Neighborhood Folks
Bella
Homeless Sponsor
From Kashmir to Midwood, Brooklyn, NYC
“Why should they sing lullabies for me?”
Bashir was a Pakistani man who spent the last years before he landed in a nursing home sitting in the back of Pakistani food stores on Coney Island Avenue in Midwood, parked in his wheelchair. In earlier days, he helped newly arrived immigrants from Pakistan by letting them stay in his and other immigrants' apartments. He also helped them find jobs. He worked in a coffee shop in Manhattan, and sent money back home to his family in Pakistan.
After a series of strokes, he was in the hospital. During that period of time he lost his apartment, and became homeless when he came out. One time he was stabbed and mugged when he left the hospital. Store owners, many of whom he had previously helped get settled would let him stay in their stores, and feed him a daily meal.