https://arab.news/57wab
- Her 11 housemates also chipped in
- She offers 200 free meals each day
DUBAI: Feby Dela Pe帽a saw her fellow Filipinos standing in line outside her building in Dubai, waiting for free food. And she was stricken 鈥� what if her family, too, had lost their income amid the COVID-19 outbreak? How would she have fed her three children?
Dela Pe帽a is unemployed. 鈥淲e鈥檙e poor, to be honest,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not a reason for me not to help, you know?鈥�
So the next day, she pulled out the money that was supposed to feed her family of five for a month. When their 11 housemates got wind of her plan 鈥� like most migrant workers in Dubai, the family lives in a shared apartment 鈥� those who could chipped in as well.
She was able to buy about 500 dirhams, or $136, worth of groceries, including 30 frozen chickens and sacks of rice. And she began to cook.
That is how Dela Pe帽a launched the project she calls Ayuda 鈥� help, in Filipino, a language heavily influenced by Spanish colonial rule. Each day, she offers 200 free meals to the hungry.
Migrants account for 90% of the workforce in the United Arab Emirates. The economic shutdown that came with COVID-19 has hit their communities hard.
鈥淟ife is so hard and they don鈥檛 have anyone to depend on,鈥� said Dela Pe帽a, 34.
Dela Pe帽a鈥檚 a confident cook who used to sell home-made meals to friends as a way to earn extra money. She said she also has a license in food safety.
But cooking 200 meals a day is a massive undertaking, especially with a 6-year-old, a toddler and a baby at home.
The finances are dicey; Dela Pe帽a relies on her husband鈥檚 modest income from a sales job. But when word of her efforts spread on social media, people began reaching out, dropping off cartons of eggs and bags of rice. An influential Emirati blogger gave her 10,000 dirhams ($2,700).
She leans on her housemates, husband and her brother-in-law, who was let go from his job in a tea shop amid the pandemic, to help with buying the groceries, thawing the meats, chopping the food and cooking. Ultimately, though, she鈥檚 in charge.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big thing if you can help like 10 people not to sleep hungry,鈥� she said, as she scooped up cooked rice, fried fish and boiled eggs into containers to distribute.
Her children鈥檚 wagon is used to deliver the meals each day. It is 3 p.m., and sweltering. A sign on a cardboard box announces: 鈥淔REE!!! FOOD FOR EVERYONE.鈥�
Some people walk 45 minutes for one of Dela Pe帽a鈥檚 meals. While most hail from the Philippines, there are also Africans, South Asians and others.
Six Filipino women, who come every day, said they haven鈥檛 worked or been paid since March when they lost their sales jobs. One of the women, Emma Moraga, said she heard about the meals on social media.
鈥淚t鈥檚 good, because they can help a lot of people,鈥� Moraga said. 鈥淥ne meal a day, it鈥檚 big help.鈥�
The crowd lines up. 鈥淪ocial distancing!鈥� Dela Pe帽a says, repeatedly. Mostly, though, people are standing apart and everyone is wearing masks, as is required by law.