Women from Norwood’s Bengali community threw a festive BBQ at Mosholu Park on Saturday, May 22, to celebrate the end of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.
The event, hosted by LAAL, a non-profit organization that provides resources and support to Bengali women in Norwood, also marked the first time the community had gathered in person since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as such, was also an opportunity to celebrate life beyond the various State-mandated lockdowns.
“When everything shut down in March of 2020, we had to cancel all of our in-person programming,” said Alexandra Indira Sanyal, LAAL’s marketing and media coordinator. “We’ve all been at home for over a year so this is also a kind of post-COVID celebration. So, it’s really special.”
With some dressed in cheerfully colored hijabs, traditional head coverings worn by Muslim women, the attendees, which included one honorary male staff member of LAAL, commemorated the end of Ramadan, Islam’s season of fasting and reflection, also called Eid-al-Fitr, or Eid, which in Arabic means “Festival of Breaking Fast.”
In the past, as reported previously by Norwood News, immigrant Bengali women in Norwood didn’t have access to any common, safe and dedicated space where they could connect with one another, which left many feeling marginalized. Sanjana Khan sought to close that gap by co-founding and creating LAAL in 2019.
Since then, each year, LAAL organize women’s support groups, food pantries, conversational English classes and transportation classes, and this summer, they also plan to launch a community garden. In addition, the group is also becoming more politically active, and have endorsed the Bronx People’s Platform of NYC 2021, a people-powered, grassroots movement with a broadly progressive agenda.
“I was born and raised in Norwood, and I never felt like there was a space for us,” said Khan, who also recently hosted one of the many virtual District 11 City Council candidate forums which took place in the lead-up to the June 22 primary election. “Even growing up, when we would go to the Mosque, the girls weren’t allowed. When we go to the grocery store, the men just stare at us. So, I co-founded LAAL two years ago for the women. They are the ones who wanted this.”
As reported, the Bengali population in Norwood is growing. In 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated there were 2,445 foreign-born Bangladeshis living in Bronx Community District 7 (CB7), representing 4.2 percent of the district’s total population which includes Bedford Park, Norwood, Fordham, Kingsbridge Heights, and University Heights.
Meanwhile, according to the Asian American Federation, New York’s Bangladeshi population (those who identify specifically as Bangladeshi alone) grew by 60 percent from 38,639 in 2010 to 61,927 in 2015. The majority (66 percent) of Bengalis live in Queens, followed by 16 percent in The Bronx, 15 percent in Brooklyn, and three percent in Manhattan.
As we also reported, throughout the pandemic, The Bronx was one of the hardest-hit boroughs. Its COVID-19 positivity rate reached the highest in the City at 7.06 percent over a seven-day average in late January 2021. However, with the availability of COVID vaccines, and the onset of warmer weather, outdoor gathering with or without masks is finally possible, and LAAL’s Bengali community plans to seize every opportunity to celebrate.
As reported, in response to the pandemic, LAAL initiated the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a fundraising campaign in partnership with The Zakat Fund of NYC, which was established in 2016 to collect and distribute “Zakat,” or almsgiving in New York City. Through the fund, LAAL distributed groceries and cash aid to over 54 local families. “This is our first public gathering and it’s really exciting. I’m so happy right now,” said Khan. “During the pandemic, we showed up when no one else did for our community and that’s why we have the trust of the community now.”