Muslim-Spanish Couple Feeds Over 80 Homeless Daily in Elche, Combating Social Crisis

According to Mundo Islam, the couple, whose initiative helps to tackle the social crisis, is trying to respond to a social emergency that has been attracting more and more people over the years. Per week, Ahmed and María, who used to welcome about fifty people, now receive more than 80; while on weekends, they generally exceed a hundred. "I hope the day will come when I won’t find anyone at the door; that would be a good sign that everything is getting better," says this 67-year-old Tunisian. "The worst thing," he notes, "is that more and more women accompanied by children are coming; it’s something we can’t get used to."

Servando González, a volunteer from Alicante who is present every Sunday, thinks the opposite. According to this member of the Rotary Illice, "not only have we not come out of the crisis, but it will be more, because more and more people are coming and are hungry." Servando’s organization, in charge of cooking a giant paella once a week, already knows what to expect in this new year. "I think a very good 2020 is not waiting for us," the volunteer foresees.

The idea of creating this social canteen goes back several years, when the couple decided to make solidarity the driving force of their lives. At 67, Ahmed met María Eugenia, 60, in Seville, who eventually converted to Islam. The couple has two children and five grandchildren. "I can’t stay quiet at home, knowing that there are people who have nothing to eat," says Ahmed, adding that for him "it is a duty to help."

When it started in 2000, the canteen fed the poor in a "very basic" way, especially every Saturday with 25 and 30 kilos of meat. Six years later, they made their home a reception center. Today, given the scale the canteen is taking, the couple, who had received a contribution from the Town Hall (32,000 to 35,000) for five years, say they are "financially suffocated." "I’ve been putting my own money in since we opened," Ahmed confides.

The social canteen welcomes people in difficult situations of several nationalities, including Spaniards, South Americans, Sub-Saharans, Romanians, Moroccans, Algerians, several English and a Chinese. "People need to know that it’s not immigrants who need the most help; Spaniards are also going through a bad time," Ahmed clarifies.

"Since the crisis, most of those who come here are workers who have lost their jobs and their homes and have been forced to come to this dining room," he confides.