Dubai university students live homeless to support charity

Dubai students are sleeping rough for five days to raise money for a homeless charity. The compassionate young men from Canadian University of Dubai are living ‘homeless’ on campus, relying only on food hand-outs from fellow students.

Kareem Fahmy, Issam Kassabieh, Tiwa Ompe, Javan Wada, Shabbir Furniturewala, Mussaddiq Hassan and Ahmed Qarjouli are taking part in Five Days For The Homeless – a charity which creates awareness and raises money for people living rough on the streets. The money raised by the students will be donated to the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.

The plucky group spent their first night sleeping under the stars on Sunday, March 10, and will keep going until the morning of Friday, March 15.

Issam Kassabieh, 21, who is studying finance and accounting, believes the experience is something that will also benefit him as a person, besides the charity.

“I like supporting good causes and I think it will change the person that I am,” he said. “It’s something to talk to people about in the future. If something comes up in conversation about homeless people, you can share it because you’ve had a solid experience – it’s not just based on statistics or something you read on the Internet.”

“I am looking forward to it and everyone is going to be looking up to us. I am looking forward to meeting the other guys and sharing this amazing experience. It will be very tough, but that’s ok because we know that there is an end to it and that’s where our experience is different from actual homeless people who don’t have any hope at all other than through charities like this one.”

Five Days For The Homeless not only raises money for a good cause, but aims to create empathy for the homeless by giving students an insight into what it would be like to be without a home. On top of sleeping outside with only a sleeping bag, the experience will test the students by placing them in uncomfortable moral situations.

“All the money we raise and all the food we eat will be got by asking people for it and that will be a real test for me personally,” said 19-year-old Javan Wada who is from Nigeria and is studying architecture.  “It’s like you are degrading yourself and it will be difficult because of that. But the truth is that nobody wants to beg and it gives us an insight into what it's like to be homeless.”

Jordanian Ahmed Qarjouli, thinks it will be difficult for other reasons: “We are very spoiled here, so I think some people will break down,” he said.

“We’re used to eating well, drinking water whenever we want and we don’t really know what it’s like to live on the streets and live under bridges eating whatever we can. We live very privileged lives and it’s important not to forget that.”

The Five Days For The Homeless initiative was launched at the University of Alberta School of Business in 2005. Co-founder Frank Callele now lives in the UAE and is under no illusions just how difficult a task the students face. He also knows first-hand how much good it will do them and the homeless people they have never met.

“It’s amazing how difficult it is by day three or four because your body gets worn down,” he said. “If you don’t eat or sleep properly you get fatigued physically and mentally.

“They will start to doubt themselves because they will hear ‘no’ so many times, but then someone may give them some money or some food and say ‘good job’, and they will realise why they’re doing it.

“One of the best things from my point of view is watching the students grow on a personal level. You will be able to see it when they document it because they will be writing a blog and that’s a great way to see the progression.”

The experience runs from 10-14 March. The seven students from Dubai will be joined by students from over 24 universities in Canada, with the Canadian University in Dubai being the only place outside Canada to take part.

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