Abu Dhabi: Heading out to the farming areas between Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, a group of friends are using the month of Ramadan as an opportunity to give back to the community by handing out iftar meals to shepherds and farmers.
Three Indian friends, Rafi Ahmad Unni, Sudheer Basheer, and Omar Ullat, use their own resources to deliver the iftar food packets over the weekends. They have already delivered more than 1,000 iftar packets to the farmers over the two weekends of Ramadan.
“We have been doing this iftar distribution for the last three years, and we decided to focus our volunteering efforts on the farmers and shepherds who are living and working outside the cities,” said Unni.
“The iftar distribution is done every Thursday and Friday. We basically meet up after work, collect the food, and then transport it to the farming areas. We hand out 300 iftar packets each day,” he added.
Unni said that the gratitude shown by the farmers during the iftar distributions made the whole experience worth it.
“It costs a lot of money, but that doesn’t really matter because you feel very happy when you are able to help other people and give something back to others what you have got."
Unni said that some workers had tears in their eyes when they thanked us for our gesture. "They never ask for more, when we give them one food packet. They are always satisfied what they get,” he added.
Unni said that the weekly distributions of iftar packets during two weekends have also created a bond between them and the farmers. "They eagerly await for our weekend visits."
Unni said they always try to provide a variety of foods in each iftar packet and something different each day. If one day we give them a chicken dish, next day we make it sure it should be mutton, he said.
