Women workers receive Iftar meal packs from a tiny-tot at the EFS Facilities Management office at the International Media Production Zone.
Most of the women do cleaning jobs in various venues across Dubai.
Published: Thu 9 Jun 2016, 6:38 PM
Last updated: Thu 9 Jun 2016, 7:11 PM
Maya Sharma could not hold her tears back when she talked about her 12 and 13-year-old sons back home in Nepal.
The 40-year-old has earned a living out of cleaning corridors in Dubai, and now one of her sons works in Abu Dhabi.
"I miss my children a lot," said Sharma, adding that "I usually sit down with my lady colleagues and we share a good meal together."
However, nothing could really prepare her for that moment with 19 toddlers, clutching tiny brown food bags, came storming into the room while she waited with her colleagues to end the fasting on second day of Ramadan.
Tearing up as she spoke to Khaleej Times, Sharma said: "I missed my boys so much after I saw the children... It was such an incredibly sweet and kind gesture."
Students of the Kids World Nursery (aged 3-6) distributed over 50 Iftar packets to women working in various blue collared jobs across Dubai.
The women were employees of EFS Facilities Management in Jebel Ali, Dubai and this initiative was a surprise for them. Most of the women have left their families back in home towns and they currently work in various venues across Dubai and are usually occupied in cleaning jobs.
The surprise Iftar was on Tuesday at the EFS headquarters in Dubai.
Students of the Kids World Nursery, which is a Montessori school, along with the school teachers took the initiative to prepare sandwiches and pack dates for the ladies.
"The initiative is to thank these brave woman that leave their home countries to work alone to support their own children and families. As well as foster within children a sense of social responsibility, empathy and care," said Lovita Tariq, Director of Kids World Group of Nurseries.
"It is part of the Montessori methodology of teaching. Children need be instilled with the sense of sympathy from a very young age," she added. The excited kids sang nursery rhymes for the women and distributed the packages to the women at the time of Iftar.
After distributing the packages, 4-year-old Kanyin Sola, said: "I love making sandwiches for the aunties and giving it to them."
Belu Maya Bhuejel (29), also a Nepali national, has been working as cleaning staff at Barclays Bank, Emar Square.
She said: "I have a 14-year-old back home. It makes me very happy and also breaks my heart a little bit to see the small ones." She added: "It is great to be part of such initiatives."
Another Nepali national Parbati Kumari (26) said: "It's great to see such initiatives take place and it's wonderful to be part of it."
Ugandan national Sophie Namakula (35) hardly speaks to her children. "They are in a boarding school back home. There was no one to take care of my children, so I had to keep them in boarding school. It's hard for me to talk to them and I can only do it when they come home for holidays," she said.
She added: "There are very few words to explain the joy that I felt in seeing the little ones today."
Tariq opened the first branch of the nursery in 2004 and now has 4 different schools across UAE.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com
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