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.

Salam Jones speaks about his experience of depression and how minority mental men do not speak about depression and mental health.  He speaks about depression during the lockdown in order to get people talking about mental health and to remove the taboo of speaking up on the issue. He also feels that ethnic minority men do not speak about mental health because it's not a manly thing to do. BritBanglaCovid has been campaigning on health related issues during the pandemic because we have noticed how minority communities have been significantly impacted by Covid-19 for so many reasons. Here is an opportunity to raise awareness of mental health issues among ethnic minority communities during and after the lifting of the national lockdown.

Ruhul Abdin was born in Bangladesh, brought up with six siblings, spends lockdown in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and becomes lead artist for the National Portrait Gallery's project to celebrate 50th Anniversary of Bangladesh in Britain. RUHUL’S CHILDHOOD Ruhul and his siblings emigrated to the UK in 1993. They settled in Darlington, north east of England, in the county of Durham.   ‘We had an interesting kind of couple of years growing up in a very, very white working class neighbourhood. It wasn't that much like East is East , but it wasn't that far off the style. It was interesting, colourful, there's lots of racism.’ His father had two wives   and they were living in two separate houses in Darlington. ‘I’m one of six children, you know, all these kind of crazy narratives that come with that. I mean -  I'm one of six and I have six half siblings.’ As a 13 year old he read a book and ever since he got excited about education and architecture. ‘I was very lucky… I had some g

Due to the severity of Covid-19 amongst Bangladeshi communities in Britain, BritBanglaCovid has organised Health & Social Care Crisis Public Meeting on 23 August 2020 at 3pm.  You can hear from doctors,  care worker, carer and domestic violence sufferer and many more! Have your say on the subject matter in order for our government, councils and community activists to take action.  If you want to take part in the event, you must register on EventBrite and have your say. This is urgent! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/health-social-care-crisis-for-britbangla-tickets-115043678740

Shajida Ali lost her sister and brother-in-law to Covid. She feels anxious when people don't comply social distancing guidelines. EARLY LIFE OF SHAJIDA Shajida Ali's father came to the United Kingdom (UK) in 1962. When she was 7 months old, Shajida,  her mother and two brothers came to the UK in 1982. Three of her sisters remained in Bangladesh who were already married off. When they came to the UK they, at first, stayed in the East End. Later they moved to Berkshire for a year but she says: ‘My mum had to move back because there were no Bengalis and there was no community. We could not live like that; so we moved back to east London. I have been living in east London since then.’ Although Shajida has been living all her life in the UK, she goes back to Bangladesh to see her siblings. Her brothers talked about racism and being attacked when she was young. She remembers Canon Street Park where she played during her childhood. ‘Most of our neighbours were Bangladeshi. Even to thi

EARLY LIFE Ima Miah came to the UK as a toddler. She was brought up in a typical Bangladeshi family. She was one of six children. ‘My father was here (in the UK) from the 1960s. My village gran parents were the early cohort of people coming over. My family has been deep rooted for many many decades,’ she explains. When they joined their father in the UK, they first lived in a tiny restaurant in Crystal Palace, South London. Eventually, they lived in a house in Beckenham. She lived in the area for   over 30 years.   ‘I do remember living in a very white community compared to my cousins who lived in Camden and East End…We would have weekly trips into town where my dad would make it absolute priority to go every week at some point in one of the relative's houses. This is how I was able to learn about Bangladeshi culture’. ‘I remember going pass   East End and being quite tearful because I felt I’ve gone back to Bangladesh. I’ve never seen so many brown faces! Living in a town like Bec

In a challenging time, we need to work with like minded people and organisations for the same cause. BritBanglaCovid endorses and supports the work of King's College London for the interest of Bangla-Britain in times of Covid-19. If you know of anyone who fits the criteria please ask them to contact Julie or Ansar from Swadhinata Trust. 

Ritha Chowdhury shares her experience of Covid on BritBanglacovid. Her Uber driver husband lost his job, 300 colleagues on furlough scheme and many redundancies. She knows two people died of Covid. She is now the main breadwinner of her home.

Abdulla Almamun plays a huge part in the local faith community by carrying on motivating volunteers to develop their confidence and morale during COVID-19. EARLY LIFE Abdulla was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh. He came to the UK in 1988 with  his family. Since then he was brought up in Whitechapel, Tower Hamlets, near East London Mosque.   He has three sisters and a brother. His father owned a factory and was involved in transfer of money business. His mother was a home-keeper. According to Abdulla  she made sure that: ‘we went to school, wake up, come back, go the local mosque, feed us, look after us.  We were fortunate, Alhamdulillah’.  He lived in the same five bedroom house with his family  until he was married.   He stepped out of Tower Hamlets when he decided to study at Kingsway College, Holborn. TOWER HAMLETS His dad was active in the community and part of the local Labour Party. Abdulla goes on to say that: ‘Initially, I hated politics.   I wanted nothing   to do with my dad. I do