UAE Flag Day: Indian expat honours 55 frontline heroes with special gifts

Dubai: Volunteers, doctors, civil defence personnel and police officers … frontline workers across Dubai received a special token of appreciation on UAE Flag Day, not by an organisation, but a small group of relentless volunteers. Ayesha Ismail, a 35-year-old Indian expat, who leads these volunteering efforts of the 'Spread Kindness Volunteering Team', has been marking the UAE’s Flag Day for the past two years, as a way of showing her appreciation for her “second home”. “The people who are contributing to the community are doing such amazing work, this was just a small way of giving back to them,” Ismail said. “We had a very busy summer, with the ‘Beat the heat’ hydration campaign, and then in October, we were occupied with the breast cancer awareness initiatives. On October 31, after I was done with most of the volunteering responsibilities, I sat and thought to myself – as the UAE is marking 55 years of its union, why not give something to 55 frontline workers, and make sure the UAE flag is everywhere,” she added. In the hamper was a UAE flag, box of chocolates and a framed UAE flag as well, a last-minute effort by Ismail, who has been volunteering in the UAE for 17 years. With the planning left to the last minute, her friends and family, who are all registered volunteers, came together to make it happen. “I have met many of these people who we were planning to give the hamper to, as I have been volunteering for many years. But for some people, like firefighters, for example, I just visited the Civil Defence office,” she said. “I wasn’t even sure if they would let us in, but they did. We were able to give them the hamper, and even they gave us a gift in return,” Ismail added. The UAE’s spirit of giving That experience was a perfect encapsulation of the spirit of giving and community, that Ismail feels is at the heart of the UAE’s community. “Ever since I came here, I’ve seen the culture of giving, it’s everywhere. That’s what I have learnt from the UAE – everyone is giving something, whether it is a smile or an award. There are so many inspiring things that I have learnt from the UAE,” she said. That is what made her become active as a volunteer in the UAE, when she first arrived in Abu Dhabi in 2010. What started as community initiatives for construction workers, expanded into becoming a registered volunteer, after she moved to Dubai after a couple of years. But the habit of helping is something, Ismail says, she has learnt from her mother, a doctor in Raichur, her hometown in India. “Growing up, I would see people coming to my mother from villages, and she wouldn’t just give them medicines, but a lot of times, she would send food from our home to them. That always stuck with us, the fact that we have to give back to people, however possible,” she said. Today, her husband, her eight-year-old daughter, Inaaya Sheikh, and friends and colleagues all come together whenever there is an opportunity to volunteer, like honouring frontline workers on the UAE’s Flag Day. Ismail also spoke about how her own drive to be of service to others became stronger after she went through health complications a few years ago. “Life is unpredictable, we don’t know what is going to happen. So, I felt volunteering would be something that makes that time we have worth it,” she said.