Dubai: After an early day’s shift of sweeping the roads and clearing the trash, 2,000 municipality cleaners got onto their buses thinking they were going back to their labour accommodation. Instead, the buses brought them to Repton School Dubai last Thursday, where volunteers from the Adopt-a-Camp Foundation were lined up to give each one of them a hefty care package.
Donated and sponsored by individuals and companies in the UAE, the care packages included over 50 items that have been requested by the men to improve their quality of life, with supplies to last them at least three months.
Saher Shaikh, Founder of the Adopt-a-Camp Foundation and of the Care Packages for Labourers campaign, pointed out that the packages contain a range of items, including a new mattress, pillows and bed linen, new towels, and new steel plate and cup. “The packages are designed to truly change their lives. They will include necessities such as new clothes, three months’ worth of toiletries, like shaving cream, razor packs, three toothbrushes and tooth paste, disinfectant, and a month’s worth of energy food items to help them through this summer and Ramadan,” said Sahar.
Each worker will also receive food items such as energy biscuits, Tang drinks, biryani packets, and 16 tin soups. “These are not little goody bags, they are sizeable, well-packed care packages that will really make a long-term difference for each worker.”
The care packages were assembled by over 2,000 volunteers on July 7-8, and were distributed to the municipality workers in a small ceremony.
The Adopt-a-Camp campaign works to enrich the lives of workers at accommodations across the country by providing them with necessities, as well as free English classes, free vocational classes, emotional counselling, hygiene workshops, and outings. Currently, the campaign has 53 camps and over 57,400 men under its wing.
