St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Dubai is marking International Father’s Day today by inviting 500 migrant workers to a day of entertainment at one of the labour camps in the emirate.
Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the country of United Arab Emirates (UAE). Of its 2.8m population only about 15 per cent are UAE nationals. Of the expatriate and immigrant population around 14 per cent are of Western origin and 71 per cent Asian. Mostly from India (51 per cent) but also from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines and elsewhere, these migrants – men working to remit something to their families back home - nearly all live in cramped labour camps. The emirate also hosts large numbers of female domestic workers.
According to Human Rights Watch, low-paid migrant workers in the UAE are “subjected to abuses that amount to forced labour”.
It is a “day to honour some … fathers who are working here, separated from their families back home,” said Capuchin Fr Lennie Connully, parish priest at St Mary’s. “They are here struggling for their families. We want to honour them, 500 of them.”
As well as a meal and entertainment the men will be given a combination of food and necessities, including items such as coffee, tea, sugar, detergents, razors, and phone cards to help connect them to their families. These items were collected by parishioners during a drive organised by the parish.
“This event is our way of engaging our community in serving the underprivileged workers who toil for the sake of their families. Caring for others without discrimination on grounds of nationality and religion is a core tenet of Christianity, and we are happy to demonstrate this by organising this humanitarian event,” Fr Connully told Gulf News. “It’s not on a very big scale, but it is something we can give at this moment.”
The Father’s Day event will serve men of “any religion”, Fr Connully said. “We have Hindus, Muslims, Christians, all sorts of people from all over the world.”
“In the Christian faith, [fatherhood is] a very, very important role,” Fr Connully pointed out, “because we look to God as our Father. He is the provider of all mankind and the Father of the family. In the Christian family, the father has a big role to play and the father has an honoured position in every family, especially in the East.”
This is the third annual event that St Mary’s parish will host to provide aid and comfort to the people within the UAE. In 2017, the church celebrated the women who provide cleaning services. This year, the event coincides with celebrations of the life of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding president of the UAE.
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