3129 Care Packages, 2000+ volunteers, 8 labour camps, 1 magical night.
Whoever says that Dubai has no soul, should have been at DWTC on the 18th of August, 2011. New York was famed for its streets of gold, Dubai should be famous for its hearts of gold.
Huge thank you to Adopt-a-Camp's amazing team leaders for their whole-hearted dedication and very, VERY hard work (in alphabetical order): Aadil Wazir, Abdul Samad, Aisha Shaikh, Carlo Gomez, Chareeka Paillart, Dina Al-Naib, Diya Khalil, Eijaaz Arzamkhan, Fuaad, Huma Vaqar, Irene de Wit, Jamila, Joanne Seymour, Kabul Wazir, Kanika Bhatia, Koolyn Ardaiz, Louise Foster, Louise Hickman, Mohammad Mustafa, Mugurel Vasile Florea, Naheed Shaikh, Neha Mistry, Nicholas Paillart, Parveen Shah, Rahul Jaiswal, Shamrez Shaikh, Shirin Ostawart and Warda Aljawahiry.
To my partner: Dubai Chamber of Commerce and its fantastic team especially Layla Derraz and Dania Sheilani, the beautiful, smart, sassy angels who made Ramadan Care Packages at Dubai World Trade Centre a reality. Special mention of Benita Morgan and Sophie Shellim for all their support from Dubai Chamber too.
To Ray and his DWTC team. Thank you for your wonderful helpfulness and making every wish come true.
More huge thanks to these companies and their teams who were wonderful volunteers and gave incredible support and sponsorship: Abraaj Capital which single-handedly sponsored an entire camp (co-ordinated by Ghizlan Guenez), Euro Movers (Khurram and Natasha Abdulla), Freshfields (co-ordinated by Shanel Hasan), Gulf Packaging (Shalin Bhojani and Satyen Chokshi), Harlequin (co-ordinated by Sara and thanks to Warda's efforts), HP (co-ordinated by Marylene Henry), Khushi Trading (Kashif and Razia Ibrahim), Kraft (co-ordinated by Xavier Nunes), Landmark Group (many thanks to Nisha Jagtiani), IBM (led by Mugurel Vasiles), Moevenpic Hotel Deira (led by Aadil Wazir).
Massive thanks to Amna Lutfi, Atheeque Ansari, Mohd. Al Dah, Debbie Dadds, Ijlal, Kashif and Razia Ibrahim, Katie Foster, Khatija Paruk, Raza Rizvi, Roshni Raimalwalla, Yazan Magrabi and Oscar Matthews for their extreme generosity and for going far above and beyond to help the men.
Big shout out and many thanks to Volunteer in Dubai's team, led by Lola Lopez, for doing a beautiful job of setting up the area for the event.
To all the individual Care Packages sponsors whose selfless generosity enabled us to help 3129 men:
Veronica Lane and Alan McIntyre, Marzia Bawany, Zeeshan, Rebecca, Helen Lowe, Nilofer, via Tariq: Abul, Bulent, Ahmed, Mohd., DD, Ez, Faisal, Maher, Shaila (JAFZA), Maha Gaad, Shereen Harris, Hasnain Tariq, Craig Pinto, Joanne Seymour, Gemma Goodluck, Priti McKinnon(Emirates NBD Bank), Mikele Ugarte, Zahra Khilji and her office, Irene de Wit and her colleagues, Rishita, Rashna, Aneka Sharma, Michael and his bike group, Tracey Norman, Omar Mirza, Jado Pado (co-ordinated by Samar), Sarah and Olivia, Sankalp, Sadia Mir (UAE Tawteen), Bernhard Sperling (DFSA), Stephanie Jo Emory and friends, Laoise Malloy, Roshni Raimalwalla's friends, Salma Ganchi, Sarah May Brown, Tahera Sultan, Mimi Anderson, Mary Carolyn, Maya Hammoud, Warda's another friend, Riaz and Nausheen, Gibran/Unaiza and friend, Omar Javed's friend, Cathy Zaccheus, Rejin Rajan, Dr. Nausheen Khan, Nazneen Akram, Mahreen Siddiqui, Somayeh Berenjian and friends, POAG co-ordinated by Adela Acevado, Huma Waqar, Internations (co-ordinated by Aisha), Robert Kris, Katy Stevens, Azhar S., Kunal M., Satya EC, Saad and Beenish Mahmood, 7Days (co-ordinated by Mishaal Siddiqui), Samarth (Sam) Meherish, Dana Salloum, Lama al Khawaja, Joy Honda, Smith Services (coordinated by Ellen Harewood), Poonam Ganglani, Enez Gehi, Kiera Medina, Naheed Shaikh, Anjum Schon, Dolly Arshed, Shahnaz Merchant, Sabiha Niaz, Nasreen Shera, Samar Shera, Zarine Mumtaz, Nasreen Zubair, Sumleen, Sabah Hydari and Shamrez Shaikh.
