Doha: For Rifai – a Sri Lankan house-help working for a Qatari family – there is one particular part of his job that brings him immense joy: filling up the charity refrigerator placed outside his employer’s house. Over the past three months, he has been entrusted with the job of replenishing the large display fridge with refreshments and snacks between two to four times every day. The people benefiting from this charitable move range from building labourers toiling at nearby construction sites to staff working at offices in the vicinity, or simply anyone who passes by and wants to stop for a cool-off break in the hot summer.
When Gulf News arrived at the house, located on a main road in central Doha, the fridge was empty but working and displayed a sign saying “take anything you need” in English and a similar message in Arabic. Soon, Rifai emerged from the house with a trolley packed with cartons of juice, laban and similar refreshing drinks. As he started filling the fridge, cars began to slow down and passers-by halted their journeys to take note of the activity. They emerged from their vehicles, hesitant at first, and took away several packs of the refreshments.
“I have never been here before but I just saw people taking juice cartons so decided to stop and get one for myself,” said Anis, praising the local family’s initiative. The Al Haider family reportedly launched this initiative some time in May and plan to keep it running for the foreseeable future.
Mohammad Raju works as a janitor in the same area and appreciates this charitable move. “I have seen the family’s children and staff do this every day since May, and they have never turned anyone away or told people not to take more than one helping,” he tells Gulf News. “For things like khubz (bread) or cake they do hand out individual packets but that is just because they want to help as many people as possible”, he adds. Apart from these items, the fridge also gets stacked with fruit, while during Ramadan dates and snacks were handed out at iftar time.
Several companies, individuals and private trusts are known to provide free meals during Ramadan. Dozens of people file into mosques across the country to benefit from the largesse of the anonymous donors.
Some well-to-do families and business owners continue with such acts even after the holy month. One such example is that of another refrigerator full of food being placed in a supermarket in Al Khor, a city 50km to the north of Doha. A message on the fridge says that the food is free for those who have no money or are unemployed and asks for a show of restraint and respect for others. The supermarket hosting this fridge requested to stay unnamed when news of this donation came out last week.
Although it is hard to say how long such initiatives can be sustained or if those benefiting are really in need of charity, the honesty and goodwill of the benefactors cannot be doubted.
Once Rifai had replenished the fridge for the afternoon, he took us inside the house to show us a pantry full of juice cartons, bread, yogurt, cake and several other snacks. He was already looking forward to greeting the crowd of people he would meet when he went out for his duty later in the evening but, most of all, he couldn’t wait to help put a smile on those unfamiliar faces.
Hafsa Adil is a journalist based in Doha
