Primary students at British school donate to UNICEF

The donation was a result of 12 months of fund raising by the primary pupils at the school. It was the result of a huge amount of hard work throughout the year, with the children taking part in a myriad of events to raise funds. Some of these included: odd-sock day raising Dh10,301, dress up for Book Day, which brought in Dh8,702; a non-uniform day, which raised Dh45,000; and a sponsored skip-hula event, which raised Dh70,966.

UNICEF was The BSAK primary school’s chosen charity for the 2009-2010 academic year. The funds were donated in two instalments. After the earthquake disaster in Haiti in January 2010, the primary school immediately sent Dh60,000 to UNICEF to be used specifically for the Haiti emergency relief.

This amount had been raised since September 2009.

Mark Yeowell, Head Teacher, The BSAK-primary school, said: “We felt it was important to send money when it was needed, rather than wait until the end of the school year.” “In the immediate aftermath of the tragic earthquake, the whole school – primary and secondary – coordinated a joint response with numerous fundraising activities taking place across the whole school. The primary school sent their donation to UNICEF,” Yeowell said.

Moataz Azzam, programme assistant at UNICEF, who attended the special assembly at the school to receive the donation, said: “This is a remarkable achievement by the pupils, parents and staff at BSAK.”

“UNICEF believes that children are the cornerstones of human progress, and we work towards giving children all over the world the best start in life. UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation and AIDS,” Azzam said. — anwar@khaleejtimes.com