ON the evening of Thursday 14 January this year, the Belfast Multi-Cultural Association (BMCA) premises on Donegall Pass was devastated by a fire which has since been treated as a hate crime.
 
Over nine months later, the association have found a new home in the heart of West Belfast on the Springfield interface at the ForthSpring Inter Community Group centre.
 
Explaining the work of the association, trustee Ali Khan said: “Belfast Multi-Cultural Association was formed through the pandemic. We had been on Donegall Pass for the last five or six years but through the pandemic we really got to grips with the problems that a lot of people were facing, especially food.
 
“We started a food bank and dealt with a lot of external organisations who asked us to deliver food parcels and items to certain households who contacted them. Then we also had direct contact through Facebook where we did a lot of food drops to people who were shielding and we also worked with the homeless centres and the destitute. We also gave a lot of food out to care homes, NHS workers and the fire service.”
 

Prior to the fire at their premises, BMCA had also opened a clothing bank and furniture bank to allow them to provide a more complete service to those in need.
 
“We worked with a range of different people be that locals, migrants, asylum seekers and members of the traveller community. We also supplied people who were coming out of prison with furniture and food. “
 
Discussing the impact of the fire on their work, Ali described it as “unbelievable”.
 
“I was travelling back to Pakistan to visit my mother. I was on the runway with the nose of the plane about to lift when my phone went absolutely mad. All I could see was a picture of fire and I tried to ring but the plane took off and I lost reception.
 
“The first thing that came to my mind is that I hope no one has been killed. I could see flames bellowing like a bomb had went off.
 
“It has had a devastating impact on all of our volunteers, our end receivers and morally ourselves. Islam teaches us to be patient but you can only remain patient for a certain amount of time.
 
“Our Islam teaches us to have compassion and that is why we started the food and clothing bank. At the same time, we had our place burnt to the ground for offering these services to the local community.
 
“At BMCA we get zero funding. We are all volunteers. We all have families and we all work so we would really like the government and the council to help fund our projects as they are so desperately needed.”

BUFFER ZONE: The groups new premises sits right on the interface between Springfield Road and Workman Avenue
2Gallery

BUFFER ZONE: The groups new premises sits right on the interface between Springfield Road and Workman Avenue


 
Ali said that their new location is “absolutely brilliant”.
 
“It is a location in an area where we feel really welcome. We have an area in the centre where we can carry out our prayers and as a Muslim, we are very close to our religion. One of the main pillars of Islam is prayer. Hence, when we come here we pray, we have an area to collect and distribute food.

“We are literally a stone throw away from the peace gates so we are sort of in the middle where you have the Muslim community forming a buffer between the Catholic community and the Protestant community.”
 
“Forth Spring have really made us feel welcome. Once the fire happened our trustees reached out to a number of different organisations and Forth Spring were one of the ones who offered to accommodate us.  
 
“It is a quarter of the size of the premises that we left. Therefore we are having issues regarding the food items, we are having issues regarding parking so our main priority is to try and get our building back in order as soon as possible or try to get somewhere else that is much bigger and can accommodate our needs.”
 
Ali Khan recognises the importance of helping his community integrate into wider society.
 
“The main reason why we acquired the building on Donegall Pass was for integration. It is so important that we integrate with society and our neighbours. Also, our kids who are born here go to school here, they speak with the same Irish accent and when they are going across the water to England, they are looked upon as Irish,” he said.
 
“When they are here, unfortunately in certain areas they are not welcome. Unfortunately racism and Islamophobia is on the increase, race hate crimes are on the increase. We are lucky enough that in West Belfast we haven’t had any of that at the moment.
 
“We need to look at the multiculturalism, we have people from 42 different nationalities who access our services. We have a lot of asylum seekers, we have the Syrian refugees who came and now we will have asylum seekers coming in from Afghanistan. This increase in new cultures coming here will be an advantage and a betterment for the country.”
 
To this, Ali added that many of those coming to the North work in professions where there is a skills shortage and appealed for race hate crimes and Islamophobia to stop.
 
“It is important to note that we are here, we are not going anywhere. A lot of us are professional people. I am a businessman. We have people who come to the centre who are doctors, surgeons, people who are needed so desperately – especially as we suffer with this pandemic.
 
“As a Muslim, I am asking people to please try and accept us, please try and listen to what we are saying and we will help as much as possible to integrate into society. The race hate crimes and Islamophobia needs to be tackled.
 
“If anyone wants to come and see us or ask us anything about Islam then we are the right people to give the right information at any time.”