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Dubai Cares drive ends tonight

DUBAI — Today is the final day to send in donations to the Dubai Cares campaign, launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, which has already mobilised Dh1 billion.

A Wam report said effective from midnight today, all donation channels including SMS, bank transfers and donation boxes across several Dubai malls, direct contributions and sale of memorabilia will close. The seven-week campaign was launched on September 19 with the aim of raising funds to provide primary education to a million needy children in a number of the world’s poorest countries.

Funds raised by the campaign will be utilised to build schools and offer health care and food for students, a Press release from the organisers said.

Donations continued to flow in yesterday even as the total funds soared beyond Dh1 billion. Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum received Dh50 million as donation to ‘Dubai Cares’ from Mehdi Amjad, president and CEO of Omniyat Holdings and Omniyat Properties.

“Our name, Omniyat, means wishes. We are very happy today to be helping to make the wishes of children in poor countries around the world a reality,” said Amjad.

“His Highness Shaikh Mohammed’s visionary campaign is a wish come true for many people.”

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders yesterday announced a donation of Dh250,000 made by members of small and medium-sized enterprises.

“The establishment’s members are keen to contribute to the campaign and to help provide education for a million children in poor countries,” said Abdul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of the establishment, said. “Participation in this noble campaign is a moral responsibility towards poor communities across the world.”

Dubai Cares is the latest in a slew of international initiatives that express Dubai’s willingness to play an effective role in securing a better tomorrow for future generations. The campaign is Dubai’s contribution to a global drive to help countries achieve their UN Millennium Development Goals of providing primary education to every child by 2015.

‘Dubai Cares’ is launched on the belief that education is the best long-term solution to poverty and the best engine for national growth and development.

Wam adds: The initiative, which notched several milestones and put Dubai on the global map as a city with a soul, also drew the participation of young children who joined forces in their own inimitable style.

As ambassadors of the Dubai Cares campaign, the sons and daughters of Shaikh Mohammed worked tirelessly to garner support beyond domestic borders. They toured several impoverished countries to gain on-ground information, meet government officials and students to personally review their requirements.

The Comoros Islands, Yemen, Djibouti, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chad and Sudan were some of the countries they visited .

The Dubai Cares delegation delivered 15 tonnes of food, medicine, clothing and toys to the children under the care of a local orphanage in Chad and Sudan. The delegation included a team of doctors, a pharmacist and a nurse who conducted medical check-ups.

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