Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
A giving group of people have been roaming the kingdom’s labour camps to hand out thousands of hoodies as part of a big-hearted clothing drive to keep them all snug and warm while working during the breezy season.
The ‘Winter Campaign- Hoodies for Low-Income Workers’, organised by the unregistered, non-profit charity champions, OneHeartBahrain, and its sister group WeCareBH, has distributed 1,500 hooded jumpers to those in need and after weeks of daily night deliveries since January 23, the generous volunteers have happily reached their target.
“Low-income workers have very little disposable income to purchase what is necessary beyond their immediate survival and that of their families,” said social entrepreneur Birthe van der Heijden, who founded the community-driven group in September 2019 to unite the kingdom through acts of kindness and promote ‘goodwill’ activities towards unity and peace.
“If they are fortunate enough to own one piece of warm clothing, then having a second warm item is of benefit for alternate wear between washing. We were in touch with supervisors during the cold spell and they mentioned how the workers were suffering because they were often cold.
“Many of these workers will put themselves last when it comes to taking care of themselves as they are the financial providers of their families back in their home countries. If they are on low income, they will not have much money to send home, let alone clothe themselves properly.
“We demonstrated through this campaign, that from as little as BD1.500 to BD2.200 (depending on supplier) we can help provide some warmth into these people’s lives and prevent them catching a cold, or worse.”
WeCareBH’s founding member Sabuj Melon co-ordinated the donation drive across Bahrain to help purchase the hoodies. Some people even provided hoodies that they purchased themselves to be distributed.
“While we have finished the donations now, if people want to contribute something for us to distribute, we are more than happy to get the items out to people in need,” added Birthe, a Dutch mother-of-three. “For example, someone donated 100 winter body warmers to hand out. Also, people are always welcome to volunteer and join us in any activities that we do.”
Their next project is to support the parents of students attending the Bangladesh School of Bahrain who are struggling with school fees due to the pandemic.
For details, follow @oneheartbahrain on Instagram or email
hello@oneheartbahrain.com, or WhatsApp 33872346.
