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 conditions &

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 that at least I was going to go

The British government published Covid-19 Disparities Report on 3 December 2021.  It states the following:  'The Bangladeshi group was the only ethnic group...the highest rate of vaccine uptake at 91.7%' If you remember that  during the first wave of the pandemic, Black African and Caribbean communities working in health and social were affected due to their occupational risk.  During the second wave Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups were high risk because they were more likely than others to live in multi-generational houses. We must celebrate such a vaccination among Bangladesh is in London. 

What a lovely group of passionate people attended the 7th Zoom public meeting organised by  BritBanglaCovid ,  since beginning of the pandemic, on 9th January at 3pm when we could easily have left everything for a day of sunshine! As usual, we covered Covid-19 in a very intelligent way and for which I am so grateful to my panelists:  Professor Patrick Vernon OBE FrHistS , Rokhsana Fiaz (Mayor of Newham)  Chris Tang ,  Rachel Blake ,  Shirina Ali  and others. We have covered from health, community, local authority, and most importantly, from the perspective of structural inequality that had already existed in our community when it comes to the question of Bangladeshis and other minority communities in London. It was such a pleasure to hear from everyone. There would not have been  BritBanglaCovid   without your support and belief in BritBanglaCovid! Thank you for being part of   BritBanglaCovid  world! ‘'Bangladeshi group was the only ethnic group...the highest vaccine uptake at 91.

BritBanglaCovid has organised its first online Zoom meeting since discovery of a new variant of Covid, Omicron.    Please register on EventBrite: here However, regardless of a number of challenges due to beyond the control of minority communities:   ‘'Bangladeshi group was the only ethnic group...the highest vaccine uptake at 91.7%.'’ This is according to the British government's Covid Disparities Report published on 3 December 2021. We have leaders from health, local and central governments, academic and grassroots members to encourage vaccination and to encourage positive discussion. SPEAKERS : Prof Patrick Vernon OBE - Health Campaigner Rokhsana Fiaz OBE - Mayor of Newham Rachel Blake - Deputy Mayor of Tower Hamlet Cabinet Member of Adult Health & Well-being. Chris Tang - Linguistic Education- Kings College London Shirina Ali - Community Advocacy Manager at Limehouse Project. Abdi Hassan - Founder of Cafe Afrik CIC We know there is vaccine hesitation in our commu

We must not forget that according to the current government's report - Covid Disparities Report 2021- published on 3 December 2021 that 91.7% of Bangladeshis in London have already taken the vaccine. This group is therefore the highest vaccine taker compared to any other ethnic group in London. BritBanglaCovid would like to say thank you to everyone who have played their part. We still have a way long way to go. We just need to make sure we carry on with the campaign and call for the take up of the vaccine to everyone. There are still a million Londoners who have not yet taken the vaccine. We must not forget other minority communities too. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!