Gulf News Fun Drive is two weeks away. Work has long begun to put together what is a defining event of the UAE calendar.
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00:00I am Nizar, working for Fundrive for 37 years. I am involved in packing.
00:07Informational packing and Marshall kits packing.
00:11GN 1DS packing.
00:1410 or 15 newsboys helping for me.
00:17My name is Thomas Matthew. I've been involved with the Fundrive for almost 20 years.
00:24Since the time that I've actually joined the company.
00:28Well, it's a big exercise.
00:34I mean, it's one big event for the company and there's a lot of passion which goes into it.
00:40And it's very exciting to get a very huge task done.
00:50I've been involved with start packing for probably the last 3 or 4 years.
00:56But otherwise, I've been involved pretty much wherever I'm needed.
01:00So, I guess there are a couple of more additional duties for me this year.
01:05But the start packing essentially has been my charge.
01:11And there's a lot of confusion.
01:15We try to avoid all of that.
01:18It's getting all the vehicles into a very small amount of space and getting them to move out quickly.
01:24And whatever blank space that we start with, we've got to leave it exactly in that same manner.
01:33My name is Puneet and I'm responsible for the setup of the Fundrive camp.
01:39Which is Mureed this time.
01:42I've been involved with this event for the last 10 years.
01:46And I enjoy doing this stuff.
01:48Sometimes it gets very challenging.
01:50We have about 50-60 people working on site for 5 days.
01:55The Diva Festival ends on Friday and we start the setup on Sunday.
02:00Where all the equipment comes in.
02:02The heavy bulldozers, the trailers with the burn units come in and we start setup on Sunday itself.
02:10We had a few crisis situations as well in the past.
02:13And we have handled it very well.
02:17Last year we had a situation where the food truck got stuck in the sand.
02:21And we were all waiting at the camp for it to come so that we could serve food to all our participants.
02:26But it wouldn't just come out from the sand.
02:29So we had to get a team of marshals together and send it to the site where it was stuck.
02:35And it took about an hour for the trailer truck to come into the camp.
02:39There was a little bit of delay.
02:41But Jabal Ali Hotel, who are caterers, they handled the situation very well.
02:46They started serving the starters and the soups.
02:49And no one even got to know about what the problem was backstage.
02:54This is the camp map.
02:56We have each and every element that goes into the camp on this map.
03:02Here is where the caterers go in.
03:05Then we've got the kitchen for the caterers here.
03:09We've got the sponsors' activity area here.
03:13And we allocate one tent to each sponsor.
03:18And each sponsor has got their own requirements for electricity, furniture, and whatever space that they require.
03:25We have the Toyota setup which is going up here, which is going to be the huge activity area.
03:32The stage is just behind that, where we'll be having live entertainment.
03:39The sleeping tents are all here.
03:42The portaloos will be here.
03:45The tents for the sponsors.
03:47Some additional tents for the participants.
03:50And the marshals are being taken care of here, where the sleeping tents are.
03:55My name is Maryam, and I handle all the registration for Fundrive.
04:00Before the registration starts, we start working on it at least two months ahead, because we have gone online.
04:06So we're always trying to make things better and easier for our participants to register online.
04:11And then it's just one day, and everything is over.
04:14The registration gets filled in two to three hours.
04:17But we do face a lot of difficulties, and we try to manage them as much as we can.
04:22So we've received some funny, quirky demands from our participants.
04:28Some of them want their tents to be equipped with beds and carpets, because it's going to be really cold.
04:34And they want this whole tent to be very comfortable.
04:37And a few of them, they don't want to take their cars, so they want us to give them a car as well.
04:42And also a few of them want us to change the Fundrive date, as per their convenience.
04:48My name is Ajit. I've been with the Fundrive team for the past four years.
04:52And this is my fifth Fundrive.
04:54And Moribdur is 368 kilometers away from Dubai.
05:01And it's a challenge for us, but we are ready to take the challenge, as we are well prepared to meet the challenges.
05:09My responsibility is to transport the items, which is the equipment, related to the Fundrive.
