GE Volunteers help stranded workers return home with Take Me Home campaign.

Business

GE Volunteers help stranded workers return home with Take Me Home campaign.

GE Volunteers have launched the #GEVTake Me Home operations to encourage the repatriation of workers stranded in the UAE following the COVID-19 pandemic. News reports have highlighted the situation of thousands of blue-collar workers in the country, many of them unemployed, home, or means to return to their home countries due to the pandemic.

To encourage the repatriation of these who wish to retreat home, GE Volunteers started the campaign to help the workers reunite with their families in their homelands. To date, the drive has helpedalmost 80 men and women to return home. The initiative has helped workers from over 20 cities across Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India. Some had been in the UAE for just a few months, while others had lived there for more than 40 years when the pandemic struck and left them without options.

We could have served people by giving food or helped with other necessities while they remained here. But that would mean they remain dependent and cannot begin rebuilding their lives, said Swati Mehta, leader of GE Volunteers UAE, and an enthusiastic member of the team included in the campaign. We aspired to help them make a better future and restart their lives back home, she added.

To identify people in need who could benefit from this initiative, GE partners with several non-governmental organizations and volunteer organisations with which it has previously collaborated, including SmartLife, UAE Relief Initiative, and Sahem Volunteers. These organisations identify possible beneficiaries and do a first-level history check. GE Volunteers then conduct follow-up, meeting the people, and making sure they have all required documents for repatriation. Once a candidate has been approved, GE Volunteers joins them with a sponsor who then pays the necessary airfare straight to the travel agency or airline.

The Take Me Home campaign is the most recent community-focused initiative driven by GE Volunteers in the UAE. During Ramadan this year, the volunteer group provided thousands of meals via several online apps, including in support of the Emirates Red Crescents COVID-19 Relief Campaign. Other volunteers taught pupils new skills through virtual lessons, including the Dubai Chambers Give and Gain corporate volunteering event.

GE Volunteers promote and encourage volunteering activities that enhance life and meet important needs in the communities where GE people live and work throughout the world. Those projects are brought out through a wide range of projects in the areas of wellness, education, the environment, and community-building.