Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Gulf News
Dubai A new charity foundation intended to provide free arts programmes, including photography, music and sculpture to children affected by the Arab Spring crises was announced yesterday.
The Al Halabi Charity Foundation, the brainchild of Lebanese singer Dana Halabi, will provide support to children ages 8-14 affected by the Arab Spring in Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and the UAE. The main condition is that the children should have lost a first-degree relative. The UAE was not part of the Arab Spring, but children who had moved in with their relatives or families in the UAE after the Arab Spring are those targeted by the foundation.
Halabi told Gulf News that the reason she chose an arts programme was because she herself is an artist. “I can help them with something that I understand. I will be supervising the whole process and will be present during the programmes, as I want to provide the children with moral support, so they feel that there is someone who cares for them.”
The foundation’s first programme will start after Ramadan this year in Egypt with 1,000 children, Dr Ahmad Samerai, president of Sahara Communications said during the press conference. Sahara Communications is managing the foundation in its initial stage until the foundation recruits its own staff.
Samerai explained that the first programme will be in photography and will be conducted by two renowned British photographers. “The two had agreed to provide a full 10-day course for the foundation for free.”
Children can be registered through the foundation’s website and its social media channels.
By Noorhan Barakat ?Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
