Double delight!

Generous GulfWeekly readers pulled out all the stops to support our recent Ramadan Smile Campaign and astonishingly delivered double the number of donations requested.

Stunned organisers of the initiative have been overwhelmed with the kindness shown as the young and old rallied to the call. Around 6,000 packaged toothbrushes will be sent to families surviving in refugee camps who have fled from conflicts in the Middle East.

This newspaper had teamed up with DHL, the world’s leading express delivery and logistics’ company with regional headquarters in Bahrain, which promised to deliver the supplies as a gesture of goodwill.

Bahrain Rugby Football Club (BRFC) in Janabiya offered to act as a collection point for readers’ donations and The Multinational School Bahrain, Riffa Views International School, St Christopher’s School and the British School of Bahrain, as well as Rainbow for Kids Nursery, also agreed to receive toothbrush donations from pupils and parents to support the appeal.

GulfWeekly Editor Stan Szecowka said: “A huge thank you to all our readers, your big hearts never fail to inspire us.”

We initially asked for 3,000 toothbrushes and this was met by one reader alone, who asked to remain anonymous, by ordering the requested number from a company in Saudi Arabia and arrived with her car packed full of boxes. “I was deeply moved after reading about the campaign and wanted to help,” she said.

By the end of the campaign the number of toothbrushes donated hit the 6,000 mark. “This is an incredible result. We had no doubt that the community in Bahrain would come through and they have exceeded our expectations, doubling the size of the target,” said Phil Armatage, country manager Iraq and Afghanistan, DHL Express.

“We will immediately begin the process of preparing the shipment to be sent out to the refugee camps and intend to complete delivery by the first week of August.”

The idea behind the Ramadan Smile Campaign came from Mr Armatage’s colleague Aurora Nolasco, a mother-of-five, who lives in Amwaj Islands.

As reported earlier in GulfWeekly, Aurora, DHL Express Iraq & Afghanistan human resource manager, recently made a business trip to the troubled region and took time during a rest day to visit camps in a Kurdish-controlled area.

Woman and children living there in tents said they lacked basic toiletries having fled with just the clothes on their backs and even a simple toothbrush would be welcomed.

Together we decided to make a difference.

Aurora said: ‘The response has been overwhelming and we managed to far exceed our initial target thanks to the support of schools, institutions, clubs and the Bahrain community in general.

“These items will make a great difference to a family’s day-to-day life, and the thousands of refugees living with a lack of basic necessities will certainly appreciate them.”

The rugby club’s office backroom staff members were equally stunned by the generosity of our readers and the collection boxes at the reception area swiftly filled up. Chairman Mehdi Honar said: “BRFC was very pleased to be part of the initiative organised by GulfWeekly and DHL. I’m impressed by the generosity shown and the fact that everyone who donated helped double the original target was an amazing achievement. I’m sure that the toothbrushes will be much appreciated by the people in the camps.”

The toothbrushes are destined for refugee camps in Kabul and Erbil and also in Akre, the same camp Aurora visited when the appeal for toiletries and hairbrushes by mothers was made. Thousands of women and children who have been misplaced are in constant need of basic hygiene material that will help make their lives a little bit easier.