Children with special needs attend Iftar

Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

In the month of giving and sharing, people with a soft heart and sound mind have been organising various activities like Iftar for different segments of society.

An active social worker, Juhi Yasmeen Khan, founder of JYK and Women Helping Women in collaboration with Farzi Cafe in Dubai has organised a special Iftar for a group of people of determination and also invited their families. The Iftar was followed by dinner and fun-filled activities to entertain special needs children and their families.

Besides children with special needs and their families, prominent people from various sectors and vocal supporters of inclusion of these children into mainstream society also attended the evening. Those who were present included Chaitha Yattogoda, Consul General of Sri Lanka, Hisham Al Zahrani, Deputy Director, Dar Al Ber Society and Neeraj Agarwal, from the Consulate of India.

The main objective of the special Iftar was to help the special needs families be part of the mainstream society. Another objective of the special Iftar was to help the people understand the problems faced by special needs people and their families.

Juhi Yasmeen Khan, founder of JYK and Women Helping Women, said, “Helping the special needs people become part of the mainstream society is one of my biggest passions in life. So, I keep on looking for ways of achieving that and this motivational Iftar is part of our calendar events every Ramadan which is awaited every year by our special needs friends and they enthusiastically look forward to attending it. I hope that by bringing the special needs people in face to face meetings with people from different walks of life, we have moved one step ahead in that direction.”

Keeping these objectives in mind, the organisers had also invited people from different walks of life which included diplomats, government official, business leaders, entrepreneurs, media personalities, socialites, etc.

Also present at the event were members of Women Helping Women Group’s eminent women leaders from various fields which included CEOs, life coaches, famous influencers, etc. The members of the group promised to take further steps to help the special needs children and their families.

Along with delicious Iftar and sumptuous dinner for all, there were also arrangements for the children to have some fun. It was a complete fun-filled evening with henna and games for all the children.  However, the families and their children took part in the activities to enjoy the evening.

There were also exclusive lucky draws held for special needs children which included pearl necklaces from Liali Jewellery, shopping vouchers by Baby Shop and Shoe Mart, etc.

Zorawar Kalra from Farzi Café said, “We are delighted to be associated with initiative and hosting this special Iftar for special needs children. We had designed a special menu for our special friends and we had a great time hosting our special friends at our cafe at City Walk.”

Iftar boxes to taxi drivers distributed as ‘The Act of Giving’: BurJuman Arjaan by Rotana and Jumeira Rotana Dubai embraced the Holy Month of Ramadan by distributing Iftar boxes to all taxi drivers passing by the two hotels. Colleagues of each department of the two hotels spent time sharing the blessings with all taxi drivers.

Ulrich Hoffmeister, General Manager of Jumeira Rotana and BurJuman Arjaan, said, “Ramadan is a time of giving and sharing, especially with those who need it most. It was a great experience to share our blessings with taxi drivers, so they have something to break their fast with, whilst being on the road.”

“Our teams were delighted to contribute and even to extend their working hours to take part in our Iftar boxes distribution,” Ulrich added.

For the past years, Jumeira Rotana and BurJuman Arjaan by Rotana have been very active with several community services and support of non-government organisations. All hotel initiatives confirm their commitment to their core values of respect and integrity and demonstrate the desire of “giving back” to the community.