Volunteers distribute dates, water to motorists at iftar for fourth year

AMMAN –– For the fourth consecutive year, Abdullah Zaghal and fellow volunteers are distributing dates and water to motorists at iftar time.

The positive experience and feedback that Zaghal experienced in past years encouraged him to expand his initiative further and attract a greater number of volunteers.

He began distributing dates and water to motorists who missed iftar with their family in downtown Amman in 2010.

In Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic lunar calendar, Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn until sunset. They break their fast at iftar, traditionally starting with dates and water.

“After seeing the positive public reaction, we decided to expand the initiative to cover as many areas as possible and make many people happy,” Zaghal told The Jordan Times over the phone on Tuesday.

Dubbed “Matesta3jel” (don’t be in a hurry), the initiative covered 16 traffic lights in 2012, he said.

“Around 160 volunteers participated in the initiative and we distributed dates and water to 40,000 people. Our initial aim was to target 30,000 people.”

At the time, Zaghal noted, people were not used to such ideas.”Some people thought we were beggars.”

Therefore, he decided to make his initiative more organised.

In 2013, 350 volunteers wearing special vests participated in the initiative, covering 26 traffic lights.

“Around 60,000 people benefited,” Zaghal said.

Since the beginning of this Ramadan, around 500 volunteers have taken part in this year’s Matesta3jel activities, covering 40 traffic lights.

The initiative includes distributing boxes that contains three dates and a small bottle of water to motorists at traffic lights.

“Five volunteers headed by a supervisor distribute the boxes at each intersection,” Zaghal said.

He added that the same team does not participate every day, but “every other day”.

This year, volunteers are covering several parts of the Kingdom such as Amman, Irbid, Aqaba and Jerash.

“We have a website where volunteers can check the nearby traffic lights and register accordingly. This year, we received around 550 applications,” Zaghal said, adding that university and school students as well as parents take part in the distribution process.

He noted that the name of the initiative means that people should not rush home for iftar and risk causing traffic accidents.

“While we were distributing dates and water to motorists, we saw several car accidents,” the 21-year-old said, adding that a number of his relatives and friends provide financial support for the volunteers to purchase the dates and water.

Haneen Aqrabawi, one of the volunteers, said she was happy after she saw how motorists welcomed their initiative.

“I took part once and will definitely participate again,” she added.

Initiatives like this are really important, Aqrabawi said, because many commuters miss iftar on the road and they should be able to break their fast without rushing home.