Zayed Day for Humanitarian Work has prompted the launch of several initiatives across the country.
The Ministry of Social Affairs launched a series of programmes, including providing fridges and air conditioning units to 390 underprivileged families, building a Dubai mosque, and collecting funds for staff needing urgent aid.
It is also organising Umrah pilgrimages for rehabilitated youngsters, setting up a dye workshop in Fujairah to support 28 families, a chocolate factory able to employ 25 disabled people, organising social gatherings for orphans and buying clothes for the disabled and needy.
It has also collected donations for Vice President and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid’s campaign to clothe one million children, and the campaigns Egypt in our Hearts, for needy Egyptians, and Big Heart, for Syrian children.
Meanwhile, Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed, President of Dubai Women Establishment, launched the Al Manal Humanitarian Campaign to consolidate a culture of social responsibility. The Noor Al Hayat (Light of Life) project, its first initiative, aims to provide prevention and treatment services to one million patients across the world who suffer vision problems.
Sheikha Manal said the project continued the efforts of the founding President, Sheikh Zayed, to develop the UAE.
"Sight is a great gift of God – it is the means by which humans see the paths of present and the future, thus, the loss of sight is a major obstacle in the way of growth and development on a personal and professional level," she said.
“Hence, we decided to launch our first activity in Al Manal to support the humanitarian programmes of the Noor Dubai Foundation, as the provision of necessary medical care to those who are in dire need is a priority humanitarian duty.”
Noor Dubai Foundation helped treat 22,000 patients in Togo, Yemen, Sri Lanka and Pakistan in 2012, and has offered free eye tests throughout Ramadan as part of its Emirati Humanitarian Work Day programme.
halbustani@thenational.ae
