Since May 17, this screenshot of an Instagram story went viral on social media.

The post encouraged people to break their fast at an iftar potluck at 446A Jalan Kayu with their friends and family if they can, if not all the food prepared will go to waste.

As of writing, there are over 1,000 retweets and shares on both Twitter and Facebook.

Less than 10 people came at first

The screenshot was first uploaded by Instagram user @haziraaz, after the first day of the fasting month on May 17.

Speaking to Mothership, Hazira shared that only less than 10 people turned up for the iftar:

"My mum was tired after cooking for that day and I thought she deserved to be appreciated."

After the iftar potluck went viral on almost every social media platforms, the number of attendees rose from less than 10 to about 50 people.

Hazira's mother, Rosiah Hussen, shared that people from as far as Woodlands and Yishun attended the potluck after it went viral.

"We accept everyone with open arms because I know people here are not as privileged so we can’t be stingy. "

Idea sparked over a cup of coffee

The idea came about when Rosiah and her neighbour, Meera d/o Mohamed, were talking to each other at the neighbourhood's Coffee Corner when the latter suggested for an iftar potluck for the residents.

"I told my friend, why not? If she's eager to make the iftar, I will support her."

From there, Rosiah and several other residents volunteered to run the iftar potluck, mainly catering to the less-fortunate residents.

Compelled to give back to community

However, this wasn't really a spur of a moment as Rosiah shared that her heart was "moved" to give back to the community even before the fasting month started.

Prior to the fasting month, she was compelled to give back to the community, especially since block 446A Jalan Kayu - where she also resides in - is a rental apartment.

"There are a lot of less-privileged people here, like single parents, senior citizens and those with very young children. As this is a rental block, I empathise with them. So why not I do an iftar for them, so they also won’t be alone at home. Also, isn’t it joyous to break fast together with a lot of people?"

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Month-long planned menu

As the potluck is held every Monday to Friday throughout the month of Ramadan, this means they have to prepare food for more than 20 days.

Most people would find it a hassle to think of food to cook for an extended period of time.

Rosiah and friends, however, already planned the menu for the whole month even before Ramadan started.

Different variety of food everyday

According to Rosiah, they have a WhatsApp group where they will list down the food that they will bring and it helps to ensure that no one will bring the same type of food.

"When we bring down all sorts of food, it looks appetising having a spread of different dishes."

Starts preparing food since morning

According to her, she starts preparing for iftar early in the morning.

Rosiah will start preparing and cutting her ingredients first.

Then, at around 3pm, she will begin to cook the dishes and will pack them up to bring them down to the void deck by 6.30pm.

All this hard work does not go to waste, however, as many people praised her yummy food (we tried her chicken rice and it's amazing).

"I can’t praise my own cooking, people will think I’m being sombong (snobbish). But people did feedback that the food I have cooked so far has been tasty."

Grateful to help less-fortunate people

Every day, Rosiah prepares a portion of food that can feed approximately 20 to 30 people.

Cooking large portions of food isn't just tiring, but it can be costly too.

However, this is the least of Rosiah's concern as she is sincere and it makes her happy, despite not being "well-to-do" herself.

To the breast cancer survivor, she's just grateful to see people, especially the less-fortunate, fill their tummies with the food they have provided.

"I’m just very thankful and happy to see other people smiling and being happy with the food."

After her first time organising an iftar potluck with her neighbours and friends, Rosiah is looking forward to the next iftar potluck next year.

"If God wills, if I live long enough (I want) to do something as charitable again."

All images by Fasiha Nazren and Tsiuwen Yeo

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