On Sept. 19, the Office of Community Outreach and ADvocacy, a Student Interest Group, hosted a Service Day with the aim of allowing students to engage with their community.

The event was held at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Camp, a labor camp home to female migrant workers. The 51 volunteers set up a fair in which they served dinner to the camp residents.

“The Service Day was really good because it gave people a chance to work with women in labor camps in whatever discipline they like. There were people doing theater activities, dance activities, food and crafts,” said freshman Abhimanyu Vasishth.

The organizers considered the event a success. Assistant Director of Community Outreach Suparna Mathur highlighted how involved the participants were.

“To us, the success of the event was in seeing the high level of engagement from both volunteers and the women at the camp,” Mathur wrote to The Gazelle.

For ADvocacy President and senior Kimi Rodriguez, it was refreshing to see a large group of students show interest at the beginning of the year.

“I didn’t know what to expect and for whatever I did expect, I feel like the inaugural Service Day was beyond expectations. It was great [that the] majority of the people who signed up were there. We were a bit worried because for a lot of people it was their first time volunteering, at least in a labor camp situation … but they took initiative,” said Rodriguez.

Senior Gabrielle Garcia said that the event allowed her to get a better grasp of the community.

“It was my first time to visit one of the labor camps and so it was nice to have a concrete experience with the outside community,” said Garcia.

With most of Saadiyat currently under development, volunteer opportunities on the island are limited. However, Rodriguez said that this should not affect student engagement with the community.

“I think us being in Saadiyat is not so much of a hindrance. Even when we were in Sama, we had to take long bus rides to go to any site,” said Rodriguez.

Mathur is confident that the Saadiyat campus presents new opportunities to foster volunteerism within NYU Abu Dhabi. Besides hosting service events on campus, there are also plans to invite speakers who would increase students' awareness of what happens in the Abu Dhabi community.