March 12th, 2015: Students from Canadian University Dubai (CUD) have given up their home comforts to raise money for citizens displaced by conflict in the region, as part of the University's fourth annual 5 Days for the Homeless campaign.
Seventeen undergraduate students took part in the campaign, which saw the male team members sleep outdoors on the University campus, give up their cellphones and shower facilities, and rely on food donated by members of the community, while attending all their University classes.
The girls, meanwhile, took to the campus to raise awareness of the initiative and encourage donations to the cause, which had reached AED 16,000 by day four of the campaign. This year's funds will be donated to humanitarian charity Red Crescent, with the student volunteers hoping that the money raised will make a real difference to those displaced in regional conflict zones.
Taking part in the challenge for the second year, Nigerian student Emmanuel Ojumiri, said, "I was inspired by all those people who were left homeless following the war in my home country several years ago. I wanted to experience some part of what they did, and try to give back in some way."
For fellow-Nigerian and newcomer to the campaign Nelson Egharevba, the experience was a 'saddening' one. He explained, "I wanted to know what it would feel like to be homeless, to have to rely on other people for the basics to survive. The experience was tough and has truly opened my eyes."
Among the female participants, Syrian student Jude Kanawati was also inspired by the suffering of people in her home country. She even made use of her musical talents to attract donations for the cause.
Jude said, "We wanted to raise as much money as possible and my father encouraged me to think outside the box, so I came up with the idea of playing my violin to attract people and encourage more donations. I was happy to see that it did draw people into the campaign and made a real difference to the funds we raised."
The 5 Days for The Homeless campaign was founded as a local initiative by students in Alberta, Canada in 2005and the initiative was taken nation-wide in 2008. Launched and supported by the Student Affairs team, CUD has been participating in the campaign since 2012.
For the students sleeping rough this year, the final night was both the toughest and the most meaningful, as they were joined by team members from previous years of the campaign. Their spirits were also lifted by a message of support from international humanitarian, Karl Haddad, whose own campaigns have taken him across 44 countries to establish 54 social and environmental initiatives, earning him the Nestle CSR Champion Award 2014.
"It was inspirational to hear from Karl Haddad and learn about everything he has achieved", said Abubakar Garba, another first timer in this year's initiative. While it was fellow newcomer Sulaiman Dayoub who summed up the campaign message saying, "We learnt from Karl that there are so many simple things people can do that can make such a huger difference to many people's lives."
The final count on donations will be held at the end of day 5 and the funds raised will be presented to Red Crescent at a ceremony on 17th March.
Gallery
