Workers given surprise Ramadan care packages

About 2,000 Dubai Municipality cleaners and gardeners take a detour to school gymnasium to receive Ramadan gifts.

Dubai Municipality labourers carry away their Ramadan care packages, donated by the Adopt-A-Camp charity. Ravindranath K / The National

DUBAI // The charity Adopt-a-Camp surprised about 2,000 municipality workers on Thursday with special Ramadan packages.

Saher Shaikh, the organisation’s founder, said about 300 volunteers, from children to chief executives of companies, participated in helping to distribute the hampers at the Repton School Dubai in Nad al Sheba.

While hundreds took part in helping to assemble the packages on Tuesday and Wednesday, only those individuals and companies sponsoring them were present on Thursday at the school’s gymnasium.

“It was a beautiful day,” Ms Shaikh said. “The heat outside was matched by the warmth of people’s hearts and their smiles.”

Volunteer Zahra Bawany helped to form a human chain, passing the hampers to each of the queuing workers.

People changed places in the line so that each person had a chance to give a hamper in person to one of the men, all of whom are employed by Dubai Municipality as gardeners and cleaners.

Each hamper contained more than 50 items, including new pillows, bed linen and socks. Other items included toiletries, cups and plates and energy biscuits, all amounting to a total of Dh125.

Many of the men, Ms Bawany said, appeared moved by the gesture. They had not been told of the event until buses that were supposed to take them back to their accommodation at 11am, the end of their shift, made a detour to the school instead.

“It was completely out of the blue for them,” said Ms Bawany, 18, a high-school graduate who has been volunteering since she was 12.

“We were not expecting for everyone to be so calm and so happy,” she said. “I was trying to hold back my tears and I am not an emotional person.”

Ms Shaikh called the event an opportunity for the community to show its appreciation to the men “who work behind the scenes to keep our city beautiful”.

In previous years the charity has distributed thousands of care packs to construction workers across the emirate. So far, more than 35,000 such packages have been distributed.

The charity is currently working in 53 labour compounds where more than 57,000 men are housed.

Besides the basic aid, it also provides English-language classes, vocational training, hygiene workshops and counselling to the labourers.

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