BAGHDAD: “Fried chicken, fried fish, rice!” Mohammed al Mohammedawi shouts to ite pilgrims passing his roadside food tent in Baghdad on their way to the holy city of Kerbala on foot.
His tent is among hundreds in the Iraqi capital providing free food, shelter and even clothes to the thousands of pilgrims making the 90-kilometre journey to Kerbala, which will take them two to three days, for the annual Arbaeen pilgrimage.
Local men founded a volunteer group ‘Ahbab al Zahra’ to assist the pilgrims after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The climax of the pilgrimage will be held tomorrow (October 8) in Kerbala.
Although their operation had been growing ever since 2003, this year is different, Al Mohammedawi said. With the coronavirus continuing to spread in Iraq and with new cases averaging around 3,000 to 5,000 per day, the Iraqi government decided to limit the number of foreign pilgrims to 1,500 per country of origin.
Neighbouring Iran has banned flights to Iraq and closed land borders due to the pandemic. Last year, about 2 million Iranians had visited Iraq for Arbaeen.
Al Mohammedawi said he also noticed a decrease in Iraqi pilgrims this year. But fear of the pandemic did not deter ‘Ahbab al Zahra’s Sattar al Souaidi from volunteering.
Despite losing two of his brothers to COVID-19 he is convinced he won’t catch the virus himself. — Reuters
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