THE UAE IS GIVING, SHARING AND SPREADING SMILES

WE ARE ALWAYS CONTRIBUTING TOWARDS GOODNESS. SOMETIMES, IT IS THROUGH CONSCIOUS EFFORTS OR SOMETIMES IT HAPPENS EFFORTLESSLY. THIS RAMADAN, ASK YOURSELF — HOW ARE YOU ADDING VALUE TO A LIFE THIS MONTH?

Ramadan is synonymous with the spirit of giving. In the UAE, we’re giving, sharing, and caring all year around. Be it a student who carries an extra lunchbox with home-cooked food to share, an online shopper who accepts an additional charge in the form of a donation at check-out or a volunteer who personalises a gift for a less fortunate stranger — the UAE is always spreading smiles and sporting a beaming smile while doing it.

People choose to care in different ways — students are stepping into the shoes of their school’s cleaners and support staff for a day; cafés and restaurants are donating significant portions of the proceeds from their Iftar buffets towards orphans and underprivileged families; and the efforts of cab drivers and blue-collared workers are being recognised and celebrated across the UAE.

In this country, tradition and culture is foremost and kept intact alongside a variety of trends — sometimes, a promo code or a hashtag is what it takes to perform a good deed. The widely popular local initiative, Ramadan Sharing Fridges, started as a one-off charity act in 2016 and has become big in no time. Soon enough, consulting firm Synergistics.AE developed an app to track the Ramadan fridges. Those who wish to donate are kept up-to-date on the status of the fridges via social media channels. Recently, 25-year-old beauty entrepreneur Eljammi Gozalli chose to leverage her social media follower base to feed 2,000 workers in industrial areas. Some of the followers joined her in donating food to the workers in a number of ways — some chose to volunteer to distribute meals with her and others chose to donate to the organisation that had partnered to cook and pack the meals.

“Don’t waste food” — an advice we’ve all grown up hearing. Food wastage is an issue that the UAE is constantly battling, especially during Ramadan. Iftar brings about togetherness and harmony, but it also raises concerns about surplus amounts of food. To counter this, ride-hailing app Careem and UAE Food Bank introduced a car service that collects excess food or groceries from those who wish to donate. The food is then delivered to 80 of the food bank’s community fridges in residential areas and mosques across the UAE. The service is available throughout this month — every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 2 pm to 6 pm.

Charitable acts can be performed in more ways than one. What path are you treading? How are you adding value to a life this month?