One early morning recently, 20 red-capped, yellow-clothed enthusiastic youngsters marched along with supportive parents once again to make a difference to the society and the community — to ‘Serve The Heroes’.
On the morning of June 27, we set forth once again to serve the labourers who tirelessly work for us — but this time, it was different. We were going to make a difference at a distance.
The Dubai Tram project is nearing completion and every day, we wait in anticipation and anxiety as to when this new mode of transport will open for public use. But, did anyone think about who was behind this? Did anyone wonder about the effort that has gone in providing us with this - the amount of sweat wiped off in hot summer days and the energy exerted in making this a success? The team of ‘Serve The a Heroes - An Initiative for Labourers’ did.
The Dubai Tram has already been tested and nears its grand inauguration. But we, a team of 20 members, wanted to show our gratitude to these unsung heroes by appreciating them.
At 8am, we went to the Tram project construction site near Jumeirah Beach Residences and gave love to the real heroes in the form of a packet of biscuits, an orange, a Laban (yoghurt), a pack of juice, and a croissant each. The elated expressions of the labourers and the big grins on their faces made our mission complete. We stopped at three of the Dubai Tram stations to carry out our good deed for the day.
When interviewed, one of the labourers stated that their work stretched on till 2am in the morning. At one of the stations, site leader Rakesh said: “We work late into the night so that we can finish our work as soon as possible. We have been working on this project for two years now and will finish by November 2014.”
Serve The Heroes, an initiative for labourers, provides refreshments to the unsung labourers who are working at the construction site in the scorching heat of the sun to make our lives comfortable. This month, the Serve The Heroes completed two years and therefore we wanted to do something to mark our birthday. This was an apt opportunity to celebrate the second anniversary and we were joyous to serve the ever-energetic labourers.
Our next plan for execution is serving these heroes this Ramadan by providing them with iftar meals, so that these unsung heroes can break their fast together at sunset. I would encourage all readers and residents of the UAE to support us in this cause.
The reader is a student and founder of Serve the Heroes initiative, based in Sharjah.
Be a community reporter. Tell us what is happening in your community. Send us your videos and pictures at readers@gulfnews.com.
