Sunday, Nov 06, 2011
Gulf News
Dubai The joys of the Eid season may be palpable in the air today, but for some expatriates across the country, it is also a time for missing families back home.
“I came to Abu Dhabi four years ago, and celebrating Eid here without my parents and siblings was a very difficult experience for me the first time,” said Ameen Al Islam, a 27-year-old painter from Bangladesh.
Al Islam has not been able to visit Bangladesh during the Eid festivities since he began his job in the capital.
“Most of all, I miss my mother and her delicious cooking. I do spend my day with friends, but I am always wondering what my family is up to,” he said.
To make up for his absence at home, he saves up to send more money back home before Eid. “I send them a little extra money, and tell my parents and siblings to spoil themselves with it. And on Eid day, I call and speak to them for about an hour,” Al Islam added.
For Asma, 26, who is celebrating her second Eid away from family, it is hardest when her younger sisters call her up to relate how they are spending their Eid holidays.
Working
“I am usually required to work on the first day of Eid, so it at least keeps my mind off what I am missing at home. Still, I hope to avail of my leave during the Eid season next year so that I can celebrate the occasion with my father and siblings,” the hairdresser from Pakistan added.
Malaysian expatriate Farzeely Bin Safidil’s work will also come in the way of Eid celebrations. “My wife and I cannot have a lavish celebration here right now because we have to work this Eid. But we will start our day in prayer at the mosque,” he said.
Safidil and his wife have been living in Dubai for four months, and will celebrate Eid Al Adha away from their extended family for the first time.
“Every year, we have this tradition of personally asking for forgiveness for all our wrongdoings from family members,” Safidil said. “But since we are away, we will not be able to participate in that family tradition.”
The festive air brings feelings of nostalgia for Jameela Padilla, 39, a Filipino household worker for an Emirati family.
Loneliness
“There is this feeling of loneliness especially that my mum is sick right now. I only long to be with them this Eid and to bring my two brothers to Islam as well,” said Padilla, who converted to Islam three years ago.
She added that the sadness can however be overcome with help from caring people with whom she has been spending the Eid holidays for the past three years.
“The family I am serving right now treats me as their own. That is why I do not feel like an outsider,” she said. “Even if we are not related by blood, they care for me and encourage me to spend time in studying Islam and the Quran during Eid.”
By Samihah Zaman ?and Janice Ponce de Leon Staff Reporters
Gulf News 2011. All rights reserved.
