Emirates Red Crescent brings joy to thousands in needy communities this season of kindness
AMEINAH ALZEYOUDI (ABU DHABI)Thousands of people in underprivileged communities have felt the warmth of the Holy Month of Ramadan, thanks to the wide-ranging projects of the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) – Abu Dhabi Centre for this season of kindness and generosity.From financial aid to food parcels and iftar distributions, the humanitarian organisation ensures that those in need receive the necessary support.This upcoming Eid Al Fitr, the ERC will continue to spread joy with an array of initiatives for the less fortunate."These efforts promote the humanitarian values of solidarity, compassion, and community support - core values that have long been a hallmark of the UAE's identity," Saleem Sultan Al Suwaidi, Director of the Abu Dhabi Centre of the ERC, told Aletihad.One of the centre's core projects this season is Ramadan Assistance, which offers financial aid to vulnerable families to help cover essential living expenses. With 1,462 beneficiary cases, this initiative directly supports 6,598 individuals, allowing them to meet their basic needs during the Holy Month.To ensure families receive adequate nutrition during Ramadan, the ERC rolled out the Food Parcels project. About 18,000 individuals received care packages containing essential items throughout the month of fasting.The organisation also provided free iftar meals at 51 locations across the region. This project reached a staggering 360,000 beneficiaries, ensuring that those in need can have proper meals after a day of fasting.Those in especially difficult circumstances are also able to receive meals at 10 different distribution points under the Breaking the Fast (Kissar al-Siyam) initiative. This project supported 200,000 individuals, particularly those who struggle to afford meals.
Celebrating Eid with Dignity Another key initiative is the Zakat Al Fitr, which is aimed at providing the less fortunate with the means to celebrate Eid with dignity. The ERC has distributed Zakat Al Fitr for 2,014 beneficiary cases, helping 7,107 individuals cover basic necessities and enjoy the festivities.Some 486 individuals are also gifted with new clothes under the Eid Clothing initiative."These campaigns represent the UAE's ongoing commitment to its humanitarian leadership and contribute to alleviating the suffering of families in need and improving their living conditions," Al Suwaidi said.
Through these projects, the ERC continues to play a pivotal role in ensuring that the spirit of Ramadan and Eid is felt by all, particularly the most vulnerable members of society.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Etihad
2 days ago
- Al Etihad
UAE students become local environment ambassadors in EEG's recycling drive
14 Aug 2025 00:28 AMEINAH ALZEYOUDI (ABU DHABI)The UAE's young eco-champions are making the most of their summer break by driving environmental action in their communities and collecting as many recyclables as they can. Through Emirates Environmental Group's (EEG) Neighbourhood Recycling Project (NRP), students across the country become local ambassadors for the planet by leading efforts to collect paper, plastic, aluminium cans, glass, mobile phones, toner cartridges, and e-waste - junk saved from ending up in landfills. 'NRP is a powerful demonstration of how student engagement can drive environmental transformation at the grassroots level,' says Habiba Al Mar'ashi, Co-Founder and Chairperson of EEG. 'With over three decades dedicated to sustainability, I can confidently say that when young minds are empowered with purpose, they become lifelong champions of change.'The initiative, launched in 2010 as a summer activity for EEG's student members, has since evolved into a nationwide movement making a lasting impact every year. It is now open to both members and non-members of the group. NRP 2025 kicked off on June 1 and runs until September 30.'The project transforms students from passive learners into active change-makers,' says Al Mar'ashi. 'We are promoting responsible recycling habits and cultivating future leaders who understand that true impact begins within their own communities.'NRP is much more than a sustainability programme; it also hones the youth's leadership, communication, and problem-solving they organise local recycling drives, the students are expected to coordinate with at least 20 families in their neighbourhoods. They also need to plan their campaigns; make their own flyers to spread the word; and handle logistics and other challenges involved in collecting and transporting the recyclable materials. Those who meet their targets are given certificates and an opportunity to plant saplings of native trees in their name, reinforcing the impact of their actions, EEG said. NRP primarily aims to empower the students to take the lead in promoting environmental responsibility and sustainable waste management within their communities.'By engaging youth in hands-on recycling efforts, the project fosters a strong sense of environmental stewardship and contributes directly to the UAE's national sustainability goals, particularly the ambition of achieving Net Zero by 2050,' the EEG said. The project's long-term goals extend beyond the youth and their neighbourhoods. The organisers expect a measurable decrease in landfill waste, better recycling rates, and stronger community ties as a result of increased awareness and community involvement. 'Through this initiative, we are igniting a spirit of environmental literacy, collective responsibility, and community action,' Al Mar'ashi added. 'When neighbourhoods unite around sustainability, they don't just recycle — they reshape a stable and sustainable future.'
