Dubai: A large new park where community members donate date palm trees — and the dates from the trees go to the needy — will soon be built in Dubai.
Called the Endowment Park, the 15-hectare area, will be built next to Mushrif Park.
Its government backers claim that while the concept has age-old roots in the nation’s past, the charitable concept is the first of its kind in the world.
Here’s how it works: anyone in the UAE who has a date palm tree, or several, can donate it to the Dubai Municipality. Within the next few weeks, the municipality will publish a list of the kind of palms it will accept.
When the park is built — its opening date has not been revealed — the palms will be planted and harvested.
After being processed and packed in a facility at the park, the dates will be distributed to the needy through charities.
While the park is first and foremost for growing date palms, there will be areas for families to come and spend time in.
Charity dates
“The idea here is to involve the whole society to donate palms, which is one of the most important trees in the UAE,” said Hamad Al Hammadi, secretary-general of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy (MBRGCEC).
The centre unveiled the project on Tuesday, in collaboration with the Dubai Municipality, which operates parks across Dubai.
Traditionally, in Islamic societies, traditional endowments are usually restricted to real estate and land.
The endowment system, known in Arabic as Waqf, sees individuals donate land and property assets to support social needs in societies.
Officials at MBRGCEC are reviving a concept from a 125-year-old custom practised in Hatta, over in the UAE’s rocky western mountains.
Back then, people in the area would endow date palms — long revered as precious natural resource — by donating their proceeds towards the poor.
“We’re trying to change the idea of traditional endowments to more open concepts that are applicable to companies of any size, and any individual,” said Al Hammadi.
The endowment consultancy centre expects both individuals who own date palms and date farmers to provide more than enough trees.
“We need to give the chance to everyone in Dubai and the UAE to donate, as the number is limited,” said Al Hammadi.
“Although the park is very large, we will not be able to accept a huge number.”
Everyone in the country can donate a palm, he added — although trees must be of “high quality”.
“It’s from the UAE society to the UAE society. So the people in the UAE society will be supporting other people in the UAE society.”
Why date palms?
Date palms are highly prized in the UAE and wider region, where natural resources and trees are in scarce supply.
In Muslim societies, dates are popular as both a snack and a way to break the daylong fast during Ramadan.
A healthy, older date palm can produce up to 90 kilograms of fruit each year.
But prices can be high. Today, a 1.5-metre-tall date palm costs around Dh650, depending on the type.
Taller trees such as ones up to 5 metres can cost about Dh1,700.
