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This Filipina in UAE has been celebrating birthdays of 20 kids a month amid Covid-19

Dubai - 'I have been celebrating an average of over 20 birthdays every month'

When Filipina Iris Maria couldn’t travel home this June due to travel restrictions, she was heartbroken that the ritual of celebrating her daughter’s birthday with underprivileged kids wouldn’t happen.

She soon found a solution — help three children from financially-pressed families in the UAE have fun on their birthdays. Little did she know that she would end up celebrating birthdays of 32 kids that month.

Ever since, Maria — known in wider circles by her screen name Mika Coquia or Mama Mika — has been celebrating birthdays almost every day. “I initially put up a request in closed groups on social media to help me find three children. And the response from people was overwhelming. Most of them loved the idea and extended their donations with toys, books, balloons and other gifts to give the children I was going to celebrate birthdays with — that was quite unexpected,” she said.

“Ever since I have been celebrating an average of over 20 birthdays every month. People wrote to me about their backgrounds and told me how they couldn’t afford to have celebrations for varied reasons, and that made me realise I had the ability to create a team to put a smile on their faces,” said the homemaker who left her marketing career four years ago.

“With my core team — Karen Morales, Savitri Rahmadani Bejaoui, Jasper Dela Cruz and Dennis Grimaldo — we initiated an informal WhatsApp group. Karen named it Birthday Bliss and that became our new identity. We were all strangers ready to shower happiness on kids we were yet to meet,” explained Maria about how the journey started.

“It was founded on the principle that families experiencing survival struggles need a reason to keep the faith. Faith that their situation is just temporary; that they need a day to forget their worries and replace it with joyful moments and memories and be reminded that the community feels for them and with them,” she averred.

“It is the big hearts of people with full-time jobs who were ready to bake cakes, share gifts, and add colour to make kids special, that kept things growing exponentially. I am especially thankful to my husband who first put the thought into my head,” a beaming Maria said.

With the help of her legal consultant husband, Egyptian national Mohamed Al Masry, she is now trying to get the group licenced as a charity initiative under the Community Development Authority — Dubai (CDA).

Maria said the stories she hears from people are astounding and unexpected. “There are many families hit by the pandemic; some caught in legal disputes and personal distress that have put them on a financial crunch. I had one family who requested for birthday celebrations where the kids were going to an expensive school. I later found that the fees were sponsored by one of their friends. One shouldn’t judge by the facade people put up — that’s the ultimate lesson I’ve learned,” she pointed out reflectively.

sameeha@khaleejtimes.com