Gulf Today
31-07-2025
- Gulf Today
The cold truth
While still living in the village of Chemlan in Lebanon's Chouf mountains, we had an old-fashioned wooden ice cream bucket with a handle to turn a tall metal container. We used to put our ice cream mixture into the container, place it in the bucket, surround it with ice sprinkled with salt and turn until frozen. Homemade ice cream was far more delicious and fun than driving to the town of Aley where a shop sold twenty types of ice cream, including yellow melon and mulberry as well as standard flavours vanilla and chocolate. We left the bucket behind when we became refuges in Cyprus during Lebanon's civil war. Several years ago, I was in Damascus' ancient Souq al Hamadiyah waiting for a shopkeeper to wrap up a parcel when I saw a riotous gathering further down the street. I wondered if this was a political or economic protest as Syria was experiencing hard times and went to see what was happening. The 'riot' was outside the Bakdash parlour where customers had gathered to buy ice cream. Founded in 1895, Bakdash is famous for its traditional mastic-flavoured ice cream manually churned with wooden paddles. The milk-cream-mastic mixture was initially chilled with ice brought from the mountains. In 2013, Bakdash opened a branch in Amman to serve Syrians settled there and the wider community. Earlier I had witnessed a smaller crowd at an ice cream parlour in the residential Karrada quarter of Baghdad. During May 2017, this proved to be a deadly location when a Daesh suicide bomber killed 26 people and wounded dozens as they broke the Ramadan fast with ice cream. While in Aleppo in Syria, I have always paused at Mahrosa to enjoy a dish of milk pudding topped with vanilla ice cream sprinkled with crushed pistachios. My driver, Joseph, could not visit Aleppo without this ice cream fix at this parlour although there are dozens more ice cream shops in the city, Syria's commercial hub. Ice cream has long been a global food just as coffee has become a global beverage. While coffee, which originated in Yemen, is prepared and served in multiple ways, the basic ice cream recipe is the same. It includes milk, cream, and sugar and multiple flavourings and fruits. Frozen desserts long predate coffee. Historians suggest they first appeared in 550BC in Persia, which had a very sophisticated and advanced civilisation. A first century AD Roman cookbook included recipes for deserts chilled with snow. Between the 8th-12th centuries the Japanese made a desert with flavoured syrup and ice shaved from blocks stored during the winter months. During China's Tang dynasty (618-907) a frozen goat's milk dish frozen called 'susan' became popular. During the Yuan dynasty (1206-1368), imperial chefs made another frozen dessert called 'iced cheese' flavoured with fruit, honey and wine. Legend holds that Moghul Emperor Kublai Khan gave the recipe to the Italian Silk Road traveller Marco Polo (1254-1324) who took it back to Italy. In the 16th century, India's Moghul rulers brought ice from the Hindu Kush mountains to make kulfi, a dish made with cream flavoured with saffron, cardamom, rose water, or mango which remains popular today in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Gulf. The 17th century saw ice cream introduced to France and England while the confection crossed the Atlantic to North America and was consumed by founding fathers of the United States George Washington, Tomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. In 1866, ice cream reached New Zealand. Ice cream became popular around the world during the first half of the 20th century after hosts of vendors produced and promoted their own varieties. Ice cream has even become a political weapon in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Ben & Jerry's, founded by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 1978 in the US state of Vermont has become a global brand. In July 2021, Ben & Jerry's announced it would end sales in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory and Israeli settlements which are illegal under international law. Ben & Jerry's argued sales in Palestinian lands is inconsistent with the values of the firm which supports a number of charities as well as action to counter global warming. The Republican Trump administration is currently using ice cream imports as a means to condemn rival Democrats. The office of the US Trade Representative wrote on July 20 on X, 'America had a trade surplus in ice cream in 2020 under President [Donald] Trump's leadership, but that surplus turned into a trade deficit of $40.6 million under President [Joe] Biden's watch.' The ice cream deficit is with Japan, South Africa, the European Union, Brazil, Canada, and Turkey. Although from these countries, imports count for a small portion of ice cream consumed in the US which remains a major exporter. From 1995 to 2020, ice cream exports earned the US from $20 million to $160 million, according to the online platform Observatory of Economic Complexity. The chief customers were Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Canada. In 2021 and 2022 the surplus disappeared and an ice cream deficit of $92 million and $32 million appeared. Italy has become the chief provider of imported ice cream. However, imports amounted to a tiny fraction, 0.18 per cent of the total, in 2024 while the US exported about 1 percent of total domestic production, 1.31 billion gallons during that year. Meanwhile, US individual consumption of ice cream has fallen from 8.3 kilos a year in 1975 to 5.3 kilos by 2023. Photo: Reuters
