It was a delight to have left a signed copy of ' Covid Crisis: the Brit-Bangla Response'  to the Scarlett Letters Bookshop on Cambridge Heath Road, Tower Hamlets. I really hope that the local community will benefit from learning about its community through my book.  

In one day Ripon Ray promoted 'Covid Crisis: the Brit-Bangla Response' book in two different places in London.  Initially, it started when Ripon delivered a workshop to ESOL students in Tower Hamlets to a group of women who live locally. It was organised by Becky Winstanley on behalf of English4All. Ripon spoke about the subject: 'Housing, council tax & your rights .' After the workshop,  Becky explained that Ripon wrote the book. It resulted in the women in the seminar speaking about their experience of Covid for better or worse.  Afterwards we took a group photo to remind ourselves of the history of the Bengali experience during the pandemic.  After the event, Ripon was invited to discuss the cause of poverty in the Bangladeshi community in Britain which resulted in a heavy debate between the penal members and the host. To conclude the event, the panel members got together to learn about the book.

It was a wonderful experience to have been able to give a talk to York University PHD researchers on my recent book on Covid Crisis. These researchers were so inquisitive and supporting of my work. I am grateful to Dr Suman Prinjha for for giving me the opportunity to speak about it.  Also, having spoken with Rabbani, I was able to approach a production company to make a short documentary. It would be a delight to meet in person in the future perhaps for an exhibition? Thank you, everyone!

On 4th July 6-8pm at Rich Mix, 50 people from all walks of life from the East End and beyond to purchased the ' Covid Crisis: The Brit-Bangla Response ' book and viewed the  Untold Covid  Stories exhibition (preview) which showed extracts of the book to remember the struggles of the Bengali community during the pandemic and their response. The exhibition was opened at 6 PM and were guided by  Saif Aslam and Doug Haywood (exhibition curators), Barney Snow (script editor), Miranda Snow (visual book editor), Chuks Ikediashi (Author's friend) and Ripon Ray (author).  At 7pm, Ripon Ray, spoke about the historical importance of such a book launch to capture the stories during the pandemic from the perspective of the Bengali community and how the campaign organised by BritBanglaCovid had become one of the major platforms for many minority communities predominantly from East London. Kawsar Zaman - campaigner for TaketheVaccine - highlighted the book's significance and the e...

  Hi everyone, Not long to go for the launch of 'Untold Covid Stories' exhibition and 'Covid Crisis - the BritBangla Response' book launch. I just want to give you an overview of the day: 6:00 - Exhibition opening - you can check out the art corridors, speak to me (the author), speak to editors (Barney and Miranda Snow) and curator (Doug Haywood) and others who are like-minded like you and me. Feel free to purchase the limited editions of the book and T-towels - I genuinely mean limited! 7:00 - 7:30 - Free snacks provided by Oitijjo - everything halal and vegan - tea too. First £150 is free to drink from the bar - so hurry! 😘 7:30 - 8:00 - five-minute speeches by each campaigner, academic and me - just don't cringe!🙂 8:30 - The End, but feel free to party among yourself. The photographer will take photos of you: don't forget to say: 'cheese!' Registration here: https://lnkd.in/ege4JpQM Ripon Ray Founder BritBanglaCovid

  He came to the UK in 1962. At the time, he felt the UK was pretty peaceful and safe. There was no rivalry, conflict or tension among many communities. He stayed with Bengali seamen. There were thousands of seamen. All of them were Bengalis from India. They came on a ship, and many married English women and stayed in the UK permanently. We are not speaking about just a few Bengalis. During the global pandemic, many Bangladeshis in Bangladesh lost their lives. If more die in Bangladesh, there may be a call for a national lockdown, according to Badsha Khan. He wanted to go to Bangladesh for Eid to sacrifice a cow. All the flights from the UK to Bangladesh were on hold. Instead, those who lived there shared the cow meat with others. He spent a few hours walking about. It was terrifying for him.

