At least 392 million meals have been pledged in a landmark UAE drive to provide a billion meals to hungry families around the globe, the campaign’s website stated on Monday.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, launched One Billion Meals at the start of Ramadan to keep people in 50 countries from going hungry this holy month.
Individuals, philanthropists and companies throughout the Emirates have come together to make 194,000 donations to the cause.
A pledge of just Dh30 a month will provide 30 meals.
“We have exceeded our expectations,” Sara Al Nuaimi, director of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, told The National. MBRGI runs the programme.
“Ramadan is a month of giving and it is a month of fasting, so we actually feel what other people feel,” she said. “But you can break your fast when other people might not be even able to break their fast.
“This is a month of compassion and giving, and it’s the month where people actually feel other people’s struggle and are willing to support [one another] as much as possible.”
A huge logistical effort is under way to ensure food reaches those most in need. Parcels containing staples such as rice, flour and oil are being distributed in collaboration with several organisations.
They include humanitarian groups in recipients’ countries as well as the World Food Programme, Food Banking Regional Network, and Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment.
The One Billion Meals initiative will be extended beyond the holy month, if necessary, to reach its target.
In its first week, the campaign received enough donations to provide 76 million meals to people in need.
Dozens of schools, businesses and government organisations across the UAE are supporting the initiative.
Social media influencers have also joined in, while a new crowdfunding effort, The Giving Challenge, in partnership with crowdfunding platform YallaGive, aims to unite 105 government entities, companies, schools, individuals and educational institutions.
The project also supports efforts to achieve the UN’s second Sustainable Development Goal, to end hunger by 2030.
Last year, the UAE set a target of raising enough donations for 100 million meals. It was reached within 10 days.
In 2020, the 10 Million Meals campaign supported communities hit by Covid-19 throughout the UAE.
According to the UN, 25,000 people, including more than 10,000 children, die of malnutrition and related causes every day.
Future initiatives by the MBRGI will include enabling individuals and communities to secure their own food.
“What we want to do right now is to ensure the sustainability of our projects,” said Ms Al Nuaimi.
“We’re trying as much as possible to at least help people below poverty line – people facing malnutrition and hunger by securing something that kind of eases their struggle.”
How to donate
The One Billion Meals campaign website has details of several options for donors.
Money can be pledged online, either monthly or by a one-off donation. People can donate by SMS message through Etisalat or du, or money can be sent by bank transfer.
For big monetary donations and related enquiries, the campaign’s team can be contacted on 800 9999.
Ramadan 2022 in the region – in pictures
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Omanis gather as goats are sold ahead of the Eid Al Fitr holiday, in the Surur area of Samail province, 80 kilometres south-west of the capital Muscat. AFP -
Iraqi Sunni Muslims gather for the Laylat Al Qadr – Night of Power – in the shrine of cleric Sheikh Abdel Kader Al Gilani, in central Baghdad. EPA -
Palestinians pray on Laylat Al Qadr beside the Dome of the Rock shrine, at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, in Jerusalem's Old City. Reuters -
A man stares at the dome of a mosque, in Syria's northern city of Raqa. AFP -
A volunteer from the charity Violet Org hands out food packages for the suhour meal eaten in Syria's rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib. AFP -
Residents of Ezbet Hamada gather to eat during iftar in Mataria, Cairo. Reuters -
Ramadan decorations at Global Village, Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Syrians break their fast during a gathering organised by various groups in Tadef, near the city of Al Bab, in Aleppo province. AFP -
Street traders cut up dessert pastries for sale at a market in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi. AFP -
People breaking their fast at Quba Mosque, Madinah, Saudi Arabia. SPA -
Fasting Muslim worshippers queue to receive iftar meals, donated by a charity, in Mahboula, south of Kuwait City. AFP -
Yemenis read the Quran during Ramadan at a mosque in the old city of Sanaa, Yemen. EPA -
People queue outside Al Farooq Mosque in Dubai before sunset, waiting to break their fast. EPA -
Shoppers at a market after their iftar meal, in the New Aleppo district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. AFP -
An Egyptian dancer performs the traditional tanoura dance at a restaurant in the Omani capital Muscat. AFP -
A famous Ramadan lantern inscribed with holy month greetings at Al Hamidiya market in Syria's capital Damascus. AFP -
Volunteers stir a pot of rice for a charity iftar at the eighth century Umayyad Mosque in Syria's capital Damascus. AFP -
Omanis gather to break their fast on the beach in Muscat. AFP -
Cooks employed by the Islamic Charitable Society prepare iftar meals for Palestinian orphans and families in need, in the West Bank city of Hebron. AFP -
Iftar is served outside a mosque on the Jazeera State highway in the village of Al Nuba, about 50 kilometres south of Sudan's capital Khartoum. AFP -
A worshipper reads the Quran inside a mosque in Syria's northern city of Raqqa. AFP -
The first Friday prayers of Ramadan at the shrine of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Al Kilani, the former Sunni Muslim preacher, in central Baghdad. AFP -
Worshippers attend the first Friday prayer of Ramadan at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Reuters -
Palestinians cross the Qalandia checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on their way to the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque. Reuters -
An Egyptian baker prepares kunafa, a Ramadan dessert favourite, at a market in Cairo. EPA -
Dawn awakeners known as musaharatis beat drums to wake Muslims for the suhour meal before the day's Ramadan fast in Damascus, Syria. AFP -
Moroccan King Mohammed VI, centre, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, second left, share an iftar meal in Sale, Morocco. AP -
Iranian women read the Quran at the shrine of Shah Abdol-Azim in Tehran. Reuters -
A Ramadan catch-up at a cafe in Mosul, Iraq. Reuters -
Prayer beads are in great demand during Ramadan in Sanaa, Yemen. EPA -
A musaharati drummer wakes people for suhour in Manama, Bahrain. Reuters -
The old city in Tripoli in Libya is decked with Ramadan decorations. Reuters -
Food packets arranged for distribution in Al Najieh, in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province. AFP -
Worshippers gather at Al Sahlah Mosque in Kufa, near the city of Najaf, Iraq. Reuters -
Iftar at the Prince Mansour Assaf Mosque in central Beirut, Lebanon. EPA -
An elderly Palestinian reads the Quran at his shop in the old city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. AFP -
Displaced Syrian children return to their camps with boxes of food on the outskirts of the rebel-held town of Dana, in Idlib province. AFP -
Ramadan lanterns at a shop in Beirut. AP -
A Palestinian man carries a tray of qatayef, traditional Arabic dumplings, in Rafah, southern Gaza. AFP -
A cannon is fired at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi to mark the end of fasting on the first day of Ramadan. Victor Besa / The National
