Tag: chechnya

In Ramadan 2023, Islamic Relief provided food packs to 1,402 households in Grozny, Chechnya. Our teams also distributed food vouchers that allowed rightsholders to buy the food items they needed at the store.  

One of the beneficiaries was Luiza Djabaeva, a 31-year-old mother of four. She works as a housewife, taking care of the children and the small flat her family lives in while her husband works.  

“These days, life is really becoming very hard. The prices grow very quickly, there is no stability. 

“Timur works as a taxi driver and his daily earnings (around $12) are spent on our everyday needs.  

“We also have children’s allowances (around $480) which we have started to get recently, and with the rise in prices almost all of it too is spent on food and clothes, medicine when children get ill and communal services ($60 per month).  

“My attempts to save up some money for improving our living conditions often fail. 

“During tough times, we have to depend on our relatives who share with us what they have.”    

Making Do With Little Space 

“Alhamdulillah, we have all the needed communal supplies here, the only problem is that we live in a former accommodation centre and our flat is 20 square meters. 

“There is no place to put a desk or an additional bed for children. Muhammad goes to school and he does his homework at his grandmother’s place which is on the same floor as ours.   

“Soon Safiya will go to school, in shaa Allah, and Khaleem and Khussein too and we are unable to arrange a place for them to do their home tasks and keep their textbooks. This is so frustrating!  

Hope for Ramadan during tough times 

“Ramadan is the time of hope and peace for all Muslims. It’s also the time of mercy and forgiveness, strengthening of our Iman, increasing our good deeds and improving our characters. So, we too are trying to do good deeds – fast and improve ourselves with Allah’s help! 

“During Ramadan, we wake up earlier to have suhoor. My children also are starting to fast little by little. For suhoor, we eat rice with milk, buckwheat or some fried eggs. Then we do our prayers. Every evening Timur does tarawih prayer at the nearby mosque. He sometimes has iftar with his friends.  

During Ramadan, we eat less because there is less time for meals. We eat dates for Iftar when we can afford them. During the rest of the year, I cook all possible dishes out of flour, e.g. some buns, chepalgash, khingalsh, galnash.  

“Children like them and this food also helps to save up some means for other needs, because children need clothes to wear and toys too. And when you buy a sack of flour the price for a kilo is less and you can save up a little.”        

How Islamic Relief Helps 

“The support we and the families like ours receive from Islamic Relief during Ramadan is very valuable. The food pack lasts for days during which we don’t have to bother ourselves about where to get the food from. It is a great relief, especially now, when the situation is so unstable.   

“With us, the Ramadan food pack will in sha Allah last for about a week or more, and it will help save money we would have to pay for communal services during the whole month. So, it is great support!   

“We have become part of the Islamic Relief Ramadan project thanks to our community leader Layla. She was our head when the dormitory was still an accommodation centre for IDPs (internally displaced persons) and continued her mission into the day. She knows the needs of people and does the best she can to help others.  

“We received a voucher from the IRR with which we could choose goods at a food store, and this was great because we chose what we wanted and bought more sweets for the month of Ramadan, which children appreciated most. I cannot tell you what can be improved because this aid was ideal! We couldn’t ask for more!  

“I have so many words of gratitude for all the people who made this project possible! May Allah grant you with His mercy multiple times!  And may He treat you as those He is pleased with!”  

Last Ramadan, Islamic Relief provided food packs to 1,402 households in Grozny, Chechnya. Our teams also distributed food vouchers that allowed rightsholders to buy the food items they needed at the store. 

One of the beneficiaries is Larisa Mukaeva, a 44-year-old widow. A mother of 3, she is the current breadwinner of the house, after her eldest son lost his job and struggles to find work.  

“When Saidi was alive our poverty didn’t seem to be a great deal, and now after his death, I feel at such a loss.  

“My elder son finished law school last year and has a diploma. It is several months already since he has been trying to find a job but in vain.  

“He tried selling phones at a private shop with his friend, but soon had to leave because the shop owner decided to scale down the number of staff, so now Bek is looking for a job again.”  

 “Alhamdulillah, not so long ago we have started to receive a bread-winner-loss allowance for Saifullah ($142) and I have recently found a part-time job in a food store nearby.  

Struggling to Provide for Her Children’s Needs  

“I cannot work the full day because Saifullah has digestion problems and needs care. We are trying to diagnose his disease, but no doctor has given the exact statement yet.  

“Medical tests and consultations are quite expensive and sometimes we have to go outside Chechnya to have more of them, and we also have to pay communal services (around $65 per month) that’s why food often becomes an issue.  

“My brother-in-law often helps us with food and clothes during tough times, but he has a wife and three children and they are expecting one more child, so I don’t feel at ease when he spends money on us.  

“I pray so much that Bek-Muhammad would find a job and our situation improves, in sha Allah.”  

A Ramadan of Hardship 

 “Ramadan is surely a special month that brings more joy and hope to all Muslims. It seems to me, however, that after Saidi is no longer with us, Ramadan is no longer the same too. As well as the whole of my life in general. I know that everything is in Allah’s hands, so I don’t lose hope and rely upon Him! 

“During Ramadan, I wake up earlier to prepare something to eat for my sons, like some porridge or fried eggs. We have our suhoor and then do our prayers. Every evening Bek goes to the nearest Mosque for tarawih and Saifullah stays with me.  

We usually have various dishes that I can cook with the available ingredients. I cook well and sometimes even in darkness, when we have electricity failures, I cook better. As my children say, the food I make is more delicious when prepared without light”  

How Islamic Relief Helps 

“Islamic Relief is doing a great job for all those who receive this support during Ramadan.  

“I have learnt about Islamic Relief from my friend, who knew about Saidi’s death and our hardships and helped me apply. We didn’t participate in any other projects. But this help came right in time! When we needed it so much!   

“These days when the life of people here seems to grow harder and harder, Islamic Relief gives hope for improvement.  

“People can feed their families and for all of them, this is a great support. 

“For our family, this is a great relief, and this food will help us save up some money we need for other expenses, like medical needs, communal services and studies.  

“When I was shopping with the Ramadan voucher, I felt the barakah of it. I think I bought with it more than I could buy with an equal sum of money at any other store.   

“I thank all those who helped us, all who work in Islamic Relief and those who donate money to it. May Allah be pleased with them all!”