A 100-year-old British Bangladeshi man has been awarded OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's Birthday Honours for raising £420,000 for coronavirus charities during Ramadan. Dabirul Islam Choudhury raised the sum by walking 970 laps of his 80-metre garden in East London during the holy month of Ramadan.

The news of Queen's honour came from the cabinet Office couple of weeks ago, informing of his OBE which he accepted with great pleasure. Speaking to The Daily Star, he said, "I didn't think of getting any honours. I have always helped people in our community and in the current circumstances I wanted to do my bit."

Dabirul Islam Choudhury came to England in 1957. He initially lived in Maidavale, then St Albans, Hatfield and finally moved to London. He currently lives in Bow area of Tower Hamlets, which has the highest Bengali population in the UK. Choudhury moved to the UK to study English literature. While in St Albans he became a community activist for his fellow countrymen as their understanding of English, reading and writing were very minimal. He assisted people with getting housing, filling up documents. He also represented them as an interpreter and an advocate to various service providing institutions. His son Atique Choudhury, who helped with this interview, remembers their house always being full of people on a regular basis -- seeking help and advice from his father. Choudhury was involved with the East Pakistani Restaurant Association. He had a restaurant in the early 1960s.

Of the £420,000 he raised, over £115,000 was donated to the NHS (National Health Service).

Photo: Courtesy

This is the first time any Bengali has donated that kind of money to any institution, especially to the NHS, which has been key for the Bangladeshi community -- affected more by the coronavirus compared to other communities. The rest of the sum was divided across 30 charities through the Ramadan Family Commitment organised by the UK based Bengali language satellite Channel S. The funds were distributed to victims of the coronavirus in the UK, Bangladesh and worldwide among 52 countries.

Atique Choudhury explained his father began walking 100 laps in his 80-metre garden on 26 April to raise £1,000 but hit the target within 6 hours. It was a time when the UK was heading towards a calamity and people wanted to help. It was in that spirit of things, seeing Captain Tom Moore on television, walking to raise money inspired him to do the same. He wanted to do something while in self-isolation.

As for future, he said he would be working with the Foundation set up by Captain Sir Tom Moore. Sir Tom was knighted for his achievements for raising money for charity by doing laps of his garden in the run-up to his 100th birthday during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Atique Choudhury expressed his joy in saying that OBE is the highest accolade that somebody can achieve in this country. He has received lots of goodwill messages from his clients, the local MP and from the House of Lords.

Atique Choudhury also mentioned of a Female Academy, run by his family, which also includes his sister, to educate girls from the age of 6 to 16.

Dabirul Islam Choudhury's effort was covered by the UK mainstream media, including the Guardian newspaper and the BBC. Choudhury hails from Sunamganj and his health is in excellent condition. He will become 101 in January 2021.