Dubai resident spreads love through yoga

She has a passion and she likes to share it. Through her passion, yoga, Lina Zoghaib is raising awareness to build classrooms and provide basic necessities for children at the Africa Kids Orphanage in Kenya. Lina, a Lebanese national, came to Dubai a decade ago in 2007, and has been part of the advertising industry since then. But Lina finds helping others most rewarding.
Although helping others is "in her DNA" (according to Lina, that was how she was brought up) it was only two and a half years ago that she took it up on a larger scale.
During Christmas in 2014, Lina who loves travelling, went on a vacation to Kenya and volunteered at an orphanage. She lived with the orphans with just the basic necessities - cold water, very simple food and no electricity. "I ate with them, played with them and this experience taught me to value and appreciate the amenities and good life I have here. We usually take things for granted when we are blessed with all things."
Once back to Dubai, Lina started a page on Facebook to raise funds, collect toys, clothes and blankets for the children in Kenya.
"I had a full time job and taught yoga to friends and the local Dubai community. It was then that I decided that all the funds I receive from my yoga classes will go to the orphans in Kenya. It was my way of giving back to them and finding myself in return. A substantial amount of funds were raised and I went back to Kenya, although this time with toys and more essential supplies for the kids.
Seeing the children again and how grateful they were for the support they got from the people of Dubai; who hadn't met them, but loved and cared for them, gave me the assurance that I had finally found my calling... helping children."
But now, since there are restrictions on fundraising, all Lina does is raise awareness about the orphanage by publicising it on Facebook, telling people about her life-changing experience. "It doesn't necessarily have to be donations or gifts for the kids, just your presence there with them is what they long for.
"Every member of 'Africa Kids' orphanage was nice and gentle, and the 120 children especially were quite cheerful and happy; a great contrast to how I have seen orphans from that part of the world being portrayed. Despite the hardships they must have faced growing up, they were the happiest and most lovable children I had ever set my eyes on. From the way they were treating me to their sweet smiles and how simple life was through their eyes made me feel humble, yet perplexed."
An extensive traveller, Lina loves volunteering and her trips are never only based on exploring the place. Wherever she goes, she volunteers, interacts with the locals, spends time with them, hears them out and shares light moments with them.
"Traveling has always been my great passion. It opens the heart and the mind, gets us closer to people, cultures and nature." Lina also organises outdoor activities and does yoga in natural surroundings with her group. And through all her activities, she spreads awareness and supports great causes.
Love for the elderly
The elderly also occupy a special place in Lina's heart.
"I feel they need the maximum attention but are the most neglected. And I want to tell everyone to start with their own family. I have made it a rule in my life that wherever I travel, I meet old people and spend some time with them. They just need your time and a few words of kindness."
Every time she travels to Beirut, Lina goes to meet a 90-year-old man: Uncle Abdu, as she calls him. "My aunt takes care of him as his family is abroad and no one is there to look after him. He is so sick, but every time I ask him 'Uncle Abdu, how are you? He answers with so much enthusiasm, 'Have never been better'.
"Just the fact that you visit him, brings a huge smile on his face. He tells me: 'Time is everything: do the things that make you feel alive and find time to breathe." Another place that's close to her heart is India. Talking about her India trips, Lina said: "I visit India often for yoga sessions in a place called Rishikesh. So every time I went, I would find this lady who was a roadside vendor sitting in the same place, selling her stuff. So the last time I was there, I approached her and said could I paint her nails. Initially she said no, but later came around to it. So I put nail polish on her hands and that one gesture made the lady so happy. She could not stop laughing and posing for pictures!
"That lady is no more now but every time I go there, the whole neighbourhood knows me for the fun activity that I did with the lady."
Another time in India, on her thirty-second birthday, Lina packed 32 goody bags and gathered 32 kids on the banks of the Ganga river. "I told them to do yoga and gave them each a goody bag! So it was 32 kids doing 32 yoga postures with me on my birthday!" Every trip I go on, I also find older people to visit and spend time with.
From childhood, Lina's parents always encouraged her to take part in church activities. "We have a prayer, that goes: 'Give us the strength to give without expecting anything in return.' So I have lived by this motto."
- saman@khaleejtimes.com