An entrepreneur in Dubai has teamed up with friends and family to feed hundreds of people for iftar each night during Ramadan.
Siama Qadar and her fellow volunteers distribute the boxes outside a mosque in Jebel Ali Industrial Area 1 every day during the holy month.
The meals, which each cost Dh10 ($2.72), consist of a double portion of chicken biryani with a piece of fruit, dates, laban and water. On Wednesday night the team also handed out 500 Qurans.
The workers really need it and they really appreciate it
Siama Qadar
The British entrepreneur, who owns a fashion technology business, started the tradition after arriving in the UAE from the UK in 2014.
"As a Muslim, we have to give back as the five pillars of Islam," she said.
"The community has helped me. It’s given me my education, my work. So it’s time I need to start giving back.
"The workers really need it and they really appreciate it."
In the beginning, about 800 people would turn up each night but that number has grown to 1,300.
She funds the meals with about 20 family and friends.
“When I first came to Dubai in 2014, it wasn’t Ramadan. It was May and I used to do distributions in worker accommodation from the back of my car," she said.
“I first started off in International City and then moved into Al Quoz but realised there were a lot of people covering Al Quoz, so I then went searching for other places.
“Jebel Ali Industrial site was one of those, a faraway place in 2014 that nobody really knew of.”
Ms Qadar searched for a small caterer and found a tiny kitchen on the border of Sharjah and Al Qusais owned by a worker.
She began distributing iftar meals that year and continued to do so until the pandemic put an end to it in 2020.
This is the first year the tradition has returned since the pandemic began. She still works with the same caterer.
“It’s revitalised and been born again,” she said.
“I don’t know if the other mosques are doing their iftars again. Everyone is congregating here. It’s massive. They wait for us. We arrive at 5.30pm and the workers start arriving at 4.30pm.
“They know the system. They know the drill. They know where to sit. So they give us no headaches, no stress.
“We are serving them. So it’s nice to be serving them than them serving us.”
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
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SHOW COURTS ORDER OF PLAY
Wimbledon order of play on Saturday, July 8
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Centre Court (4pm)
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Timea Bacsinszky (19)
Ernests Gulbis v Novak Djokovic (2)
Mischa Zverev (27) v Roger Federer (3)
Court 1 (4pm)
Milos Raonic (6) v Albert Ramos-Vinolas (25)
Anett Kontaveit v Caroline Wozniacki (5)
Dominic Thiem (8) v Jared Donaldson
Court 2 (2.30pm)
Sorana Cirstea v Garbine Muguruza (14)
To finish: Sam Querrey (24) leads Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (12) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 6-5
Angelique Kerber (1) v Shelby Rogers
Sebastian Ofner v Alexander Zverev (10)
Court 3 (2.30pm)
Grigor Dimitrov (13) v Dudi Sela
Alison Riske v Coco Vandeweghe (24)
David Ferrer v Tomas Berdych (11)
Court 12 (2.30pm)
Polona Hercog v Svetlana Kuznetsova (7)
Gael Monfils (15) v Adrian Mannarino
Court 18 (2.30pm)
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Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
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RACECARD
4.30pm Jebel Jais – Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 (Turf) 1,000m
5pm: Jabel Faya – Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 (T) 1,000m
5.30pm: Al Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m
6pm: The President’s Cup Prep – Conditions (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 2,200m
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club – Prestige (PA) Dh125,000 (T) 1,600m
7pm: Al Ruwais – Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 (T) 1,200m
7.30pm: Jebel Hafeet – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
German plea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the German parliament that. Russia had erected a new wall across Europe.
"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a Wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this Wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on Ukraine, Zelenskyy told MPs.
Mr Zelenskyy was applauded by MPs in the Bundestag as he addressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly.
"Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this Wall," he said, evoking US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 appeal to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
MATCH INFO
Asian Champions League, last 16, first leg:
Al Jazira 3 Persepolis 2
Second leg:
Monday, Azizi Stadium, Tehran. Kick off 7pm
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