Current Events

Seva at London's Heathrow

by DANIELLE J. DE FEO

Heathrow, London, United Kingdom

Volunteers from an international UN affiliated, humanitarian relief organization, UNITED SIKHS, responded to an SOS call for hot meals from Heathrow airport and fed the stranded hungry travellers on Monday and will continue doing so until end of the air traffic crisis (triggered by Iceland's volcanic eruptions and the total shut-down of air-traffic across Europe).

At 7:00 on Monday morning, Harbans Kaur, Community Service Director of United Sikhs, received a call from an employee at Heathrow's Terminal 3, who said that there was a lounge-full of people in the arrivals hall who hadn't eaten a hot meal for days. These were passengers stranded since the flight ban declared five days earlier.

Immediately, a team of eight United Sikhs volunteers put a plan into action and prepared lentil curry and rice. Volunteers Gurmit Singh, Narpinder Kaur and their friends purchased water bottles, fruit, chocolates, and tea, and set off to Terminal 3 to serve the people and assess the situation. This team was responding to a need as they do for the hungry under an ongoing United Sikhs project called Feed the Hungry. 

"When we got to the arrivals hall yesterday we saw a sad scene. The stranded passengers we met were form Australia, Vietnam and U.S.A. They had run out of money and food at the airport was expensive. They had no choice but to sleep on the floor or remain sitting on the hard chairs. Some of the passengers were in transit on long haul flights and many were stranded for four days. They were bored and exhausted. They were all very pleased to be offered free hot meals by us," said Baljinder Kaur, one of the volunteers.

The ash cloud spewing out of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano has affected air traffic in Europe in a way unprecedented in living memory, grounding planes and leaving thousands stranded. As a global hub airport, Heathrow has come to a halt, becoming the temporary home of hundreds of passengers. They wait for resumption of normal flights, and become ever more hungry and tired in the process. They speak of hotel rates escalating overnight, forcing them to ‘sleep rough' at airports.

"I  was stranded and hungry, without much money, at Frankfurt airport two days ago due to the traffic crisis caused by the ash cloud. I knew how it felt when we got the SOS from Terminal 3. It mattered not that the stranded travelers at Heathrow could have bought cold sandwiches which were available at high prices in an outlet. We needed to provide solace through hot food,"  said Jaswinder Kaur.

"I just had another call from the Information desk at Heathrow's Terminal 3. I was asked if we were going to feed the hungry stranded travellers again today. The feedback from the passengers was that they were very grateful.  We said we would be there by midday today with hot food," Harbans Kaur said whilst preparing and packing today's hot meals comprising kidney beans, rice, sandwiches, fresh fruit and drinks. 

"As we began serving the food yesterday, a big queue formed of smiling passengers who came for seconds as well. One even asked for the recipe. A lot of them wanted to know who we were. They said they had not encountered anything of this nature before," said Atinder Singh, another volunteer.

"The spirit of selfless service spread, as one passenger immediately offered to help serve the food, and grateful airport staff assisted us in making hot drinks. A duty policeman said how happy he was to see the stranded being fed. Stranded passengers asked if we would return," added Darshan Kaur, one of the eight volunteers who had mounted this ‘Feed the Hungry' event at the airport.

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