Heritage and culture
Life of the Emirates
What is a country without its culture? We’re here to support and encourage Emirati traditions, making sure that they are maintained and enjoyed to the highest standards – not just by the people who’ve grown up with them, but by anyone who might be experiencing traditional Arabian customs for the very first time.
We also recognize that a culture would be nothing without its people, and as such we are dedicated to our fellow Emiratis and to giving back to the community that we serve. As a company, we care – we know that it’s up to us to make a difference, and we’ve learnt that there’s nothing more rewarding than bringing a smile to someone’s face, or more valuable than reviving lost traditions.
The ‘Life of the Emirates’ television series that we sponsored is the perfect example of this. Aired across several UAE channels and aimed at educating the Emirati youth about their ethnic background and introducing expatriate residents to the country, the television spots were presented in both Arabic and English and featured local culture and history with a focus on the values, traditions and customs that set the Emirates apart.
Ramadan
No other time in the Islamic calendar has stronger community connotations than Ramadan, and we aim to encourage charitable actions throughout the month both within our own company and throughout our family of subscribers.
Our two innovative initiatives give back in the largest ways possible. To involve our customers in the charitable spirit, we implemented an ‘SMS to Donate’ service in collaboration with the UAE Red Crescent society, through which anyone with a du subscription was able to offer a donation in an easy, convenient manner. The donator had the option of choosing where their money would go, with options being towards sponsoring orphans, the construction of a mosque, providing Eid clothing and Iftar meals for the less fortunate, and sadaqa (voluntary Islamic giving).
Further to this, in order to promote the feeling of community togetherness we established three Mawaed Al Rahman (Iftar Tables), in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, each within the vicinity of a mosque in order to cater to those performing the evening Maghrib prayer. These high capacity, air-conditioned tents were open to the public and offered free Iftar meals, with the ability to feed over 500 people every evening with 375 seated at tables and 125 takeaway counters.
Iftar for orphans
In keeping with the charitable spirit of Ramadan, we invited over 200 orphans aged 5-12 to our Iftar gatherings in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, so that the children could participate with our employees and their families. We organized entertainment for them, too, such as traditional story-telling and screenings of the popular animated series, Freej (some of the characters even turned up to have pictures taken with the children!), and a t-shirt painting competition along the theme of Health, Safety and Environment, with the three best designers winning a AED500 voucher from Plug-Ins. All of the children received a du school bag and stationary kit.
Maraya Art Centre
Creativity and innovation are what we’re all about, and so we love to lend our support to those in the community who share similar visions – such as the Maraya Art Centre, based in Al Qasba in Sharjah. Our collaboration with Maraya allows us to combine our favorite things; promoting creativity, ingenuity and art, while nurturing young talent throughout the UAE. We believe in giving undiscovered talent the boost it deserves.
National Day
In order to congratulate the United Arab Emirates on its annual National Day, we love to throw a big party – and everyone’s invited, of course! Over the past years we’ve provided all manner of entertainment, from songs performed by Hussain Al Jasmi and our own incredibly talented staff members, to microsites and festively-dressed du stores across the country, where free UAE flags are handed out. We’re proud to be patriotic, and we want everyone else to get into the mood, too!