05:16And the sponsors' signage as well.
05:20And I'm responsible for the checkpoints, certain checkpoints in between the start and the camp.
05:29So, before the event, we visit the checkpoint, where the sponsors have to be stationed.
05:36And make sure the route is accessible for them.
05:41And for the Fundrive day, I support the sponsors for the various checkpoints, to make sure it's functioning well.
05:52An unexpected thing, they're asking for towels after the shower.
05:56And some after-shower gel.
05:59It's a fun thing.
06:01Most of the participants, as part of the Fundrive, they ask for a hand shower.
06:07Do you have any perfumes?
06:09My name is Syed Haseeb.
06:11And this is my second Fundrive.
06:14I'm fairly new to the event, but I had a one-year experience.
06:17And that was good enough to give me a whole idea about the event.
06:21So, I am mainly the coordinator for the event.
06:25And I deal mainly with the sponsors and the marshals.
06:30So, firstly, marshals are one of the most important people for the event.
06:35Because they take around 800 cars to the drive.
06:40And they look after these vehicles.
06:43So, they are very important.
06:44Because if anybody gets stuck, they don't need to worry.
06:47Because the marshals will be there.
06:49So, even if the beginners are over there, they can just freely go into the drive and in the desert.
06:56They don't need to worry.
06:57If they get stuck, the marshals will be there to help them get out.
07:01So, I coordinate with these marshals.
07:03We have only around 100 marshals.
07:08And other than that, I deal with the sponsors.
07:12Of course, because of the sponsors, this event happens mainly.
07:17We cannot run the event without them.
07:20So, they are very important.
07:21I coordinate with these sponsors.
07:24And mainly with them, I deal with their signage.
07:28They send me their signage.
07:30Any other leaflets or any other things that they want to include, they want to distribute to these participants.
07:36They contact me and they deliver it to me.
07:39And then I make sure that at the time of packing, whatever they send, it goes into these info packs that we give to the participants prior to the event.
07:48And other than that, the signage.
07:53We have signage from the sponsors, which we then put up at the start and where the breakfast usually happens.
07:59At the check-in and at the camp, where the main entertainment and all happens.
08:04So, I handle the signage of these sponsors.
08:07And I make sure that it goes where they want it to go.
08:10Hi, I'm Noreen.
08:12I'm working with the Events Division in Gulf News.
08:15This is my 11th fund drive.
08:17It is a fantastic event.
08:20I'm always excited about it.
08:21Because it's a very unique event to the region.
08:25Dubai, which is a desert land.
08:29So, of course, that makes it more interesting.
08:33Now, Ms. Nahid Patel, she's the project leader.
08:37I assessed her with a lot of activities for the fund drive.
08:40The core job that I do is look after the publicity and media for the event.
08:45Now, that involves two sections.
08:48One is communicating with our readers and participants.
08:52The other is looking after the sponsors.
08:56When we talk about readers and participants.
08:59We need to communicate each and every part as to when the fund drive is starting.
09:05So, that comes out with an ad in the newspaper.
09:08We have a PR plan in place.
09:10And we have a media plan in place.
09:12We need to give exposure to all our sponsors.
09:15That's what is important for us.
09:17There is an ad which appears in the newspaper.
09:20Which carries all the information which is given to the participants.
09:24As to when the event is starting.
09:27How to register.
09:28We've gone online for a few years.
09:30So, participants can register online.
09:33And then, if they cannot register online for some reason.
09:37There's always help available here at Gulf News Office.
09:40They can come and register.
09:41We have a check-in desk.
09:43There are people who would register the participants.
09:46Take the disclaimer form.
09:48For the past few years, we've been very active on social media.
09:51Most of our communication goes online.
09:53So, at each step, we tell the participants what they need to do.
10:00All our sponsors and the lead marshals.
10:04They do videos.
10:06And they tell everybody what exactly they have to do.
10:11There are a lot of do's and don'ts which are given out for the participants.
10:15What to do in the desert.
10:17How they can do a better drive.
10:20How to drive safely, etc.