Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Bahrain's thirst quenchers are back in action.
During the Holy Month, the 70-strong band of volunteers, has changed its community challenge to focus on the kingdom's villages.
The intrepid young people, who first came into the limelight when they began distributing water and soft drinks to construction workers during the summer holidays, are now distributing Iftar food packets in different locations around the kingdom.
Labelled 'village project', Leila Rajkumar, public relations manager of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Bahrain, said: "During Ramadan we wanted to do something for Bahrainis by reaching out to the needy.
"When we spoke to our Bahraini friends we found that generally the richer families take care of the poorer ones at this time so we decided to distribute Iftaar meals once a week."
On the first weekend the volunteers visited Al Maqsha village and distributed 100 packets of goodies. "It was utter chaos," Leila admitted.
But, undeterred, the group - including female expats wearing abayas and hijabs to respect the traditions of the community they were serving - learned valuable organisational lessons and made their way to Samaheej, near Muharraq, to distribute food at the Abu Alfadl Al Abbas Mudeef.
This time they were armed with double the number of food packets containing rice, chicken, samboosa, sweets and dates.
The Coca-Cola Company in Bahrain has donated BD1,000 towards the project. A villager also gets a chance to win a mountain bike.
Leila's work colleague, Anwar Abdulla Isa, has acted as an intermediary by getting in touch with the villagers.
Leila explained: "Anwar was a great pillar of support who gave instructions in Arabic to help control the crowd."
The villagers warmly welcomed the efforts of the thirst quenchers. Abdul Zaharra, a farmer at Amwaj who earns BD200 a month, said: "Many here earn less than BD150 a month and this is a great help."
Afnan Hassan Isa along with her sisters Etfida and Hammeda, said: "During Ramadan we appreciate this very kind gesture."
The volunteers themselves are very modest about their efforts. Many of them are bachelors in their twenties who now regularly sacrifice weekend evenings for a good cause. Kunal Chandok, an IT professional who has been with the group for the last six weeks, said: "I want to help people and I believe this is just the beginning."
His friend Maulik Kagdada agreed and added: "This is a small helping hand that gives me a lot of peace. I hope this helps to bring the communities closer. "
Sandeep David Rao who works with the BDF, added: "When I was studying in the US, social service was part of the curriculum. When I came to Bahrain I was looking for a similar opportunity and am enjoying this task."
As Eid comes closer the passion in the group continues as many of them plan to bond with the children of the Special Educational Needs Unit at RIA in Adliya to better understand their needs before buying them a worthy goodie bag.
