Dubai: Sajida Dharamsey thought writing her name on a whole bundle of 70 coupons for the gold raffle was pointless — until she hit the jackpot: a kilo of gold.
“While we were filling them [the coupons], I actually thought doing that and dropping them in the box was a waste of time. But I was proved wrong,” Dharamsey, a Pakistani housewife, told Gulf News.
The mother-of-two was still in disbelief on Sunday when she learned that she won, entitling her to bring home the major prize for the Dubai Gold Raffle this Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF.)
Dharamsey said she was hesitant to write her name on the coupons at first because luck had never been on her side.
“We have never won anything in our entire lives. On many occasions in different contests, I don’t even put the coupons in the box because we are never lucky. I purchased the gold on Thursday last week but only managed to drop the coupons in the box on Saturday. It took us a whole day to fill them out — all 70 of them,” she added.
Dharamsey admitted she couldn’t fill in the coupons all by herself due to their sheer number. So everyone in her family had to pitch in.
“We distributed them in the family; all four of us were on it. Our hands felt sore afterwards but everything is just good now because we won something.”
Dharamsey said although she has lived in Dubai for 13 years it was the first time she had bought gold here. She usually buys gold in her home country. She bought jewellery worth about Dh17,000 to wear to her sister-in-law’s wedding early next month.
“My husband was ready to spend for the gold that night and that’s when it all happened. Initially, I was even telling the shopkeeper in jest, definitely I’m coming there tonight to buy gold with my ATM husband,” she said, laughing.
Dharamsey said she plans to sell the prize, which is roughly worth Dh148,000, to buy gifts for her mother and mother-in-law.
“Dubai is our home and our home has given us this [reward]. God is generous and really gracious,” she said.
Gold and diamond lovers who buy gold with a minimum spend of Dh500 at participating outlets in Dubai are entitled to raffle coupons for a chance to win one kilogram of gold or a diamond solitaire ring.
