Today Rabbi Yisroel and Chaya Uzan delivered the 770th box of food supplies to families starving after the COVID shutdown left them without any source of income. Each box has 17 kilograms of food, a value of around $100, enough to feed a family with five children for at least a full week. Chabad Aid, Chabad of Nigeria’s humanitarian NGO organized the food drive.
Though Chabad Aid’s programming usually centers around education and development, the Uzans began a food drive when they saw how devastating the COVID shutdown was to the people all around Abuja where they are based, many of whom live off their income day by day. “We can’t just sit in our home and protect ourselves. When we see people around us starving we have to do what we can to help,” Yisroel told Lubavitch.com.
The Israeli Embassy to Nigeria partnered with Chabad Aid in this campaign and Ambassador Shimon Ben Shoshan and embassy staff helped with the deliveries which were timed to coincide with the end of Ramadan when traditionally, Muslim families celebrate with large meals.
In appreciation President Muhammadu Buhari sent a member of his family to assist with the deliveries. Community leaders invited Yisroel and Chaya and Ambassador Ben Shoshan to the Central Mosque of Abuja, perhaps the first time a Rabbi and Israeli Ambassador are in the mosque, to receive thanks.
Next week Chabad Aid will begin a campaign to deliver 10,000 hygiene kits to educate children at orphanages and in villages around Abuja about personal hygiene and protecteing themselves and their families from infection.
