Emirati volunteers give ageing flat Ramadan makeover

The Takatof volunteer programme's 26,000 members help needy families by offering to fix up apartments as well as supplying meals and other essentials.

Takatof volunteers help install an air conditioner.

ABU DHABI // She came to the UAE as a teenage bride and raised seven children here. Then, a decade ago, her husband ran away, abandoning her when their youngest son was a baby.

Life is not easy for the 45-year-old Yemeni woman, but this week she received an outpouring of Ramadan goodwill. Emirati volunteers crowded her ageing apartment to give it a makeover. They laid down new carpets, installed new shower fixtures, and all the walls got a fresh coat of paint.

While young women scrubbed her kitchen clean, the mother relaxed in her majlis.

"I feel like I am in my country and very welcome," said the woman, who asked to withhold her name. "I am very happy to feel I am important even if I am not from the country."

The woman's family was one of five in each emirate targeted for a Ramadan home renovation by Takatof, a volunteering programme run by the Emirates Foundation for Youth Development.

Takatof has 26,000 registered volunteers aged 18 to 40. About 95 per cent are Emirati.

"We have extra time and we want to do something," said Alyaa Al Mansouri, 26, an assistant at Adnoc who helped renovate the Yemeni woman's home.

"Takatof gives us a chance to know these people," Ms Al Mansouri said. "Without them we would not know them at all. Why not give back to the country that gave us everything?"

About 500 volunteers have participated so far in the Dh1 million Ramadan campaign, divided into four phases. During the first week of Ramadan, volunteers visited about 25 needy families in each emirate and provided food vouchers, school supplies and other aid. During the second week, they refurbished mosques.

This week they targeted families for home renovations. To choose the families, volunteers canvassed their communities before Ramadan to search for people who needed help.

"They hear from their families, from their friends," said Mohammed Al Abbasi, senior project lead for the foundation.

The volunteers surveyed the households to ask what they needed, from new sheets to major appliances.

"They are very poor," said the volunteer Zahra Al Hosani, a 19-year-old UAE University student. "They need our help."

Over multiple visits, volunteers bonded with family members.

"Last week we had the time to get to know them," Ms Al Mansouri said. "We want to make them feel that we are close to them, not just give them things and leave."

Last Tuesday, the volunteers visited two homes near Muroor Road and 29th Street in Abu Dhabi: the apartment of the 45-year-old mother, and that of another Yemeni family a short drive away.

They arrived after dark in the neighbourhood, where air conditioners dripped around subdivided villas. A 17-year-old boy appeared outside one of the villas. A shy but eager host, he guided visitors upstairs to his family's apartment and offered them mango juice and dates. His brother, Amer, 25, apologised for not providing a full Ramadan spread.

"The only thing I want to say is thank you so much for doing this for us, and for the other families as well," Amer said.

The volunteers carried a new air conditioner upstairs, laid down new bedding and installed shelving in the kitchen. Amer's mother peered around the corner at the commotion, eyes smiling under her niqab.

The woman said she had lived in the UAE for 33 years, raising 10 children. The youngest, a daughter, is 14. The eldest, a son, is married in the United States. The rest live in their modest apartment, which is showing its age around the edges. The mother pointed to holes and cracks in a bedroom door that was missing a handle on one side.

Amer, who is searching for a job, told Mr Abbasi that he would like to become a Takatof volunteer himself.

Later that night, the volunteers taped plastic sheeting to the floor, preparing to paint.

"I like it too much!" said the volunteer Khawla Al Hosani, 25, her abaya splattered with paint from a volunteering stint the day before.

Mr Al Abbasi said the programme's first goal is to engage young people.

"Wallah, it's amazing," he said, watching a trio of volunteers drilling screws in the kitchen. "I don't know what to say. Really amazing job."