help, support and goodwill that have been created,” he said. “I feel blessed that I can help people,” he added.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan tweeted on May 12 about the dedication of Choudhury of raising funds for those affected by the Coronavirus,
‘What an inspiration walking 100 laps of his community garden whilst fasting during Ramadan.
On May 5, the UK became Europe’s hardest-hit country, in terms of deaths from the Coronavirus, overtaking Italy, with more than 32,000 people having died with Covid-19.
Update the headline and total figure is different from the print copy as donations to Choudhury’s JustGiving page continue to rise: As of May 22,9,319 people have donated over £212,811.63 (including Gift Aid) to his charity.
Additional reporting by Ahmed J Versi