Friday 05 / July / 2024
Muscat: Inspired by Nasr Al Jadhamy’s first trip to Yemen last February, many residents in Oman have came forward to donate goods to those suffering across the border when he announced his intentions to make another journey, this time with two truckloads of aid in tow.
Coordinating these relief efforts among Oman’s expat community was Jacinta Machado, an Indian who’s been living in the Sultanate since 1990.
“Whenever people get in touch with me, I try to help them in whatever way I can,” she told the Times of Oman.
“Because of this, I was referred to Nasr Al Jadhamy and I met him and got to know all the details because without the correct information, you cannot help the right people and it is very important that what you collect doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, because such work runs primarily on trust.” “I contacted my friends and they also spread the word and that’s how we managed to collect aid for Yemen,” she explained. “When it comes to a humanitarian cause, it doesn’t matter which religion you practice or where you are from, so the expat community in Oman came together to help out. I used to help Nasr with coordinating the relief efforts, so I would arrange to pick up donations from whoever wanted to in areas that were far from him.”
As expected, Nasr and Jacinta’s efforts have resulted in an outpouring of goodwill from people across the Sultanate.
“We have many people who generously gave us things, including one gentleman who gave us brand new clothes for children in Yemen, because he said it was going to be Eid soon, and it would be wonderful if the children there got some new clothes,” said Jacinta.
“Another gentleman gave me more than 200 mats for people to have their iftar meals and later, for them to sleep on.
“I was quite surprised to get this sort of response. We had people giving us entire pick-up trucks filled with about a hundred sacks of rice.”
Of course, this is not the first time Machado has helped out with philanthropic work.
“When I was growing up in Mumbai, I was always taught the importance of giving to those who are not as fortunate to have what we have,” revealed Machado. “My mum was always involved in charity and my dad was also very supportive of such good causes, so that’s where this comes from. I’ve worked with a lot of slum children in the past, and even now, I go and visit them every time I go to India and always take something, such as stationary or clothes for them.”
“Last Ramadan, I was helping the Al Rahma Charity by asking any of my contacts if they had any old furniture and clothes they didn’t need,” she recalled.
“It was better to donate them instead of throwing them away, and by the end, Al Rahma had about seven trucks worth of things to give to underprivileged people.”
She was also quick to praise His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said for inculcating a culture of caring among residents in the Sultanate.
“I really have to praise His Majesty because he’s got a very peaceful outlook and always tries to help the other Middle Eastern nations however he can,” said Machado. “People always take inspiration from their leaders and it is so nice to see that Sultan Qaboos has passed on these values to his people, and this makes me very proud to be a resident of this country.”
