Projects: How 4 hours of rain changed everything

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
-- From the Project - How 4 hours of rain changed everything

Not long ago, just a few hours of rain changed everything for Jeddah. Without missing a heartbeat, both Saudis and foreigners alike pulled Jeddah up by its bootstraps and created something Saudi had never seen before. A few days after the flood an explosion of relief work took center stage at the Jeddah Center for Forums and Exhibitions (JCFE) with the community service organization Muatana at the helm in association with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce (JCCI).

After the rains which started on Nov. 25, Khalid Mohammed Al-Dahlawi and some friends decided to go and investigate the damage people were talking about. While trying to get to Guwaiza (an area rumored to be the most heavily affected), meandering streets blocked off by police forced them by accident all the way to Kilo 10 and then Kilo 14.

"We went Further East and got into Kilo 14. Everyone was happy to see us. As soon they saw us, I heard people screaming, 'The news the news'. Someone approached us and started showing us around, Al-Dahlawi said. "We asked them, if anyone had come to help them and they said no we were the first people to enter the area. He took us for a tour, we found cars literally fully covered with water. We didnt see anyone trying ti help those people. From that we decided to do something because we have an obligation, we are Saudis."

After visiting Kilo 14 Al-Dahlawi and his team were determined to visit Guwaisa. On Dec. 28 they made it to Guwaisa.
"In Guwaisa, we didn't believe the damage we saw was from rain. It looked like an earthquake (or a bomb) struck the area. The roads were ripped apart," he said with a heavy tone.

The day after the Muatana board members to figure how they could do something and raise awareness about Kilo 14 as well since it was not covered in the news. They started to call friends and family and explain the situation, refusing to accept money for aid.
"We wanted things, food, blankets."

Slowly the items being collected overflowed the home where they were being kept and later the JCCI provided a room inside their facility to store the items; but soon even that was too small. Eventually the JCFE was provided as a means to coordinate and send out help. Muatana originally set up as a community service organization to help clean up the Corniche area morphed from an organization of three people to 300. The JCCI later called a committee bringing together all sorts of charity groups to organize donations. The JCFE is packed with items donated from companies but also from private donors. After that the number of volunteers swelled to 5,000.

The amount of coordination as well as cooperation is something completely unparalleled for Saudi but the results are even more striking.
"Up till now we've helped........," he pauses and scratches his head. "We've covered over 80,000 (people)."

"What we wanted to do was make this a learning experience," he insisted. "We could have contracted companies to come and run all these things but we didn't want to do that. We wanted young Saudis to start these things, to learn and explore themselves. To really have a chance to think out of the box."

Al-Dahlawy leans forward and a grin creeps over his face, "is there chaos here? Of course there is, but we want that chaos." Without the chaotic nature of the relief efforts he says the volunteers would not learn. By giving them a set of rules or instructions, Al-Dahlawi says, they would not be able to turn the volunteers into leaders. "Everyday we see these kids learning, thinking and trying to improve because nobody is telling them what to do." He pauses. "This is the first time this kind of volunteerism has existed (in the Kingdom) in this form."

Shifting in his seat and sitting more upright he said, "Im so proud of everyone, Im so proud of these kids."

Relief efforts operating out of the JCFE continued until Dec. 24 and Al-Dahlawi said that after that Muatana's role would end because its primary aim was to initiate the relief process. "Now it's time for everyone to do what they have to do, the Civil Defense, all the charity organizations they all have to work to do what they have to do. We're throwing the ball back to the specialized people and organizations who should have started this whole thing. And to carry on what we've started."