ABU DHABI // It is easy to lose a dirham coin down the back of a sofa or in a wardrobe.
But a charity drive by the Indonesian community aims to put this small change to good use – by helping drought-hit parts of their home country.
The Dirham a Day initiative aims to raise money to dig wells in remote villages in Java, the most populated island in the South-East Asian country that is facing acute water shortages.
Participants are given a money can and asked to drop a dirham coin into it each day.
“Usually each person has loose change, such as one dirham, that is not used. So we give a can to the people to drop their one dirham coin every day and we will collect it when it is full,” said Yuni Pramudyo, head of the Indonesian Muslim Association in Abu Dhabi.
“We are expecting to collect Dh10,000 or even more by the end of this year, and to do that we have to have a more proactive approach.”
The money will also be used to build mosques in poor areas and help communities hit by natural disasters.
UN agencies called for greater response to drought-stricken countries such as Indonesia in the wake of the El Nino climate pattern, with lower rainfall levels affecting 1.9 million people in the region. Late seasonal rains and crop shortages in Indonesia have left more people in poverty and put pressure on the country’s economy.
Mr Pramudyo said that the community regularly contributed clothing through Awqaf and Emirates Red Crescent. This programme was initiated in 2013, but started to gather momentum among the community the following year.
As well as generating funds for the poor, Mr Pramudyo hoped that the charity drive would educate the younger generation about their responsibility towards poverty-stricken people.
Lalan Purnama, an Indonesian who has lived in the UAE for 17 years, said he bought the collection cans and distributed them among the community.
“I told the community instead of letting your coins go unmanaged, drop them in the can. It could make a difference to somebody’s life,” he said.
“I praise God that the community has been responding to the drive very positively.”
The systems analyst said that the money would also be used to help educate children in remote villages in Java, an island with 156 million people – more than 56 per cent of the Indonesian population.
“There are several low-lying villages in Java, which don’t have access to other small towns for education ... so we would also want to focus on that,” he said.
So far, hundreds of collection cans have been distributed, and association members are reminded to keep filling them at community meetings.
Ali Arianto, a government worker who lives in Abu Dhabi, said he had been part of the programme for four months.
“I just received two cans and I would say it’s half full. When it’s filled with coins I will return it to the community,” he said.
“Once you have the box it’s not compulsory that you have to drop every day. Sometimes we have no coins and sometimes we have more than one.”
anwar@thenational.ae
