roshni raimalwala

Ejo #65 – Please Give Me Your Money

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Please give me your money so I can buy some food with it. Not for me, but for the guys that toil and struggle every day in their efforts to build (and maintain) this sparkling, modern metropolis called Dubai.

Workers in Dubai

Workers getting on the bus heading back to camp.  The skyscrapers that they build in the background. 

I don’t normally beg for food. And if it was for me, I would actually just rather do without (I could probably stand to lose a couple of kilos anyway). But the money I’m asking you for is for a more worthy cause – one which my longtime readers will already be familiar with. Can you believe it’s been 18 months since I last asked you, my friends and family, to help me bring a smile to a labourer’s face (by putting some food in his belly)? Well, indeed a year and a half has tumbled past, and it’s time for me to once more get on my knees and ask you to part with some of your hard earned dollars.

Those of you who have contributed before know that the driving force behind the food donations is Roshni Raimalwala, the hard-working, behind-the-scenes advocate of the labourers and workers of the city – the ones that the government should be doing more to look after (check out the other work she does with Care 2 Share UAE).  She is out there every week (sandstorms and searing sunshine be damned) organising food and grocery handouts on behalf of companies, schools and sometimes individuals – like us – that wish to help.  During religious holidays like Ramadan and Eid, she also arranges larger hampers filled with toiletries, clothes and bedding.  Things the workers need and want, but simply can’t afford to buy on their own.

Standing in front of the building they'll never be able to enter.

Standing in front of the building they helped to build but will never be able to enter.

On Friday, 24th April 2015, David and I will be going to Muhaisnah labour camp (more commonly known as Sonapur, which ironically translates from Hindi as “Land of Gold”) where Roshni has facilitated a handout to be done by some children from one of the local schools. How wonderful is that??  I really think that growing up in this city, it’s super important for young kids to realise that Dubai is not all about beach clubs, malls, nannies and sparkling new bikes.  If they can see that the reason this city even exists is because an entire collective of human beings from another continent have built it from the ground up, surely that’s a great lesson for them to learn.  Another important lesson is to see that there are people less fortunate than they are, to put a face to those people and to reach their hands out to help them.  To make the situation real.  I believe that compassion is one of the most meaningful things that anyone can learn, and even better to learn it from a young age.  I am really looking forward to participating alongside, and meeting, the young philanthropists who have promised their time and energy towards the cause.  I wish you could come along too – and if you’re in Dubai and are interested, please get in touch with me and we can make that happen.

But if you are in Australia, or the US, UK or anywhere else in the world, and would still like to be involved, then please just pledge me a little bit of dough.  It doesn’t have to be a lot.  If you can make do without ten pounds, or five bucks or even just 20HKD then that will still contribute a great deal towards providing a tired, hungry, poor worker with some food that he otherwise would not have enjoyed.  If you can spare more, that would be even better.

Between us, David and I will match every single overseas donation.  So if you all raise the equivalent of 2000dhs, that’s how much we’ll put in the kitty too.  If it’s more, then we’ll be happy to dig deeper.

After all, it’s just money, right?

Ejo #45 – Iftar Meal Handout

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an ejo asking for people who were interested to contribute some money towards buying some of the less fortunate residents of Dubai a nice, hot, tasty meal to break the Ramadan fast. As well as David and me, FIFTEEN others stepped up and sent me money. Every single cent of that money went towards the food. Here’s how it all went down:

 

It was somewhat fitting that the day of the Iftar dinner handout was particularly hot and humid. After all, should I really expect to feel comfortable whilst handing out food to impoverished people on the street? I don’t think so. Unfortunately for me, I was also feeling a little bit under the weather from a pretty bad head cold. And to top it off, I’d only had two hours sleep the night before. We arrived home from a trip to Switzerland at 1.30am and I had to wake up at 3.45am to get to work. I can hear you: Trip to Switzerland?? And you want us to feel SORRY for you?? I guess not, but c’mon, two hours sleep is still only two hours sleep. Anyway, to sum it up, I was feeling pretty crappy and I would much rather have been at home in bed sipping on chamomile tea than driving around the back streets of Satwa trying to find a parking spot to set up the handout. But I had made a commitment, and nothing was going to stop me from honouring it.

 

The amazing Green Palace Restaurant that packages the meals for handouts at a SUPER reasonable price. Thank you so much to the guys that help out with organising the food!!

The amazing Green Palace Restaurant that packages the meals for handouts at a SUPER reasonable price. Thank you so much to the guys that help out with organising the food!!

 

416 meals at 12dhs each comes to 4992dhs. Thank you to each and every person who gave money towards this cause.

416 meals at 12dhs each comes to 4992dhs. Thank you to each and every person who gave money towards this cause.

 

When Roshni finally found a place to park and set up, men were already beginning to form an orderly line. Thanks to the wonderful and generous people who parted with their hard-earned cash to share a meal with someone in need, we had 416 packages to give away. And we had 416 men with hungry bellies and grateful eyes lining up, ready to receive their gifts. Each package contained dates (traditionally eaten to break the Ramadan fast), a hot chicken biryani and samosas, a tub of yoghurt, fruit juice, a crisp apple and a small dessert.