Middle East Eye
24-07-2025
- Middle East Eye
Gaza: This 12-year-old dreams of combing her hair again after surviving an Israeli attack
Twelve-year-old Hala Shukri Dehliz was playing with her friends on a swing in Gaza one evening during Ramadan, even as the constant sounds of war raged in the background. Suddenly, an Israeli air strike detonated near the swing. Its force twisted the metal chains around her head, tearing off parts of her scalp along with her hair. 'My hair got stuck with the swing,' she recalls. 'The skin of my head was removed. I was rushed to the hospital. I stayed there for two months, but they couldn't treat me. The inflammations and ulcers only got worse.' The first day they did surgery, they used 175 stitches to close her scalp. 'I woke up and saw myself without hair. I had a breakdown and fainted. My parents tried to reassure me. They said, 'Don't be afraid. You'll travel and get treatment. Your hair will grow again.' But I kept crying.' New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Before the bombing, Hala had prepared for Eid with excitement. 'I had bought ties for my hair and Eid clothes,' she says, her voice breaking. 'But I spent Eid in a hospital bed. I didn't feel the joy. I didn't wear the clothes. I was just... there.' 'We have been displaced six times' Hala's father, Shukri Omar Eid Dehliz, speaks with the fatigue of a man shouldering the unbearable. 'We are originally from Rafah. We have been displaced six times. Our home was bombed and demolished. Each place we went, we could only stay for 20 days, a month, sometimes two. Now, we're in Khan Younis, al-Mawasi, living in a tent near the sea.' Their tent stands on rented land they can 'barely afford'. Hala Shukri Dehliz in Gaza with her siblings (Eman Alhaj Ali/MEE) 'Winter brings floods inside the tent. Summer is unbearable. There's no electricity, no solar panels. Even basic food is missing,' he said. There is no bread. No medicine. No safety. 'Hala can't even take painkillers,' he says. 'She needs to eat before taking them, but there's no food. We survive on aid - mostly lentil soup. Every child gets one small plate per day. That's it. 'We are a family of seven. Some days we have only two pieces of bread. We divide them among us. The children cry for food. I have nothing to give them. It's a cruelty no parent should face. My child begs for bread, and I can't provide it. Sometimes, we just want to die instead of continuing this life in Gaza.' A mirror without reflection Hala's daily routine is now confined to the interior of a suffocating tent. She isolates herself from other children who react to her scarred head with confusion and fear. 'When I try to go outside, the children ask why I don't have hair. They get scared. So I stay inside. I play alone. I try to write and draw myself,' she says softly. 'When I try to go outside, the children ask why I don't have hair. They get scared. So I stay inside. I play alone' - Hala Shukri Dehliz 'Every day, I stand in front of the mirror trying to comb my hair. But there is no hair to comb.' Hala was a top student, dreaming of becoming a doctor - dreams now paused by trauma and the physical pain of untreated wounds. 'I was always the first in my class,' she remembers. 'I used to wake up early, comb my hair, go to school, then play with my friends. Now, I don't go to school. I look in the mirror and I just see loss.' She still keeps a lock of her long brown hair, holding it as a reminder of who she was, and who she hopes to become again. 'I want to travel abroad and get treatment. I want to have my hair again. I want to play with my friends. I want to feel pretty again.' 'Gaza is starving to death' Hala's father speaks in anguish about the daily torment and mounting famine which has in recent weeks led to a growing number of deaths from malnutrition and dehydration. 'There's no flour, no rice, no milk or vegetables. Even when there's food in the market, the prices are too high for us. My four-year-old cries for bread. I can't bear it.' He recounts how their lives have shrunk into a punishing cycle of fear, hunger and helplessness. Former UN aid chief: Israel committing 'worst crime of the 21st century' in Gaza Read More » 'The bombs fall constantly. The children scream in terror. Gaza is in a state of disaster. We are unemployed. The borders are closed. No aid is coming in. As parents, we demand the world to act. This genocide must stop. 'We are not asking for luxury. We are asking for the basics - bread, water, medicine. We are asking for a chance for our children to live.' Hala's story is not an isolated tragedy. She is one of tens of thousands of children injured or killed in a war that has erased homes, schools and playgrounds, as well as whole families. Border closures have blocked any attempt to evacuate her for treatment. Her parents - both injured in separate attacks - desperately try to find sterile gauze, clean water and food to support her healing. 'She needs daily medical care,' says her mother, Mayada. 'She cries every day, remembering her hair. Her head is still full of ulcers and infections. If she doesn't get out soon, it will get worse.' Despite everything, Hala said she still dreams of a hospital bed in a foreign country where doctors will help her scalp heal. She dreams of brushing her hair and even one day becoming a doctor. 'I hope the world hears me. I hope someone helps me travel. I want my hair back. I want to be beautiful again.'
