Interest in the initiative has taken off since MJ announced what he was doing on Facebook, already amassing 75 members in the official Facebook group. There, he posts photos of each day’s prepared sandwiches, which are individually wrapped and contain tomatoes, lettuce and sliced meat. “My goal is to live a sharing life,” he explains. “I spent time as a volunteer in Madagascar and it changed me, seeing all the people suffering. Here in Budapest I was talking to a friend about how to share things, and that’s when I decided to start BASABU.”
Already, MJ has been delivering food to the homeless around Rákóczi tér, Kálvin tér, Corvin negyed, Oktogon, Király utca, Nyugati station, Blaha Lujza tér and Jászai Mari tér, but he is limited by his small kitchen size, which he says can only accommodate three sandwich-makers at a time. “Maybe people can make sandwiches in their own kitchen and then we can all meet and distribute them together,” says MJ. “These two weeks have been a sort of trial period – we’re figuring out what works best.”
MJ’s long-term goal is get a movement going which anyone can join, and can be replicated in other cities. “I hope that someone might come on board who owns a restaurant, and will let us use that space to prepare the sandwiches,” says MJ. Already, BASABU has attracted wide interest online, with 75 people joining the Facebook group in only a couple of days. “More people joined than I expected!” MJ admits.
The response from recipients has been positive. "I get a lot of people asking, 'Will you be coming back tomorrow? Next week?' They're really grateful," says MJ, and that keeps him going.
Anyone who wishes to participate in making or distributing sandwiches to the homeless is encouraged to check out the Facebook group, which is updated with locations, contact information and pictures of the sandwiches others have contributed.
