PRESS RELEASES
"ATFALOUNA- OUR CHILDREN": Rebuild Spirit. Rebuild Schools. Rebuild Life.
16 August 2006
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 with over 1 million displaced civilians, 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 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 will begin in August 2006 and will run until March 2007. The fund raising activities aiming to engage the community of Qatar will start at the end of August at the City Center Mall, in the prime area in front of Carrefour for a duration of 1 week. Several fun activities are planned such as the sale of merchandise, a poetry competition where children will be given the chance to write a poem and enter a competition, the "arts and crafts" areas where children will be entertained by creating their own art while their parents shop, the "Dirham trail" where shoppers will be asked to lay a 50 dirham coin and it will run throughout the mall as well as many other exciting activities.
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. Maybe only then, we can return a true smile on their faces.
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The "AFTALOUNA- OUR CHILDREN" campaign will benefit Lebanese and Palestinian children by raising funds and creating awareness.