Malayalis in Dubai herald Onam fest with rice donation

Members of families that donated buckets of rice pose with some of the beneficiary workers at Al Sajja Industrial Area in Sharjah on Friday. — Supplied photo

This Onam season, the rice bucket challenge that is gaining momentum in India has come to Dubai with expatriates from Kerala state here getting on the rice donation bandwagon, giving a new meaning to the celebration of their festival of equality and prosperity.

The rice bucket challenge began as the Indian version of the ice bucket challenge to support research for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease which went viral on social media in the US. However, this Indian challenge seeks to donate a bucket of rice to the needy.

In Dubai, the challenge was first publicly taken up by a team of RJs with Malayalam radio station Hit FM on August 26. Malayalam actress and RJ Nyla Usha, and her co-hosts of the morning show Arfaz Iqbal and Jean Markose, who has directed the upcoming movie Angels, launched it on Mother Teresa’s birthday by following her famous quote: “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one”. Highlighting the situation of poverty and hunger in India and also the struggle of the labourers here, they sought to extend the campaign by nominating others in the UAE and back home, including celebrities from Kerala to take up the challenge.

According to them, the launch of the charity initiative came at the perfect time, just ahead of Onam, the state festival of Malayalis who form the majority of expatriate Indians in the UAE.

“Let’s keep the fires burning in all homes this Onam. Take up the #hitfmricebucketchallenge and make a difference in someone’s life,” the trio posted on a YouTube video of their donation.

Since then, individuals and groups of Malayalis, who got nominated in the drive, have been donating rice buckets to labourers in different parts of Dubai and elsewhere. Participants are supposed to post videos with the same hashtag and also nominate others.

The campaign entered the next level when food products company Kaula took up the challenge on Thursday. Apart from donating 390kg of rice and other grocery items to over 100 poorly paid labourers in a Jebel Ali accommodation, the company also promised to make further donation of rice buckets matching with every bucket of rice donated by those who join the drive.

Kabeer Haneef, a Bangladeshi worker who received 5kg rice from a group of families that donated 40kg of rice to eight labourers in Sajja Industrial Area in Sharjah on Friday, said the goodwill gesture will help people like him to save some money.

A cleaner for the past five years, Haneef said he is paid only Dh650. “I keep Dh150 for my expenses and send the rest of the money home...This is really helpful for people like me to save some money...I don’t know why they have done it, but I’m happy about it,” he told Khaleej Times.

Shanil Palliyil, who coordinated the families for the donation, said: “A famous proverb in Malayalam says one must have the Onam lunch even when one is forced to sell his property. These are people who can’t afford to do even that. This campaign is a great charity initiative and should be continued forever, further beyond the Onam days. We have taken the children with us so that they can also learn the life’s reality...the pain of hunger and poverty...and learn to have a helping mind,” he said.

sajila@khaleejtimes.com