Huge thanks to the media which played a pivotal role in creating awareness and support amongst our community, especially: Fareed Rahman and 7Days (who have supported Care Packages for Labourers since the beginning), Nadeem Hanif and The National, Suchitra Chaudhry and Gulf News, Matovu and Gulf Today, gorgeous Dina Butti and City Wrap (Dubai One), Melanie Mingas and The Big Project, extremely talented Kamil Roxas, Franzine Artista and their team for their brilliant documentary: Them before Us (must check out the trailer on YouTube, it's seriously good) , YOU magazine, Jeanette Teh and emirateswoman.com team for their ongoing wonderful work, Read magazine and Lucy Torchia, Irfa and Geo News, Malayalam TV, Saira Malik and Hisham Wyne for his blog which made me laugh out loud.
Official photographer of the night was the evocative Barry Morgan
(http://www.wix.com/barrymorgan/photography) and much thanks to him, lovely Nabila Usman (www.nabilausman.com) , hilarious Rahul Jaiswal, magic-moment Eijaz Arzamkhan and others for their beautiful collection of pics. You can view the photos and the fantastic media links on Adopt-a-Camp's Facebook page.
Very special mention of the original Emaan Network girls: Yaseen, Humaira, Misbah, Fariha, Kiran, Naima, Saqiba, Ellora and Kate Vige who made the first Care Packages event possible with their friendship, inspiration, guidance and support.
To my husband, Shamrez Shaikh, who was the backbone of the event, kept me sane and was a rock of support throughout; my sons, Shazil and Shazain, who were the first to come out to the camps with me and are the inspiration for Adopt-a-Camp's work and to my newborn angel, baby Sasha, who has learnt to be extremely patient from a very early age! To both of our families, especially our mothers, for being our guiding lights. My mum-in-law, Naheed, for her unstinting support and my mum, Parveen, who flew in especially to help out at the event.
To all of you volunteers: the wonderful, wonderful people living here in the UAE who changed plans around, did bake sales to raise sponsorship funds, took time out from your busy lives, even organized baby-sitters so you could be there to ALL of you who came together that one night and brought happiness, dignity and a sense of belonging to 3129 boys. THANK YOU. I'm truly humbled to be a part of this community with you.
Take care of yourselves and God bless.
Thank you so much,
Saher.
Founder, Adopt-a-Camp.
Founder, Care Packages for Labourers.
Whoever says that Dubai has no soul, should have been at DWTC on the 18th of August, 2011. New York was famed for its streets of gold, Dubai should be famous for its hearts of gold.
Huge thank you to Adopt-a-Camp's amazing team leaders for their whole-hearted dedication and very, VERY hard work (in alphabetical order): Aadil Wazir, Abdul Samad, Aisha Shaikh, Carlo Gomez, Chareeka Paillart, Dina Al-Naib, Diya Khalil, Eijaaz Arzamkhan, Fuaad, Huma Vaqar, Irene de Wit, Jamila, Joanne Seymour, Kabul Wazir, Kanika Bhatia, Koolyn Ardaiz, Louise Foster, Louise Hickman, Mohammad Mustafa, Mugurel Vasile Florea, Naheed Shaikh, Neha Mistry, Nicholas Paillart, Parveen Shah, Rahul Jaiswal, Shamrez Shaikh, Shirin Ostawart and Warda Aljawahiry.
To my partner: Dubai Chamber of Commerce and its fantastic team especially Layla Derraz and Dania Sheilani, the beautiful, smart, sassy angels who made Ramadan Care Packages at Dubai World Trade Centre a reality. Special mention of Benita Morgan and Sophie Shellim for all their support from Dubai Chamber too.
To Ray and his DWTC team. Thank you for your wonderful helpfulness and making every wish come true.
More huge thanks to these companies and their teams who were wonderful volunteers and gave incredible support and sponsorship: Abraaj Capital which single-handedly sponsored an entire camp (co-ordinated by Ghizlan Guenez), Euro Movers (Khurram and Natasha Abdulla), Freshfields (co-ordinated by Shanel Hasan), Gulf Packaging (Shalin Bhojani and Satyen Chokshi), Harlequin (co-ordinated by Sara and thanks to Warda's efforts), HP (co-ordinated by Marylene Henry), Khushi Trading (Kashif and Razia Ibrahim), Kraft (co-ordinated by Xavier Nunes), Landmark Group (many thanks to Nisha Jagtiani), IBM (led by Mugurel Vasiles), Moevenpic Hotel Deira (led by Aadil Wazir).
Massive thanks to Amna Lutfi, Atheeque Ansari, Mohd. Al Dah, Debbie Dadds, Ijlal, Kashif and Razia Ibrahim, Katie Foster, Khatija Paruk, Raza Rizvi, Roshni Raimalwalla, Yazan Magrabi and Oscar Matthews for their extreme generosity and for going far above and beyond to help the men.
