Eid Mubarak ππ
Eid Mubarak to those celebrating!
Eid Al-Adha commemorates the end of hajj and the sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim peace be upon him, who was willing to sacrifice his son Ismail on command of God. His willingness to obey God by sacrificing one of his most prized possessions was accepted by God, who replaced Ismail with a lamb.
Muslims around the world spend this day each year with prayer and by sacrificing a lamb, or another animal if they can afford it. The meat is divided one-third to be kept by the one sacrificing, one-third to family, and the last third is given to the poor.
During Eid Al-Adha festivities, Bangladeshi families often make sawlor roti or soy pita, both made out of rice flour. It complements the fresh meat brought home from the sacrifice, also called Qurbani.
Foods like biryani, chot potti and keir are also crowd favorites.
Bangladeshi older women coping through the pandemic
During the pandemic Bangladeshi older women had to learn about the pandemic, oftentimes secondhand from family and friends due to information not being available in Bangla in real-time - or not in the Sylheti dialect which many Metro Detroit Bangladeshis speak. They also had to figure out how to take care of themselves and others.
For the past year, I researched how Metro Detroitβs Bangladeshi older women figured out this information and how they took care of themselves. Cities like Hamtramck, Michigan were hard hit by the pandemic. Michigan is home to the third-largest population of Bangladeshi Americans.
From language access to losing options for health care providers, Bangladeshi older women had to figure out new ways to meet healthcare needs.
In some families Bangladeshi older women often take care of their children and older parents. Read about this familyβs journey.
In the absence of Bangla language services, children of older women, community organizations, and leaders come together to provide healthcare needs for Bangladeshi older women.
These articles were written with the support of a journalism fellowship from The Gerontological Society of America, The Journalists Network on Generations, and the Silver Century Foundation. This story was also produced through a collaboration with the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations and universities dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about successful responses to social problems. The group is supported by theΒ Solutions Journalism Network. Articles were originally published in Tostada Magazine.
Nargis Rahman was a Journalists in Aging fellow for the 2020-2021 cohort who researched and reported on this three-part series on Detroit Bangladeshi older adults, especially women, and how local leaders combat misinformation in immigrant communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.