w./21.08.

2009/ Photos: Shihab

MAKING A SPLASH: Lola Lopez takes

a dip with a youngster during her volun-
teer group’s trip to the beach

22
 Focus

People
power
As Ramadan gives everyone time
to reflect on their lives and time in
their day to help others, Georgina
Wilson-Powell meets Lola Lopez,
who’s leading by example

H
ow often do you find yourself with a
spare hour to kill? There’s nothing on the
TV, nothing to do and no friends around
to spend time with. We’ve all been there,
but now there is a solution to fill those
wasted hours with something worthwhile.
Volunteer in Dubai, a group born out of a Facebook
page and the charity Aid in Motion, helps turn those
lost hours and days into something useful.
Set up by Lola Lopez, the group connects charities
with willing workers via its website volunteerindubai.
com. Volunteers can help with everything from taking
groups of children to the beach to organising fund-
raisers, helping out in residential homes and cleaning
up the environment.
“People don’t know how to get involved with chari-
ties,” Lopez explains. “We make clear that it doesn’t
matter if they can give one hour every few months or
whatever, it’s all about helping.” Since February, the
organisation has clocked more than 6,000 hours of
w./21.08.2009/ Photos: Shihab

volunteered work and Lopez says it has helped save

charities in the emirate over Dh1.3 million in products
and services.
“My ethos is to save charities as much money as
possible. We can provide manpower and any prod-
ucts and services that a charity might need. There’s
always some administration needed, but there are
services that are being contracted out that can easily

23
 w./21.08.2009/ Photos: Shihab

24

be done by volunteers,” explains
Lopez. “Volunteer in Dubai is like
a recruitment company, except we
don’t deal with money.
“There’s not been a request yet
that I could not meet.”
Lopez ensures that the charities
or organisations take care of her
volunteers and in return she guar-
antees that each request is handled
the way a company would.
“I sit down and work out all the
car shares and how everyone can
get to the job. I believe if people are
willing to give their time, a thing
like not having a car shouldn’t stop
them. I’ll organise a bus, a taxi or go
and get them myself if I have to.”
With more than 3,000 mem-
bers in Dubai and a sister website
recently launched in Abu Dhabi,
Volunteer in Dubai is growing in
popularity and its effects are being
felt worldwide. Through the web-
site, Lopez was able to find an Iraqi
surgeon to translate a sick boy’s pa-
perwork so he could leave Iraq and
receive the medical care he needed.
This is one of many instances
where the site has helped people
in need and is made even more re-
markable as the whole process only
Focus
took a couple of days and the sur-
geon was based in Canada. In a dif-
ferent incident, when a lady lost her
dogs in an area of Dubai, a call went
out to the group to help find them.
Within an hour she had more than
32 willing strangers on her doorstep
wanting to help out.
“People just need a vehicle to
help them get involved,” Lopez
says. “We have people from every
country and every walk of life, from
older ladies to young western guys.
“The latter group have surprised
me the most, I didn’t expect them
to get quite so involved.”
Her volunteers are so keen to
help out that a call to fill six weeks
worth of housekeeping was filled
in just 12 minutes. Even in Dubai,
an extremely transient city, people
seem to be willing to give some-
thing back, to offer up their time or
skills to help others, and it is mak-
ing a difference.
Trevor Hussey, a volunteer from
the UK who lives in the emirate,
says, “I think most people have a
charitable disposition and often
simply require a little stimulus and
motivation to bring it out.”
Fellow volunteer Shrimal At-
tapattu, a Sri Lankan who lives
in Sharjah, agrees. “I love helping
out, especially with kids, but more
people need to know how to get in-
w./ 21.08.2009/ Photos: Shihab
volved with Volunteer in Dubai.”
In this fast-paced age with a more
interconnected planet, each charity
fights for our attention. Having a
personal touch and seeing change
caused by your actions is key to get-
ting people interested, says Lopez.
“If you donate money to a mas-
25
 Focus

LIFE’S A BEACH: Members of Volunteer in Dubai have fun with youngsters

sive charity, it’s so impersonal. “One permanent person in Dubai The difference one group is hav-
Where did it go? Cambodia? Peru? and Abu Dhabi would make such ing is an inspiration. Look around
I make sure I see things through to a difference. A small investment you today, Dubai is home to more
the end. If we raise money to buy to cover their wages is all we need, than one million people. If we all
wheelchairs, I’ll go and buy them and we’d still be saving charities gave one hour to help others, even
myself and take the people who between Dh250,000 to Dh300,000 as a one-off gesture, that’s one mil-
helped raise the money to meet the each month.” lion hours of manpower that could
people receiving the wheelchairs. It’s hard to imagine a world where change the city for the better.
It’s not all about the cash, people we all help those less fortunate It’s not hard to make a difference,
like to know they are making a dif- than ourselves, but if we look a little Volunteer in Dubai makes it even
ference and see the results.” closer, that world is already here. easier to start.
As well as acting as a conduit for
people wanting to help others in
Dubai, Lopez is also trying to edu-
cate charities so that they can be-
come more self-sufficient.
“It’s about showing donors that
we can help charities save more
money than they can actually give
them. I want to help them so that
w./21.08.2009/ Photos: Shihab

when people do donate money, it

can be spent on what it was meant
for,” Lopez says.
Volunteer in Dubai also needs
permanent staff. It has become so
popular that Lopez is run off her
feet trying to cope with demand
from both volunteers and charities.

26