„Vegetarian food symbolises a peaceful world that can provide enough food for everyone.”
The Hare Krishna Community in Hungary does more for the needy than the state (this is not true in this form, since we ourselves also receive support from the state, ed.).
When the bald-headed men and the women in fluttering, colourful shawls of the Hare Krishna religious community dance down the pedestrian street chanting the same mantras, they are met with inquisitive glances and often smiles. Few know the reason for their strange appearance. In Hungary, Food for Life, an international vegetarian non-profit food aid organisation, provides significant help to people in need on the streets.
Despite the ubiquitous presence of homeless people in underpasses, in front of shop windows, on park benches and in construction sites throughout Budapest, there is still no central city institution to help them. On the contrary, the places that are used by the majority of homeless people need to be cleaned up to make them safer, according to the Mayor of Budapest, István Tarlós. These include the Blaha Lujza Square on Rákóczi Street, where the will to help each other and the solidarity with each other is growing these weeks. People queue hundreds of metres long to receive their often once-a-day hot meals. Because of their large numbers, we can only imagine what the actual number of homeless people in Budapest might be. As quickly as the crowds form, they disperse, not necessarily heading home but looking for a place where the cold can be endured for longer periods.
Help without cultural boundaries These people rely on the help of charities, respectable helpers such as the staff of karitativ.hu, who distribute food to them in their vans, wearing white T-shirts, hardly distinguishable from other charities such as the Red Cross or the Maltese Relief Service. A visit to the charitativ.hu website will not only give you a traditional introduction to this organisation, but also to Hare Krishna Food for Life Foundation, the world's largest vegetarian non-profit food aid organisation, which provides free meals and financial assistance to people in need in more than 60 countries. Based on love for one's neighbour and considering all living beings as equal, the Hare Krishna movement, which is in line with the basic tenets of Hinduism, practises the ancient Vedic culture of hospitality. Vegetarian food, meanwhile, symbolizes a peaceful world that can provide enough food for all. In 1974, the Food for Life Mental Health Program was founded in India. The Food for Life programme, run by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), began its work by cooking lunches for school children of destitute Indians. Since then, volunteers have served more than 140 million bowls of food a year in free vegetarian food distributions around the world. In total, they have introduced regular food distribution in 150 cities, serving 30,000 hungry people a day, including Budapest, where the organisation grew in 1999 using delivery facilities.
Supplementary care for Christmas and New Year Followers of the faith see poverty as one of Hungary's biggest problems, with a large number of socially and financially marginalised citizens lacking social care. To help improve this situation, the Meals for Life Foundation distributes around 200,000 hot meals a year in Hungary. In this way, hot tea and vegetarian dinners are provided for 300 people a day, Monday to Friday, in a social centre in Óbuda, a family support centre, and in the nearby counselling centres. Every Saturday, 400 people are given a free lunch, which is a great help especially for families who can use the money saved for other things.) The meals are prepared with great care to offer nutritious meals without meat, such as one-dish meals, especially pulses or Indian curry (perhaps the author of the article was thinking of dhal, editor), sometimes supplemented with fresh fruit, sweets or yoghurt. In October, the charity was awarded the Óbuda Social Award, named after Ágoston Fischer, by the district council for its outstanding work in making life easier in the 3rd district. In addition to its permanent programme, Meals for Life offers other periodic assistance programmes, such as the Winter Crisis Management programme at Blaha Lujza Square, where it distributes food from November to April in cooperation with 17 other social organisations (at Blaha Lujza Square, food is distributed every weekday not only in winter but all year round, ed.) Around Christmas, the number of people seeking help rises to over 1,000, who often receive their only Christmas present from the Meals for Life Foundation; in addition to hot meals, they also receive emergency care packages containing food such as bread and pasta, as well as clothes, hygiene products and magazines. On 1 January they will receive New Year's lentils (31 December, ed.)
More and more families and pensioners are in need According to the Meals for Life Foundation, the composition of those in need has changed in recent years, with an increasing number of families, pensioners and unemployed people living below the subsistence level, in addition to the approximately 30% homeless people, whose situation has worsened since the economic crisis. Thus, the organisation helps not only the specifically needy, the homeless, but also those who are disadvantaged in other ways: families with children, students, pensioners and people with disabilities. For children, a special outreach programme has been developed to protect mentally and/or physically impaired students, which includes emergency shelter care and targeted food donations to children's homes and families with assets.
Food parcels for rural people In addition to food distribution, Meals for Life Foundation staff also organise events, such as summer festivals, which are not just about providing food, but more about creating a rare opportunity to meet and have fun with food tasting that takes your mind off your troubles. In addition, the religious movement is present at numerous cultural and youth festivals, where social workers and psychologists offer advice to young people with various problems and drug addicts. Crises are represented in Budapest with various programmes at the annual Sziget Festival. Krishna believers are not only present in the cities, but also in the poverty-stricken rural regions of Hungary, especially in the areas around Kecskemét, Pécs, Miskolc and Ózd. For the needy, who are unable to visit an aid station every day due to transport conditions, they work with other NGOs to distribute thousands of durable food parcels containing tinned food, rice and potatoes every year, in addition to hot meals. The people of the villages affected by the red sludge disaster (Kolontár and Devecser) were given food at the special request of the government (instead of the local disaster management, ed.).
Alternative Living Community in Krishna Valley As a non-profit corporation, the Meals for Life Foundation accepts monetary and in-kind donations. Individual donors can track their donations. In addition to food, the Christmas programmes mainly distribute clothes, hygiene items and vitamin C (instead of vitamin-rich fruit). Volunteers are also being sought for the period 18-27 December to put together parcels and help prepare and deliver the meals. The Budapest-based Meals for Life Foundation is located in the Hare Krishna temple building in Óbuda, built in 2006. It is also home to the cultural centre of the Hare Krishna community in Budapest, where visitors can network, try Indian cuisine and buy Indian products. Also 30 kilometres south of Lake Balaton, about 2 hours from Budapest, is the so-called Krishna Valley, an eco-village embedded in nature with 150 inhabitants who take care of their ecological needs as much as they can. In addition to the Krishna temple, there is a school, organic farm, dairy farm and apiary, among other things. Interested visitors can take a guided tour of the 260 hectare site daily between 10am and 5pm, and there is also a guest house for those staying for several days. In addition, the Krishna Valley Festival, the region's 3-day festival, is held every July.
Pester Lloyd, 16.12.2010. by Luisa Stock