20 Oct 2006 

An art workshop for children, including children with special needs, was held last Monday during the last week of Ramadan.

Co-hosted by the Emirates Very Special Arts and the Emirates Fine Arts Society, the workshop was held at the Sharjah Heritage Area at Beit Al Shamsi, opposite the Art Museum.

The Emirates Very Special Arts (Fann Al Khas) group was launched in 2000, and has more than 30 members. Its aim is to provide opportunities to people with special needs to learn drawing and skills that will enable them to integrate into society.

Emirates Very Special Arts operates under the supervision of the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (SCHS), which provides education and vocational training, job opportunities, and holds social and recreational programmes as well as summer camps for people with disabilities from all ages and nationalities.

Art activities at the Heritage Area are carried out by the Emirates Very Special Arts on a regular basis throughout the year where a bus does a two-way trip collecting the children from their homes to Beit Al Shamsi and back.

Accompanied by a qualified teacher, the children with special needs are supervised and are taught how to draw by a professional team of three members.

"The children are incredibly well-gifted, and have learnt how to open up with the other children and have also become more confident of themselves," said Kawther Al Kanni, general supervisor, explaining how the workshops help the special needs children who are either deaf, blind or have Down's Syndrome.

Kawther, a professional artist, has been teaching children with special needs for the past 11 years, and noticed that there has been significant improvement among all cases.

"When children with special needs first join the group, they are usually scared and isolate themselves. But after recognising the teachers and getting familiar with the environment and mixing with other children, they become confident and start to learn," said Kawther.

"Five years ago, I met an eight-year-old girl called Nada who was blind. After being patient and attending my classes, she has learnt the technique of how to differentiate the colours by smelling specially-made crayons designed for the visually impaired. Now at 13, she draws beautifully," she said.

Kawther has also learnt sign language over the years to communicate as efficiently as possible with the children who are deaf.

"The children understand what the subject matter of the day is going to be, and they have no problem integrating whatsoever with the other children," said Kareema Al Shomali, a national professional artist who is a member of the Emirates Fine Arts Society since 1998.

Having won the second place in the last Sharjah biennial art exhibition, Najjat knows the importance of art having an impact on people's character, and has chosen to volunteer in such workshops alongside her 15 year old son Majdi. "My son is an artist as well, and regularly participates in the workshops to help the younger children paint and draw."

The Emirates Fine Arts Society, also located at the Heritage Area, holds art classes on a regular basis for children up to 13 years, besides exposing them to children with special needs to break down barriers and stereotypes.

"All children are equal and deserve the same kind of treatment, and through the workshops we have been able to teach them that there is no differentiation between them," said Dr Najjat Makki, Manager of the Emirates Fine Arts Society.

Last September, 10 children were selected from the society to display their paintings at an international exhibition in Sydney, which included two children with special needs, Sharhan Mohammad with Down Syndrome, and Hassan Makk, who is hearing impaired.

City devoted to humanitarian services since 1979

SCHS is a national charitable organisation that was founded in 1979 as a branch of the Arab Family Organisation in the Gulf region, aimed in advancing the Arab family and develop social services in the area.

However, for various reasons, the Arab Family Organisation was not successful and could not set up branches in other Arab countries. Nevertheless, SCHS continued their services by providing care and rehabilitation for individuals with disabilities in the UAE.

The operation continued until His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, issued a decree on October 10, 1995, granting an independent entity to SCHS. The decree stated that the humanitarian services city is to be an independent ground for the care of the handicapped with the capacity to conduct all legal procedures necessary to fulfil its aims and objectives, and to enjoy financial and administrative independence.

Today, under the umbrella of the Family Supreme Council in Sharjah, SCHS serves more than 2,000 people with special needs. The humanitarian services city also functions through partnerships with local government agencies, schools, hospitals and other national organisations.

Objectives
Provide education, care, training and rehabilitation to children and adults with special needs, regardless of the level of disability and yet within the limits that it allows.

Provide job opportunities for people with special needs.

Provide families with guidance and counselling.

Gulf News 2006. All rights reserved.