 

Getting in line. Throughout the handout some cheeky men tried to cut in line but we sent them right to the back! The whole thing ran like a very well oiled machine!

Getting in line. Throughout the handout some cheeky men tried to cut in line but we sent them right to the back! The whole thing ran like a very well oiled machine!

 

I started handing out the meals to the men, the sun beating down on all of us. Before long my jeans were sticking to my legs, sweat ran down my back and trickled down my face. But I didn’t care. I was just so happy to be doing what I was doing at that very moment. And the men were hot too, some of them soaked with perspiration. For me it was a temporary discomfort, for them it was probably something that they have to live with all day, every single day. I kept handing out packages. I tried to look each man in the eye as I handed him the bag containing his food. Not all of them looked back at me. Some just wanted to grab the meal and go. And that’s OK. I absolutely understand that. The ones that did make eye contact though, the ones that looked me in the eye and said “thank you” and allowed me to say “you’re welcome”, the ones that connected with me, brought me such an intense shot of sheer joy that I felt like I was going to burst with happiness. I was grinning from ear to ear.

 

Trying to balance all the boxes in the car with Mridul's help.

Trying to balance all the boxes in the car with Mridul’s help.

 

If you look closely you can see that the guy in the foreground has two different shoes on. He probably just found them on the street. That's the level of destitution of some of these men. And it's heartbreaking. Particularly in this supposedly RICH city.

If you look closely you can see that the guy in the foreground has two different shoes on. He probably just found them on the street. That’s the level of destitution of some of these men. And it’s heartbreaking. Particularly in this supposedly RICH city.

 

Look at that beautiful, happy face.

Look at that beautiful, happy face.

 

Sweaty, but happy!

Sweaty, but happy!

 

More happy customers.

More happy customers.

 

Smiles all round. The good feelings were palpable!

Smiles all round. The good feelings were palpable!

 

Bon appetite!

Bon appetite!

 

Some of you might be aware (maybe because I keep going on about it????) that I’m not really loving living in Dubai right now. I don’t feel like I’m at home here. I haven’t found my “people” so I don’t feel like I belong. And this puts me in a perpetual state of lassitude. If I’m not sad, I’m feeling disconnected, switched off and isolated. Naturally, this is not a very nice way to live and I am hoping it’s just a temporary phase. But until it’s over, I’ve found that (short of actually getting on an aeroplane and getting the hell out of the country) not much alleviates this melancholia. But you know what does make things better? Getting involved in this kind of charity work, alongside one of the most generous, giving, empathetic, compassionate and hard working people I know – Roshni Raimalwala. I drove home from the handout absolutely floating on air. In fact, I was so emotional, so overwhelmed with how good I felt about what we’d done, that I actually had a little cry in the car on the way home. But it was a good cry. Tears of joy.

 

To give money to charity is wonderful. But to actually hand a person something that they need is something else altogether. To touch that person’s hand, and see the gratitude in their eyes and be able to elicit a smile from them is a mountain of a reward. It’s the pinnacle. It’s Everest! I wish that all of you who gave money for this handout could experience the same amazing feeling. I hope that by writing about it, it puts you there in my shoes for just a moment so that you can feel it for yourselves. Because you deserve to feel this good. You haven’t just handed over money, you’ve dipped into your humanity. You’ve reached out and changed someone’s life, even if just a tiny little bit.

 

So thank you. From me, from Roshni, Mrinal and Mridul, and from the 416 people that we helped to feed on the last day of Ramadan 2013.

 

Ejo #27 – Distributing Food To Labourers and Construction Workers (Karama Kanteen Strikes Again!)

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The alarm went off at 9.00am and I groaned.  I’d only been in bed about an hour and it was already time to get up.  But I didn’t hit the snooze button.  I had somewhere to be.  Somewhere important.  I won’t lie and say I bounded out of bed, it was more like an oozing motion.  You see, I had finished work that morning at 7am and by the time I got home, showered and flopped into bed there was only enough time for a quick nap.  But still, I was charged up on the excitement of the day’s project (and the seven espressos I’d had during the night shift).

 

After a quick breakfast (and yet another espresso), David and I headed off to meet Roshni Raimalwala at her apartment.  Roshni is the woman and driving force behind Karama Kanteen, an initiative which strives to provide food and general assistance to the beleaguered men who build the foundation upon which we all live in Dubai.  The poorest, lowest class of citizens.  I’m talking about the construction workers and labourers.  Every single weekend, Roshni is out there at the labour camps, or neighbourhoods in which these men reside, handing out food which is donated by schools, companies or individuals.  Late last year David and I donated some food for Christmas hampers that were handed out during the festive period.  Unfortunately, we had been unable to co-ordinate time off to help distribute it.  This time around, we both had the weekend off and arranged to meet with Roshni to help give the food to the men ourselves.

 

When I published my Xmas ejo last year I asked for donations from readers so that we could, collectively, bring a small ray of light and hope (in the form of a hot meal) into the lives of a few over-worked, underpaid labourers.  Several, very generous, people contributed towards the cause and together we raised 4500dhs (equivalent to about AUD1135).  This was enough to provide a hot chicken biryani meal to 450 men.  That is amazing!

