NEWS
Children Raise Money for ROTA Through Sponsored Swim
21 November 2006
Nine students from Park House English School took part in a sponsored swim as part of Reach Out To Asia's Atfalouna:Our Children campaign to raise money for the children hit by the crisis in Lebanon during the summer.
About ATFALOUNA:OUR CHILDREN
Coping with the consequences of war and destruction seems like an impossible mission, lives are disrupted and confusion reigns. Hope in every society lies in those younger generations which one day will lead. Children that are the true victims of war's atrocities, their little lives have been interrupted and could be deprived of their aspirations and future if left with trauma and suffering they may never recover from. The crisis in Lebanon and Palestine has resulted in over 1 million displaced civilians, and the countless numbers of injured and the loss of innocent lives have become daily news.
It is in light of this crisis that Reach Out To Asia and Al-Jazeera Children's Channel have teamed up and launched the "ATFALOUNA- OUR CHILDREN" campaign. This youth-oriented campaign aims at raising funds and creating awareness. It focuses on the return to education of Lebanese and Palestinian children. ROTA and JCC believe that education is at the core of the healing process for those war-torn children. Education will not only group the children together engaging them in educational activities but it will also provide the platform needed to rebuild and maintain a stable life and a better future.
The campaign's objective is to ensure the immediate resumption of educational institutions and the return of children of the age 5-16 to their schools by the beginning of the 2006/07 academic year. Different international and local partners to this initiative will support the campaign in its operations and logistics on the field.
The "ATFALOUNA-OUR CHILDREN" campaign began in August 2006 and will run until March 2007.
All collected funds will go to the emergency fund created by Reach Out To Asia under its "ACT ROTAsia" program to give relief assistance to both Lebanese and Palestinian communities in resuming their normal livelihood. The ultimate goal of the "ATFALOUNA-OUR CHILDREN" campaign is to return the basic rights of those children to education, and redevelop their educational infrastructure following the war.
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From left to right: Gemma Whitehead, Ellie Lawson, Kerrie-Anne McNamara, Kirsty MacDonald, Ronalda Lee, Joe Foley, Rosie Collyer and Thomas Stephenson raised a total of QR 2,957. Each student swam in excess of 70 lengths one afternoon after school to support the cause.