One of Scotland’s best-loved restaurants has teamed up with international charity Concern Worldwide to launch a campaign to help street dwellers in Bangladesh. The campaign is named Amrao Manush meaning ‘we are people too’, a name that was proposed by two women in different locations in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.

Local restaurateur and business-man, Dr Wali Uddin MBE, is urging fellow restaurateurs to back the appeal to raise money for the pavement dwellers of Bangladesh.

50 restaurants across the UK are expected to sign up to take part in the scheme. Britannia Spice and the other restaurants will ask diners to donate £1 to the appeal, launched by international development charity Concern Worldwide.

The plight of the pavement dwellers of Dhaka was exposed in a recent magazine story in the Saturday Herald. Award winning journalist, Lucy Adams told the story of 50, 000 men, women and children living on the pavements of the Bangladesh capital. Most have fled floods and cyclones elsewhere in the country.

Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, believes 400 women and children become victims of human trafficking in Bangladesh each month. Some of these people are sold in the UK. Concern is striving to build shelters to provide families with a secure place to sleep and keep safe at night.

Wali Uddin, who has raised millions of pounds for charities in both his homeland and the UK, said he was proud to be instrumental in helping organise the event. “As the population of Dhaka continues to swell, the problem of street dwellers in the capital continues to get worse every year,� said the eminent business-man who was awarded a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to race relations. “This appeal will allow Concern Worldwide to carry on with the fantastic work they already do in Bangladesh. Just one pound can go some way to building safe and secure shelter for people who currently live in horrendous circumstances. We have a responsibility to do all we can to help people who cannot help themselves.�

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Notes for Editors on Britannia Spice

• Britannia Spice opened 1999, the brainchild of Dr Wali Uddin and Ranil Saparamadu.
• The restaurant was converted from a whisky bond at the entrance to the former Leith docks, at the heart of the multi-million pound redevelopment of the previously derelict dock area.
• Paris-based interior designer Arshad Alam was commissioned to produce a design for the restaurant. Mr Alam’s design has attracted universal acclaim – it reflects the nautical heritage of the site and the ambience of the finest ships of the line that sailed to the mysterious east.
• Britannia Spice has won many awards: Les Routiers Best Newcomer (2001); Best in Scotland at the British Curry Awards for three consecutive years (2005, 2006, 2007); BIBA award (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007); Sunday Times Travel Magazine: Best Indian Restaurant in Scotland (2001) and 2008 Restaurant of the Year in the Irn Bru Curry Awards. This year Britannia Spice is the 2010 Bangladesh Caterers Association Restaurant of the Year. More details on request.
• Britannia Spice has been visited by both Alex Salmond and Lord Provost, amongst other venerable guests (high-res pictures available).

Notes for Editors on Dr Wali Uddin MBE

• Appointed Justice of the Peace (first Bangladeshi in Scotland to be given such an honour).
• Voted Young Scot of the year by The Junior Chamber.
• First Honorary Consul-General of Bangladesh in Scotland.
• Made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to race relations.
• Lifetime Achievement Award at the Lloyds TSB Asian Jewel Awards.
• Founding director of the acclaimed Edinburgh Mela.
• Chairman of the Bangladesh British Chamber of Commerce.
• Named as one of the Asian Power 100 in 2005.