Connecting with Construction Workers @ ICareOman’s 12th Water Distribution by Husain Bawany
February 28, 2014
Muscat, Oman
Her voice soared through the air like a falcon on an updraft, taking with it the hearts of an exuberant audience.
In strident timbre, she urged them to ascend the routine preoccupations in their lives, to make that day special by performing a simple act of kindness: giving water to parched construction workers. As Shurooq Abu Nasser, the founder of ICareOman, concluded her words, applause rolled forth from the audience like a tidal wave, and all of us prepared to embark on this project together.
As a newcomer to Oman, I was fascinated at how such a humble idea had evolved into a monthly water distribution that garnered hundreds of supporters. This effort, in fact, had sprouted from the actions of local college students when they first noticed construction workers sheltering themselves from the blazing sun under trees. In May, 2011, ICareOman was officially founded, and since then, volunteers of all ethnicities and religions – local Omanis, students from Asia, Africa, and various parts of the Middle East, and even teams of working professionals – have joined hands to give back to this segment of their community. This remarkable, team-based initiative is sponsored and supported by various private and public contributors: the 10,000 water bottles we would distribute at the 12th Water Distribution, for instance, were all donated by a local company. There were I-Care shirts for sale, free snacks for volunteers, and a team of dedicated student leaders divvying up volunteers throughout Muscat city.
I was assigned to Al-Wadi Al-Kabir, a sprawling valley dotted with pale stone houses, gleaming business buildings, and booming with construction. Within seconds, we sighted three crews of construction workers, quickly stopped our car, and trekked over to them with a large case of water bottles.
Their hands reached out timidly at first, the anxious looks on their faces prompting us to reveal that these were gifts for them. Instantly, their smiles shone brighter than the sun when we told them we were here to serve them, to appreciate their work. We shared laughs, took pictures, and connected not on the basis of language, politics, or race, but on pure humanity.
As I reflect on this experience now, I realize that it is the human aspect of such service events that makes them so powerful. As the famous American novelist, Herman Melville, put it, “We cannot live for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow man.” Here in Oman, Shurooq and her team of volunteers have realized Melville’s words. With water bottles in hand, smiling faces, and compassion in their hearts, the volunteers of ICareOman have made a difference here in Muscat by connecting with the oft-overlooked laborers through 10,000 cooling, pure fibers of appreciation.
Husain Bawany lives in Rochester NY and studies medicine at the University of Rochester. He is also a Gandhi Service Fellow and active in the interfaith community in Rochester. He is currently studying Arabic in Muscat, Oman.