Keep an eye on the vulnerable during Ramadan As many British Muslims begin to plan for a month of fasting whilst they endure, reflect and build solidarity among fellow Muslim men and women, it is also a time to reflect on what has impacted this community in recent years and protect the most vulnerable moving forward.  Having grown up in a Muslim family, I can imagine many Muslims are beginning to prepare psychologically for a change in their routine where they refrain from eating and drinking between dawn and nightfall. As they break their fast they are going to consume extra sugar content. The weather condition this year is a blessing due to shorter days and chilled temperatures. A few years ago one of my colleagues had to break his fast due to dehydration and exhaustion on an unbearable hot summer's day. Extreme heat can be a threat to many people’s lives. This is particularly the case when there are underlying health conditions and those who are elderly. Living conditi...

This is the final story of the pandemic by BritBanglaCovid. This time Najma Begum shared her experience of being stuck in Dubai, United Emirate, during the pandemic. She stayed in Dubai for nearly five months whilst being away from her family, yet felt guilty about being in the sun. Since the pandemic, she has been suffering from long covid. When the pain is extreme she takes medication to cope. Ethnic minority communities in Britain had seen more deaths than our white counterparts due to Covid. Najma also heard about her close relations passed away.

A local campaigner encourages community vaccination. Onupom Rahman, who  gave up being an Uber driver because he could not survive on nil income during the pandemic, is now working as vaccination worker in the East End of London to get his community members vaccinated and save lives.  Onupum lost two aunts to Covid-19. He  also felt insecure about working as Uber driver because passengers who he was  serving may be carrier of Covid-19. He then completely abandoned the trade as he was getting no income. Once Covid-19 vaccination was  underway, Onupom quickly joined Tower Hamlets Council's vaccination team to make sure he was saving lives of his community members. He is BritBanglaCovid's hero!

It was such a joy to hear from a diverse range of women's experience of British Bangladeshi origin as part of the International Women's History Month in Britain. Ripon Ray, founder of BritBanglaCovid would especially like to thank her Honour Judge Khatun Sapnara for stewarding the public meeting in such a delicate manner as Julie Begum, Jusna Begum, Ummul Chowdhury, Rukeya Miah, Rezna Khatun, Hasina Momtaz and Meghna Uddin and Tanzila Zaman shared their sensitive life experiences to the wider communities in Britain and beyond. It was no doubt a privilege and an honour to have listened to such experiences as BritBanglaCovid comes to the end of its campaign against Covid-19 in order to support the Bangladeshi community in Britain from the pandemic. I hope British Bangladeshi women feel proud of what they have achieved so far in Britain in order for the future generation of Bangladeshi women to gain confidence recognising the solidarity in their struggles.

Register here:  link This event is brought to you by BritBanglaCovid and supported by Oxford University and Swadhinata Trust to get British Bangladeshi women talk about issues that matter to them. There are misconceptions about Bangladeshi women linked with force marriages, oppressed, and being submissive to men among so many different stereo types. Also, how did the pandemic impact Bangladeshi women? Let's find out about it as part of the Women's History Month from the point of view of British Bangladeshi women (in English). As part of this meeting on 13 March 2022 at 3pm on Zoom, Bangladeshi women practitioners, writers and and community leaders are to share their experience as never done before. This event is co-hosted by Her Honour Judge Khatun Sapnara and Ripon Ray. Thank you for listening to the voices of British Bangladeshi women during the pandemic! The event is open to everyone regardless of your race, and gender Register here:  link

In memory of her dead son, Hasina Momtaz  spreads the message of  hope and paradise  after life through jewellery design to connect with Muslim community during pandemic. Early life in London Hasina came to the UK in the mid 1970s. She settled in Croydon, south London, from Bangladesh. She could not speak a word of English and was being bullied at school. ‘I remember nobody wanted to be my friend and the teacher assigned somebody to be my friend to look after me and make sure I was okay.’ Although she made south London her home, there was something unsettling for Hasina as a teenanger. ‘So   from the age of that 16, 17, I almost felt like I was on borrowed time because the school that I was at there were three or four Bangladeshi girls who all got taken out of school at the age of 16 and ...actually shipped back home… and married off there against their will.’ She confessed that she also felt the pressure from her father to get married. ‘I was determined th...