 

We got to Roshni’s apartment building a little early and had to wait a few minutes for her to arrive, but when she got there at about 10.20am she lit up the room with her energy and vitality.  Even after having attended a presentation in Sharjah at 5am earlier that morning she was dynamic and bouncing with enthusiasm.  Soon afterwards, several of the volunteers that Roshni had organised to assist with the day’s work also started arriving.  We met a lady who happened to be from Mulgrave in Melbourne (two suburbs away from my parent’s house – it sure is a small world).  Also helping out was an Italian catholic nun.  Yep!  Habit and all!  I must admit it was strange to see a nun in a Muslim country.  Certainly, it was a first for me.  Sister Agnes has been helping out with Karama Kanteen for a couple of years.  I got the chance to talk to her a little, and she was so sweet, warm and generous.  I hope to meet her again the next time we attend one of Karama Kanteen’s events.

 

After the other volunteers arrived we all drove to the restaurant where we were to buy the food for the day.  We loaded up the three cars with boxes of hot chicken biryani, mint sauce, pickles and crispy pappadums.  And then we set off for Sharjah, a convoy of delicious smelling vehicles.  It really did smell incredible, and my mouth was watering!  It felt great to know that we were giving out quality food that I would have liked to eat myself!!  Nothing but the best for our guys.

 

David helping to load the boxes of food.

All the volunteers loading the boxes into the cars.

 

When we arrived in Sharjah there was already a line of about 75 men, queuing up in anticipation.  They were all dressed very nicely in pants and brightly coloured shirts.  These guys work six days a week, 12-14 hours a day.  During these long work hours, they must wear coveralls (the colour depending on the company they work for) that remind me of the jumpsuits Death Row prisoners in America must wear.  And in a way, they both serve the same purpose – to dehumanise the person wearing them.  It was nice to see them in their off-duty clothes looking like regular guys.

 

The handout happened in a sandy square, dotted with a few trees and anchored by a huge boulder in the centre.  It was on this boulder that the volunteers started unpacking the boxes and preparing the food.  We all worked together to bring the different elements of the meal into one plastic bag to hand to the men.  Because David and I had organised this donation, the others were kind enough to allow us to hand out the food.  It was a lovely gesture because it really felt more personal, actually giving the food to each person ourselves.  What I found interesting was that after passing the bag to each man with the handles closed (to make it easier for him to take it), I realised that they would, almost without exception, open the bag to look inside.  So, after a while I started passing the bag to them open.  They seemed to like this better and the line moved quicker after that.  All the volunteers worked so well together, like a well-oiled machine, to make sure that everyone got their meal before it got cold.  It was so wonderful to be part of this great team, even for just one morning.

 

Sister Agnes helping to unpack the food on the large boulder in the square.

A long line of hungry guys.

 

Not all the men were able to express their gratitude but a great many of them looked me in the eye and thanked me with a shy smile, wishing me a good day.  It was these exchanges that really touched me and made the effort of what we were doing so worthwhile.  I wish that those of you who helped to finance this cause could have been there to help out with the distribution.   The feeling was incomparable.  But please let me just say thank you, from the men and from me, for your generosity and kindness.  Without you some of these men would have gone hungry.  I know that our contribution is just a drop in the ocean, but surely every single drop helps?

David finishing off the handout.

  After all the food was gone and we were packing up, I noticed a large group of men had gathered around Roshni.  They were asking for her help.  They needed assistance with medical problems, visas, looking for work or even perhaps repatriation back to their home countries.  In a way Roshni is indeed like an angel of mercy (though I’m pretty sure she’d hate to hear herself referred to in that way).  All of the men treated, and spoke to her, with a great deal of respect and reverence.  One man even trembled as he pulled out his passport to show her.  He was very nervous and the fact is that she is probably his absolute last hope for help.  What Roshni does each and every week is provide an incredible service to the neediest people in this country.  She steps in and does whatever she can, when the government and the rest of society just turns away.  It felt great to contribute just a small bit towards what she does every week, but more than that it actually felt like an honour.  

Roshni holding court - looking over paperwork, trying to help in whatever way she can.

 

I was so blown away by how much my friends and family from Australia and America contributed.  I mean, I am directly affected by these guys on a daily basis.  Their plight assaults me every day.  I kind of feel like I have no choice but to do something to help them.  But you guys, the ones that gave money, are thousands of miles away.  The labourers’ problem can only really be just an abstract notion, and you still found it in your hearts to dig deep and give.  I take my hat off to you all.  Not only that, most of you said that you’d do it all again the next time.  That has inspired me to organise an event like this once a year.  I will probably continue to personally contribute food to the labourers and workers of Dubai on a regular basis (albeit on a smaller scale) but I plan to make this larger donation an annual project.  So, expect me to nag you for more funds this time next year!!!  In the meantime, if anyone wants to just make a general contribution, it will always be welcome and I promise to always make sure that 100% of what you donate goes to the workers.

 

On that note I’ll leave you with a quote that Roshni signs all her emails off with.  “Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier”.