“What makes our struggles less painful is how people treat us,” Lina Kassah, founder of refugee kitchen Zeit Zeitoun, says. “When the environment is hospitable, friendly, and welcoming, our worries and pain instantly go away.” For almost 10 years since the Syrian civil war, around five million Syrians have been displaced around the world, with reports citing over 100,000 Syrian refugees in Egypt, according to the UNHCR. For many of us, the war might be a distant memory, but the trauma of the conflict is still embedded in the hearts of many Syrians, even after settling elsewhere. Refugee community kitchens are community-based cooking projects that bring together a group of people who pool their resources and labor to produce large quantities of food for catering services, all aimed at empowering those who are financially vulnerable and promoting community integration. In recent months, refugee kitchens that provide essential support for many refugee families have struggled to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the banning of large gatherings. This is slowly changing with the advent of the holy month of Ramadan. “The pandemic has made our business nearly come…
