By CASEY NEILL
An Afghan feast forged community connections and marked the Muslim holy month.
Life Without Barriers’ National Immigration Support Service (NISS) in Dandenong hosted an iftar dinner for about 200 people on Thursday 16 June.
Iftar is a post-sunset meal when Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast during the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and the religion’s followers consume no food or water from dawn to sunset for the 30 days.
They also pray and refrain from smoking, bad behaviour and impure thoughts.
Life Without Barriers held the celebration in partnership with the National Zakat Foundation.
Guests included families and children, single adults, guests from the National Zakat Foundation and Life Without Barriers staff.
The event started at 5pm with a recitation from the Quran, an acknowledgment of country, a welcome address from Life Without Barriers operations manager Peter Singh and a speech from National Zakat Foundation’s Jenny Salahi.
The menu included traditional Afghan dishes from korma to kabuli pulao, ghormeh sabzi and Afghan bread.
Life Without Barriers is a non-profit organisation working in more than 300 communities across Australia.
It delivers services in the areas of disability, out-of-home care, aged care, mental health and support for refugee and asylum seekers.
It also supports homeless people and youth involved with the justice system.
