Latter-day Saints helped assemble 4,500 food packs, continuing a three-year partnership between the Church and the Joint Service Initiative of Guru Nanak Darbar Dubai Sikh Temple.
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Rice, flour, sugar and dal were donated by the Gurudwara Temple, while the backpacks were provided by LDS Charities, the humanitarian arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The leadership and volunteers from both organizations worked together packing the food items in the backpacks and distributing them.
Thousands of people lined up to receive the food packs and expressed appreciation for the organizers’ generosity. The occasion marks another example of a successful partnership between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government and different faith groups toward humanitarian service initiatives.
H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Tolerance UAE, and H.E. Mr. Vipul Consul General, Consulate General of India in Dubai, participated in the mid-November event as did Elder Anthony D. Perkins of the Seventy and Jeffrey H. Singer, president of the Abu Dhabi Stake of the Church.
Sheikh Nahayan said the United Nations General Assembly, in proclaiming the International Day of Tolerance, described tolerance as the recognition and appreciation of others, the ability to live together and to listen to and talk with others. He said, “Tolerance is the sound foundation of any civil, peaceful society. Tolerance recognizes the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of all people equally. Tolerance accepts the fact each one of us is unique. Tolerance, and only tolerance, enables a global society to live together in peace and harmony.”
His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Tolerance, was presented with a gift of several books from the Church by President Singer to mark the Festival of Tolerance and the historic opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Part of the Islamic Translation Series, the books are bilingual editions of significant works in the Arabic philosophical, theological and mystical traditions, published by Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. These parallel English-Arabic texts render the important works of the Islamic Golden Age more accessible to non-Arabic speakers, bringing people and cultures together in greater understanding.