Dubai: A group of women labourers were treated to an iftar and handed care packages by 29 children at the Kids World Nursery in Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) on Tuesday.
The community event, organised by the nursery for 11 blue-collar women workers, was joined by parents of the children, staff members and members from the community.
From preparing fruit salads and helping their parents distribute the donated care packages, to singing songs for the women, the children, aged four and below, brought positivity to all those present at the iftar.
This is the second year that the Kids World Nursery has organised the iftar event with women workers, which is part of their educational programme called ‘Empathy’.
The care packages included bags of shampoo, cleaning supplies, packaged food, cans of food, rice and clothes, which were donated by the community and parents.
The children also gifted the workers a mirror and a framed group picture.
Over the past 10 years, research has shown that empathy is one of the main keys to all positive social interactions, said Nayla Tareq, Executive Director of Kids World Nursery.
“As a community nursery and educational institution, we have a responsibility to our parents and society to ensure we are providing our children with everything they need to be empathetic responsible citizens for the world of tomorrow,” Tareq said.
Parents, who came from 10 nationalities, said it was important for their children to be introduced to volunteering at a young age.
“The children need things like these to learn how to appreciate people around them. It makes them develop a lot more respect,” said Laila Holmes, a British mother of two-year-old Aydan.
“This was the first time my child joins an event like this, and I believe there should be more programmes that teach kids that everyone is equal. I always teach my child to talk to everyone and to not look down on people because of who they are or where they work.”
Another mother from Egypt said it was an opportunity to introduce her child to charity and sharing.
“I wanted my four-year-old to learn about the culture of giving, Ramadan, and giving people in need some daily essentials,” Nadine Nabeel said.
Nepalese worker, Binu, 40, said she was happy that people remembered and cared for them.
“It felt nice to meet the parents. It’s the first time that we met people outside our camp,” she said. “This is not our country, but I still felt so respected. I thought that no one asks about the cleaner, but today I realised I was wrong.”
Her friend, Parvati Kumari, 28, also from Nepal, was overwhelmed by the children’s gesture. “This is my second year in a row attending the iftar and it felt like we were meeting our own family. It also made us miss our own,” she said.
