Take My Junk, Please! Dubai’s Surplus Collectors

Posted by Cindy on June 24, 2009

Dubai is one of the world’s hotspots, so it is probably no surprise that a Dubai beach resort is one of the most enviable places to be these days. There are opportunities for a total escape from the world here, and there are also opportunities to be pleasantly well-connected. The resorts are world-class, with some of the top designers in the world working to make your surroundings an absolute paradise. The charm and grace one feels here is evidence of old world values that are only learned through time and the passing of generations. Dubai is also a very multi-cultural place, with many different cultures and traditions existing at once, to make for a very lively social life for locals and internationals. Culturally, it is on the brink of fantastic new changes, having taken the government’s official mandate to make it a creative capital.

It does attract a lot of young artists looking for the next big thing, and there are some truly exc exceptional works of art being created here. There is also a large business class, as well as a number of celebrities who are making Dubai their home for at least part of the year. Whatever the reasons for coming and going, there is a lot of traffic in Dubai, where people are coming to stay for short periods of time before being re-assigned work somewhere else, and always new waves of interesting people moving in. This means, however, that for some globetrotters, making a home and then packing up are done in a hurry, and things get left behind. For those who are looking for charities to donate their unpackable items, as well as furniture and other goods, there is Take My Junk. Started by Canadian expat in Dubai Faisal Khan, this organization will arrange for pickup of unwanted items and distribute them to the needy, such as at labor camps in Ajman.

Faisal Khan calls himself “The Surplus Collector,” and his work is becoming known in Dubai, and elsewhere in the UAE, for its selflessness and remarkable pragmatism. He moved his family here because he wanted them to be raised in an Islamic country. It’s fascinating to see his non-profit start to make differences that matter. Take My Junk’s rhetoric is very simple, and the website is also simple, and rather elegant. These actions of taking something unwanted and putting it to good use is a remarkably creative way to help people in need.