SCMC launches campaign for Yemen’s children

The Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood (SCMC) announced the launch of a campaign to collect school supplies and stationery for Yemeni children in Socotra.

Following the directives of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women’s Union (GWU), President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation, the campaign sought to provide the schoolchildren with the supplies at the start of the upcoming academic year.

The Council’s Secretary-General, Reem Al Falasi, said that the launch of the campaign was in line with the UAE’s humanitarian action framework.

She explained that collection boxes had been set up across all shopping centres in the UAE, where individuals can drop school stationery supplies.

The first collection box was set up at RAK Mall in Ras Al Khaimah, said Al Falasi, adding that individuals have begun donating school supplies for Yemeni children in Socotra.

The SCMC Secretary-General said that the idea behind the campaign came following the success of a previous campaign which saw the collection and distribution of toys from UAE children to Yemeni children.

According to the UN Children’s Agency, Unicef, some 4.5 million children required educational assistance in 2018.

Al Falasi urged members of the public to take part in the campaign to ensure that Yemeni children begin the new school year without hardship.

Recently, Noura Al Suwaidi, Director of the GWU, on World Humanitarian Day, said that Sheikha Fatima had been instrumental in providing humanitarian aid to all the needy women, children and the elderly who have been affected by natural disasters or wars.

Al Suwaidi also pointed out that the humanitarian work done through the Fatima Bint Mubarak volunteer programme reached the needy in dozens of African and Asian countries.

Al Suwaidi stated that World Humanitarian Day was an occasion to pay tribute to the women working in this field and providing assistance to those in need.

The GWU, under the guidance of Sheikha Fatima, was undertaking several initiatives, such as Irwaa during the year, and the distribution of chilled water and juices to workers working during the summer season and in the hot sun, she added. This annual initiative had seen good results so far.

Al Suwaidi stressed that helping people in need was a priority for Sheikha Fatima and represented a firm commitment that was not affected by any standards but evolved from the humanitarian and moral purposes founded by the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

She said that the UAE attached great importance to the issues of the Arab people and that there was always keenness to support them and help alleviate their suffering.

The State’s interest was in strengthening its humanitarian efforts around the world and moving forward in the same way that the wise leadership charted to safeguard human dignity and provide aid to anyone in need, she added.

Al Suwaidi said that the achievements of Sheikha Fatima, the mother of the UAE, in empowering women and providing material and moral support to them and launching humanitarian initiatives and campaigns helped tens of thousands of women, children and the elderly, who were injured in wars and humanitarian disasters and displaced by hunger, fatigue and disease.

Officials and community organisations welcomed the humanitarian initiative of Sheikha Fatima to collect toys for Yemeni children, which was launched by the council.

They stressed that the initiative was in line with the Year of Tolerance and highlights the keenness of Sheikha Fatima to offer aid to children everywhere.

In Ras Al Khaimah, Eng. Sheikh Salem Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Department of Civil Aviation, participated in the initiative, noting that he bought many toys and placed them in the allocated donation box in Ras Al Khaimah Mall, which led children to participate in the initiative.

WAM