Big shout out and many thanks to Volunteer in Dubai's team, led by Lola Lopez, for doing a beautiful job of setting up the area for the event.
To all the individual Care Packages sponsors whose selfless generosity enabled us to help 3129 men:
Veronica Lane and Alan McIntyre, Marzia Bawany, Zeeshan, Rebecca, Helen Lowe, Nilofer, via Tariq: Abul, Bulent, Ahmed, Mohd., DD, Ez, Faisal, Maher, Shaila (JAFZA), Maha Gaad, Shereen Harris, Hasnain Tariq, Craig Pinto, Joanne Seymour, Gemma Goodluck, Priti McKinnon(Emirates NBD Bank), Mikele Ugarte, Zahra Khilji and her office, Irene de Wit and her colleagues, Rishita, Rashna, Aneka Sharma, Michael and his bike group, Tracey Norman, Omar Mirza, Jado Pado (co-ordinated by Samar), Sarah and Olivia, Sankalp, Sadia Mir (UAE Tawteen), Bernhard Sperling (DFSA), Stephanie Jo Emory and friends, Laoise Malloy, Roshni Raimalwalla's friends, Salma Ganchi, Sarah May Brown, Tahera Sultan, Mimi Anderson, Mary Carolyn, Maya Hammoud, Warda's another friend, Riaz and Nausheen, Gibran/Unaiza and friend, Omar Javed's friend, Cathy Zaccheus, Rejin Rajan, Dr. Nausheen Khan, Nazneen Akram, Mahreen Siddiqui, Somayeh Berenjian and friends, POAG co-ordinated by Adela Acevado, Huma Waqar, Internations (co-ordinated by Aisha), Robert Kris, Katy Stevens, Azhar S., Kunal M., Satya EC, Saad and Beenish Mahmood, 7Days (co-ordinated by Mishaal Siddiqui), Samarth (Sam) Meherish, Dana Salloum, Lama al Khawaja, Joy Honda, Smith Services (coordinated by Ellen Harewood), Poonam Ganglani, Enez Gehi, Kiera Medina, Naheed Shaikh, Anjum Schon, Dolly Arshed, Shahnaz Merchant, Sabiha Niaz, Nasreen Shera, Samar Shera, Zarine Mumtaz, Nasreen Zubair, Sumleen, Sabah Hydari and Shamrez Shaikh.
Huge thanks to the media which played a pivotal role in creating awareness and support amongst our community, especially: Fareed Rahman and 7Days (who have supported Care Packages for Labourers since the beginning), Nadeem Hanif and The National, Suchitra Chaudhry and Gulf News, Matovu and Gulf Today, gorgeous Dina Butti and City Wrap (Dubai One), Melanie Mingas and The Big Project, extremely talented Kamil Roxas, Franzine Artista and their team for their brilliant documentary: Them before Us (must check out the trailer on YouTube, it's seriously good) , YOU magazine, Jeanette Teh and emirateswoman.com team for their ongoing wonderful work, Read magazine and Lucy Torchia, Irfa and Geo News, Malayalam TV, Saira Malik and Hisham Wyne for his blog which made me laugh out loud.
Official photographer of the night was the evocative Barry Morgan
(http://www.wix.com/barrymorgan/photography) and much thanks to him, lovely Nabila Usman (www.nabilausman.com) , hilarious Rahul Jaiswal, magic-moment Eijaz Arzamkhan and others for their beautiful collection of pics. You can view the photos and the fantastic media links on Adopt-a-Camp's Facebook page.
Very special mention of the original Emaan Network girls: Yaseen, Humaira, Misbah, Fariha, Kiran, Naima, Saqiba, Ellora and Kate Vige who made the first Care Packages event possible with their friendship, inspiration, guidance and support.
To my husband, Shamrez Shaikh, who was the backbone of the event, kept me sane and was a rock of support throughout; my sons, Shazil and Shazain, who were the first to come out to the camps with me and are the inspiration for Adopt-a-Camp's work and to my newborn angel, baby Sasha, who has learnt to be extremely patient from a very early age! To both of our families, especially our mothers, for being our guiding lights. My mum-in-law, Naheed, for her unstinting support and my mum, Parveen, who flew in especially to help out at the event.
To all of you volunteers: the wonderful, wonderful people living here in the UAE who changed plans around, did bake sales to raise sponsorship funds, took time out from your busy lives, even organized baby-sitters so you could be there to ALL of you who came together that one night and brought happiness, dignity and a sense of belonging to 3129 boys. THANK YOU. I'm truly humbled to be a part of this community with you.
Take care of yourselves and God bless.
Thank you so much,
Saher.
Founder, Adopt-a-Camp.
Founder, Care Packages for Labourers.
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