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.

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

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

Dabirul Islam Choudhury OBE was born in 1920 during period of British imperial rule in India. He is now 101 year old. He observed the collapse of the empire and saw the emergence of a new nation for Bengalis in front of his eyes. Whilst Bangladesh was forming in 1971, he remembers the loss of lives of so many Bangladeshis. The global pandemic brought back memories of the lives lost. During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2020 he fundraised over £500,000 to save lives of British citizens. He donated the funds to help protect the NHS. He was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) by the Queen for his campaign work.

Daily Star writes about the work of BritBanglaCovid and how the pandemic may have developed Bangladeshi leadership in Britain, US and Australia. You can read more about our work by clicking below.

In times of the pandemic raising funds for burial is essential to help minority Muslim communities. Just we have seen the numbers of deaths of Bangladeshis in Britain had risen, so was the demand to raise funds for burial for those who passed away. For those who are less fortunate such as households in   low income and with no recourse to public funds, they rely on donations from organisations that Yousuf Khan works for. Yousuf works as a funeral funds manager at 13 Rivers Trust, a charity that helps fund Muslim burial.    Covid has made raising funds for Muslim Bangladeshi  communities crucial because if you have no savings, it's impossible to pay for burial costs.  ‘So since last April, till now, we carried out around 125 burials for region... Most of them  don't have a family, or they have partial family relatives or it would be with two young children,  wife  and the husband passed away. So the wife is not earning, they don't have money to bury. So this is why Muslim bu

  "I heard stories from people who'd lost their loved ones, who are made redundant and shielding." There are many reasons we're taking steps to protect our loved ones during COVID-19. Find out more about how you can protect your community: https://t.co/CsiJNdxIvp #ForOurFamilies pic.twitter.com/nKv9Jfwa1d — Tower Hamlets Council (@TowerHamletsNow) June 30, 2021

Mrs Nurun Nessa has been diagnosed with middle stage dementia during the pandemic. She is currently receiving informal support from her husband, adult daughters and a close friend. Her doctor said that her health is going to get worse as time goes on. She has accepted that her situation is going to get worse. She is waiting for a care package from Tower Hamlets Council. This film is brought to you by BritBanglaCovid. Filmmaker: Ripon Ray

HAPPY EID! EID MUBARAK! We do need to celebrate after a month of Ramadan; we do need to be over the moon.  I urge you to think about social distancing, although it is going to be hard. We are doing it for the benefit of our family and friends.