Volunteers with an ear to the ground

AAt a time when most UAE residents have been diligently adhering to the #StayHome initiative, a group of volunteers from Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre’s (KMCC) Dubai and Abu Dhabi chapters has stepped out to assist local authorities in their war against Covid-19. They have gone out of their way to assist low-income workers and families.

A few days after a sterilisation programme was launched across the UAE, I went to Naif for an assignment to film videos and shoot pictures and witnessed KMCC’s efforts first-hand. Dressed in PPE gear, I could spot the volunteers move around tirelessly to help those in need. These volunteers, working in close coordination with local authorities, have helped residents in Naif, Al Ras, Palm Deira and nearby areas. “We are a team of 300 volunteers, who are distributing freshly-made food packets and kits to various localities and families in quarantine. In Naif alone, we are distributing 30,000 hot food packets every day. Since end of March, we have distributed 5,000 food kits,” says Adv Ibrahim Khaleel, secretary and legal centre chairman of the Dubai chapter of KMCC.

If the Dubai chapter has done exemplary work, its counterpart in Abu Dhabi is not far behind. “We have made a list of people under quarantine and have been providing food packets to 600 of them twice a day in buildings surrounding Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre. We comfort people over the phone,” says Abdul Rahman of KMCC (Kasaragod chapter) in Abu Dhabi. With Ramadan just a few days away, the KMCC plans to provide food kits to people so that they can cook their own food. “We are looking at 3 to 3.5 tonnes of food products. We will coordinate with restaurants and the KMCC head office in this aspect. This will be a long fight, but we are in this together,” says Rahman. Their commitment gives us all a ray of hope.

During Ramadan, we will be looking at distributing food kits so that people can cook their own food. This will be a long fight, but we are in this together Abdul Rahman