Students help workers stock up on food

Dubai: To drive home the message that volunteering is an integral part of a child’s development, about 55 students helped blue collar workers to stock up their larders with 9.5 tonnes of rice and pulses on Friday as part of a school community service programme.

While the community benefits from increased student involvement in volunteering activities, students benefit from the experience and report high levels of satisfaction from the act of altruism.

The campaign ‘A meal can make a difference’ by Our Own High School, Al Warqa donated dry food items to more than 2,000 labourers at the Sonapur labour camp.

Students aged 14-17 implemented the programme.

Bindu Manojkumar, the coordinator of the campaign, told Gulf News: “Students stayed after school hours to pack the collected dry items. Prior to distributing the packages — five kilo bags of rice and pulses each, the students had to use various skills sets in the implementation of the programme. These included leadership, coordination, project and time management, and shared responsibility.”

Appreciating privileges

During distribution, the students were given the opportunity to see how workers live. This afforded students an appreciation of the privileges they enjoy and the need to reach out to help those who aren’t as fortunate, she added.

Explaining the feel-good factor experienced from volunteering, psychologist and clinical director of The LightHouse Arabia, Dr Tara Wyne, told Gulf News that volunteering programmes, especially among students, promote a sense of empathy.

“It gives youth a new experience they might not get in their normal day-to-day lives,” she said. “It gives them a concrete way to share what they have with others who may not have the same privileges.”

Gulf News also spoke to Radha Hari, whose son Shyam, a Grade 7 student, participated in the school’s donation drive for the second time.

“The first time was two years ago,” she said. “This time, Shyam was determined to increase his contribution. He collected 50 kilos from family and friends. The sense of volunteering is stronger from his experience at school and on a recent holiday in India, he took part in a programme to feed the poor during a religious festival.