FMT in partnership with The Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT) brings you Covid-19 “healers” from the US.

One of the major tenets of Sikhism is langar: the practice of serving free meals to visitors at gurdwaras, the Sikh place of worship.

In the US, gurdwaras were closed due to the pandemic, but the practice has continued as Sikhs make meals and deliver them to New York communities susceptible to Covid-19.

In the first two months of the pandemic, the Sikh Center of New York in Queens Village made nearly 150,000 meals.

As the George Floyd protests brought thousands of people out into public spaces, the World Sikh Parliament took to the streets to continue the practice of langar.

Himmat Singh and other members of his gurdwara made thousands of meals to be delivered to a protest in Sunnyside, Queens. The Sikh community’s efforts have warmed many hearts and bellies during this trying time.

Ryan Christopher Jones is a Mexican-American photojournalist and writer originally from Central California, currently living in New York City. He is a regular contributor to The New York Times, ProPublica and The Washington Post, and in addition to themes of Mexican-American experience he often works on stories of labour and migration across the United States and Mexico. His recent works includes in-depth stories during the Covid-19 pandemic in New York City, the overdose crisis, economic mobility and family separations. He is a fierce advocate of compassionate photojournalism and has written about this theme in two 2018 essays for The New York Times. He is currently an Anthropology student at Harvard University through the school’s extension programme. View his portfolio here.

‘The Other Hundred Healers’ is an initiative by the non-profit organisation GIFT. The 240-page, full-colour, hardcover book can be purchased here at US$40 per copy for a minimum order of 20 copies.