Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

This Friday, May 15, is an extra special day for while it is the weekend and worship day in this part of the world, the date is also the International Day of Families.

Twenty-seven years ago, all member-states of the United Nations (UN) at the 1993 General Assembly through resolution A/RES/47/237 voted that May 15 each year be observed as the “International Day of Families,” the official celebration of which began two years later or in 1995.

The initiative is rooted on the 1983 recommendations of the UN Economic and Social Council-Commission for Social Development “to enhance awareness among decision-makers and the public of the problems and needs of the family, as well as effective ways of meeting those needs.”

The day aims to call attention to everything about and which revolves around families, society’s basic unit.

Four months later or in Sept. 2015, the UN began formulating what has been known as the Millennium Goals; fast forward to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 2016.

Ahead of the “International Day of Families 2020,” University of Birmingham-Dubai Psychology Foundation Programme deputy director Olivia Goncalves said: “By designating a day to recognize families, the UN hoped to bring focus to the need for strong family units as a means of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, achieving universal primary education, and reducing child mortality.”

These are all covered in SDGs One to Five: No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-Being, Quality Education, and Gender Equality.

Separately interviewed for the special day were Dubai residents Inshirah Taib and Anjjelo Hemady San Buenaventura.

Taib said: “We are currently in a difficult situation (COVID19 pandemic and its consequences) and our family is the reason why we choose to fight for a better tomorrow. A proof that we value them more than anything else in this world.”

“Looking at the brighter side and Friday being very special for us Muslims, we do not need to go out and spend much to make them realize how grateful we are to them. Let us all pray that we value our family togetherness. Let us all be thankful to the Almighty,” she added.

San Buenaventura said: “Being a family man is a privilege from God. It takes a lot of prayer to raise a family. According to Ephesians 6:4, ‘And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Goncalves said the concept of family depends on one’s culture.

Hence, among developing communities and countries, the family consists of three or more generations or the so-called multi-generational who live together or close together as in a compound or being neighbors in a village or subdivision.

Au contraire, in the First World and due to diaspora and globalization, particularly from the onset of the new millennium, arose families which only include both parents or a parent living with their/his/her child or children.

Gulf Today asked Goncalveson her thoughts of the family in relation with its indispensability, the gamut of life, the pandemic and its seemingly far-off end, and the rise of suicides worldwide.

The Psychology lecturer raised the following points:

* Crises, trials and tribulations have been part and parcel of life. History has proved that these come and go. These are challenging and sometimes ultra-nerve wracking.

* COVID19 spread is at a higher risk in multi-generational families and a threat to the elderly. But with them together,  there is “ease” in the harsh economic effects of the lockdown.

* COVID19 transmission within the dual/single parent home is lower but the economic challenges are higher especially when the breadwinner/s suffer from job cuts and/or losses.

* A person may live and survive all by himself.

* Research studies have demonstrated that families gain more social-economic support from each and one another as there are shared expenditures and division of labor. While younger members are oriented and trained to housechores as well as child and elder care, the working age are given more opportunities to earn a living and become responsible stewards leading to increased chances for going beyond the hand-to-mouth subsistence and better education among the younger generations and even those who want to go for further studies.