COVID-19: Unemployed Filipina Feeds Other Jobless Migrants in Dubai

Feby Dela Peña saw her fellow Filipinos standing in line outside her building in Dubai, waiting for free food. And she was stricken — what if her family, too, had lost their income amid the COVID-19 outbreak? How would she have fed her three children? (Image: AP)

So the next day, she pulled out the money that was supposed to feed her family of five for a month. When their 11 housemates got wind of her plan — like most migrant workers in Dubai, the family lives in a shared apartment — those who could chip in as well. (Image: AP)

Gary Dela Pena of Laguna was able to buy about 500 dirhams, or $136, worth of groceries, including 30 frozen chickens and sacks of rice. And she began to cook. (Image: AP)

That is how Dela Peña launched the project she calls Ayuda — help, in Filipino, a language heavily influenced by Spanish colonial rule. Each day, she offers 200 free meals to the hungry of Dubai, all of them foreigners, like her own family. (Image: AP)

Feby Cachero Baguisa Dela Pena wipes away tears after becoming emotional while talking about challenges in her life amid her effort to hand out free food to those who need it in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Image: AP)