SHARJAH // Across a nearly deserted road, labourers walk from nearby labour camps to sit down at an unlikely location for an iftar feast.
It is a small patch of grass with a few trees - the back yard of the Biryany Kabab House. Most of the workers who gather here at sunset every day during Ramadan are not only unemployed, but their former employers have fled the country, leaving them stranded. Other labourers from nearby camps who join them to break their fast call them "abandoned workers". They live without water, electricity or functioning toilets. They sleep on roofs.
But with the help of the aid organisation Adopt a Camp, 100 workers are being fed during the holy month. Volunteers gather alongside Adopt a Camp's leader, Saher Shaikh, to help with the meals and collect donations.
Zunair Anwar, the owner of the restaurant that supplies the food, charges a discounted price to feed the labourers.
"Mrs Shaikh said she wanted to do iftar for these workers for the entire month of Ramadan," Mr Anwar said. "When she approached us, I saw this as a blessing."
Mr Anwar arrives early at the restaurant to oversee the cooking. The meals vary slightly every day, but the basics remain the same: catering to the tastes of the workers, most of whom are Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, Mr Anwar serves samosas and deep-fried onions before prayers. Afterwards, sweet rice is served with biryani and meat curry. The meal ends with pink Kashmiri tea.
There is enough food for leftovers, which are packaged and sent back with each worker so they may have a suhoor meal as well.
"Even this meal would not be possible," said Zulfiqar Ahmed, a worker who has been without a job for 10 months and is waiting for a settlement from the Dubai labour courts.
"We have always had great Ramadans but never thought this would happen, where we would be without work. Ramadan was the last thing on our minds this year. But this generosity shown by people is overwhelming."
Sagar Ali and Mohammed Abdul Ratif said they met Mrs Shaikh when they were scavenging through rubbish and fighting over handfuls of food. She initially offered to help them by bringing food and other basic supplies while they waited to hear about their settlements from the courts. As Ramadan approached, Mrs Shaikh sent requests to family, friends and volunteers to help feed the workers.
"There is not much we can do but wait every day," Mr Ratif said. "But this meal, we look forward to it, because without this, we would still be fighting even over an iftar meal."
Mrs Shaikh grew up in homes around the world, including some time spent in Pakistan. This is not the first time she has been confronted by poverty, she said.
"I don't find it shocking," she said. "But it doesn't lessen the fact that it is heartbreaking."
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The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
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.
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km