Youth inspiring others to hope and act
Unsung heroes of the pandemic
ABy Chaitali B. Roy
bdullah Al Barjes is an Economics student from Kuwait University. For the last two weeks, Abdullah is volunteering at the small cooperative in Block 6 of Rumaithiya, managing the crowd and ensuring that shoppers follow the health and safety rules before they enter the premises. When prodded about his volunteering work, Abdullah offers a shy smile, and says, “I am doing my duty to my country and humanity in general at this difficult time.” In a situation where the world is reeling from the effects of the pandemic, with countries forced into states of emergency, a lesser-known story is slowly emerging – of ordinary people especially the youth rising to meet the challenge, and finding purpose in this time of crisis, and inspiring others to hope and act.
One can see similar stories of community service evolve in Kuwait. Young people irrespective of nationality and age, are selflessly sparing their time and energy and risking their own safety to help those in need. As weeks grow into months, with no definite end in sight, they are leading by example, by joining hands and helping each other.
Like Abdullah, many young Kuwaitis and expatriates have come forward to help the community during this critical time. In mid-March, volunteers joined the awareness and aid programme for Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) distributing affected districts with sanitizers, masks, and food aid. In the weeks that followed, hundreds of millennials mobilised to help the government in its efforts to face the unprecedented situation.
Voluntary
Mohammed Shoab and Nasser Al Azmi are two young men who have been active in their voluntary efforts. In September last year, Azmi founded humanity@Kuwait, an organisation of Kuwaitis and expatriates who are motivated by the common goal of giving back to society. “I founded the organisation to provide a helping hand to communities and organisations in
Humanity@Kuwait at work in Farwaniyah Cooperative.
need while providing extensive leadership skills to volunteers throughout their journey with us,” said Nasser, who works in the public sector. “Our plan includes spending quality time in orphanages and old age homes, where we interact, share and enjoy life with them.” Humanity@kwt started with volunteering with local organisations, delivering meals, and managing community events. In the short time, the group has been active, it has built close emotional ties with orphanages and old age homes.
“Our relationship with orphanages is based on trust with most of the occupants becoming like our siblings. And our ties with old age homes have grown at a steady pace. We are now accepted as their family members who can assume the responsibility of elderly people.” Little did Nasser know that the organisation he formed to help people and organisations in ordinary times and to strengthen the spirit of service in its membership, would in a few months time prove most useful during an extraordinary crisis.
The core members of humanity@ Kuwait met while volunteering at an organisation called Refood. This non-profit company aims to eliminate food waste in the food and beverage industry of Kuwait through its continuous operations. With a varied membership in terms of nationality age and professions, most members of the group work day jobs while some are school and university students. “As a youth living in Kuwait, I felt the need to develop myself while giving back to society and gaining good deeds for the hereafter,” says Mohammed Shoeb. Mohammed is pursuing under graduation in Computer Application at Kuwait University and in his spare time serves as Operations Manager at Refood.
The lockdown has seen Nasser and his team work hard to provide support to organisations in need of volunteers and helping deliver the right information through translation and raising awareness individually in their neighbourhood. “It all started with a phone call from my friend Nasser, who asked me to help customers at the
Farwaniyah cooperative the next day,” says Mohammed while speaking about his volunteering experience during the lockdown.
“I was a bit confused, had many questions but readily agreed to it. The next day, after arriving at the location at 6:30 am, we were given complete instructions about what we were supposed to do. We were asked to handle the queues of customers entering and leaving the co-op. We were to provide sanitisation to all, check the temperature of every individual entering and most importantly maintain social distancing among the customers from morning 7 am to evening 3:30 pm.”
Mohammed and other members of his team spent the next few days maintaining social distancing, organising queues, testing customers for fever, checking their credentials, providing sanitisation, gloves, refreshments and lunch, helping porters with the trolleys and loading vehicles. “On the first day, we were so immersed in our assigned positions and tasks that we didn’t notice the time go by. We were all tired and exhausted but were pleased to see people thank us for our efforts. This continued for a few days until the management got the personnel to hold the positions.”
There is a general stereotype about Kuwaiti youth and their commitment to society and work. But Mohammed Shoeb and other millennial like him are proving otherwise with their efforts at a challenging time. “We are not the only ones in Kuwait,” Mohammed is quick to point out.
“There are similar groups who are doing their best to provide help and support. Some have partnered with health organisations to help monitor the patients; some are helping charities distribute aid to families, some are helping cooperatives maintain the crowd and ensuring smooth operations, some are working with restaurants to provide food parcels to individuals in lockdown areas. People are working in different ways,” said Mohammed when asked about the volunteering work done by the youth in Kuwait. “Yes, there are stereotypes,” admits Mohammed, “but humanity@ kw and other volunteering groups are proving it wrong with their work and commitment.
Protect
People can see local youth taking actions to protect the society by voluntarily cleaning and sanitising trash cans, delivering groceries for the cooperatives, providing crowd control and aid to people in need from charities and supporting organisational operations.
Nasser Al Azmi says that the gratitude of people and organisations that are benefitting keeps the volunteers motivated. “Our journey has left a great impact on our members by improving their profiles and enabling leadership skill set of communication, time management, proactivity, adaptability, advocacy and much more. And on top of it is the blessings from those who benefit from our efforts.” For those who want to volunteer, humanity@kwt is happy to accept members. “We are open to all age groups. We are happy to have children because volunteering teaches them a sense of community. Even if you cannot join us in person, you can contribute from your own space in multiple ways.” For more information check out@ humanitykw on Instagram.