Reach Out Kuwait, a newly formed charity group spearheaded by two Kuwaiti and Filipina women with noble intentions endeavor to raise funds and distribute relief food packs to different nationals in the country. This project was a collaboration with Philippine Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) to provide for Filipinos in need of assistance.
The ceremonial hand over of boxes from the team of Reach Out Kuwait and official of POLO OWWA was held in the presence of Philippines Charges D’ Affaires Mohammad Noordin Lomondot. He thanked and extended his gratitude to the Kuwaiti team for spearheading the project with the Filipino community in their list of preference. The event was attended by the Philippine Assistant Labor Attaché Cathy Duladul, Welfare Officers Genevieve Ardiente and in charge of distribution of relief packs Atty Llewelyn Perez.
Yasmin Al-Refaie and Sherin Al-Bloushi, a Filipina and a Kuwaiti, started the Reach Out Kuwait project in the midst of COVID – 19 pandemic in Kuwait, with their own finances. They started distributing relief food packs with wards from the Sri Lankan nationals housed in their embassy shelter.
Financial donations came in and Al Refaie decided to use the social media avenues to reach out to more nationals in need of help and donors to help the charity team purchase food essentials for distribution. “Transparency with our financial records is important for us and for our donors so they know exactly where their donations were spent,” stated Al-Bloushi. Reach Out Kuwait share a database with other charitable organizations, screening the applications is a must to ensure that they have not received the assistance earlier. “It’s all based on trust at the end of the day, we can’t blame them if they kept asking repetitively as they have no other options where to get food and other necessary items such as baby’s milk, medicines, pampers, vitamins and more. Children and infants are very much a priority,” added Al Bloushi.
An ordinary food packs consists of canned goods, pasta, sugar, oil, rice and tea. However, Al Refaie said that there are bigger boxes that cater for number of families in each household. Among the other active members of the team are Nadia Al-Nassar, Dalal Al-Shamlan and Majid Al-Alwi, who work side by side with the distribution and hand over of products to recipients. Al- Nassar said that the after effect of the pandemic is the worst, and they hope to continuously deliver to the doorsteps of the people in need.
“In the midst of this storm and crisis, it is so hard to imagine how one can survive without food and money and all we can hope for is sustainability for this project so we can keep on providing,” added A-Nassar. Al-Shamlan hoped that such crisis end at the earliest so people can return to work and that everyone stay safe, which was reiterated by Al Alawi, who wished for the crisis to end soon. Abdullah Abdulsalam, owner of Food Box, said that this is his way of helping by providing these boxes to the team. Vloggers MJ Nolasco and Nino Montanez were present in the event and refreshments were provided for by Small Spoons and Panot and Boknoy Home cooked food.
With six months of delivering from one door to another, the charity team gains support from locals and earn admiration and gratitude from various nationals who benefit from their tireless hard work.
Ricky Laxa / Staff Writer
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