UAE's 100 Million Meals Campaign delivers vital food supplies to Africa

The humanitarian drive is ensuring needy people across the globe do not go hungry

More than 750,000 meals have been delivered to people in Tanzania, Kenya, and Senegal as part of a UAE initiative. Courtesy: 100 Million Meals campaign

The UAE's 100 Million Meals campaign has delivered crucial support to three African nations.

More than 750,000 meals were distributed to people in Tanzania, Kenya and Senegal in the latest phase of the global mission to ensure people in need never go hungry

Local authorities and charities joined forces with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment to hand out food parcels containing rice, flour, oil and sugar, which can be used to prepare meals.

One food parcel can sustain a family of five for one month.

The start of the 100 Million Meals campaign was announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, shortly before the start of Ramadan.

It had the lofty goal of providing 100 million meals to people across 30 countries.

But it more than doubled its target, with generous donations from the public raising enough money to pay for 216 million meals by the end of the fundraising scheme.

Ibrahim Mohammed Bu Melha, adviser to Ruler of Dubai for cultural and humanitarian affairs and Deputy Chairman of the charity establishment's Board of Trustees, said the campaign embodied the principles of the UAE.

“The 100 Million Meals campaign, which delivers food support to communities in need across 30 countries, reflects the values of kindness and generosity which are deeply embedded in the fabric of the UAE’s society," he said.

"Philanthropy and taking the initiative to help people across the world regardless of race, colour or nationality, have been at the core of the UAE’s philosophy.”

“The completion of the distribution of food parcels in three new countries provides an immediate safety net for thousands of families in need and empowers them against hunger and malnutrition, while strengthening the UAE’s global humanitarian role.”

UAE works with embassies to offer a helping hand

Sultan Mohammed Al Shamsi, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, said the UAE's embassies and other diplomatic missions were vital to the success of the project.

“The UAE’s embassies and diplomatic missions abroad, in co-ordination with local authorities and charity organisations, play a vital role in the success of field and logistical operations to deliver the food aid provided by the 100 Million Meals campaign,” he said.

In co-ordination with the UAE embassy in Dar es Salam in Tanzania, 240,000 meals were delivered. These went to the Wete district on Pemba Island, the Makonde and Bangui districts on Unguja Island in Zanzibar, as well as in the Kigoma region in north-western Tanzania.

The UAE embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, supported the distribution of 342,000 meals in the capital, as well as in the Mombasa, Asilia, Wajir and Lamu regions, while the UAE mission in Dakar worked with Senegal's Al Wasaat Charity Association to provide 172,800 meals in Tivawan and Gombe.

100 Million Meals campaign saves lives across the world