Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai has donated Dh60 million to the ‘Dress one million needy children campaign’, providing clothing to an additional one and a half million needy children and totalling the number of beneficiaries to three million.
The campaign ended on Ramadan 19 in order to coincide with the ninth death anniversary of the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Zayed Humanitarian Day, an annual event in memory of Shaikh Zayed.
Speaking on the end of the campaign Shaikh Mohammad said: “What made me happy the most was the spirit of giving that was spread throughout this holy month in our beloved country which came in light of Shaikh Zayed’s memory as well as people’s interaction to the campaign. This resulted in making three million children happy with the coming of Eid.”
He added that the campaign and the hundreds of other UAE initiatives that benefit millions of people around the world have succeeded in making the UAE the capital of giving and a charitable hand extending its assistance to all who are in need.
“The UAE will continue in fulfilling its Islamic and humanitarian duty in supporting deprived people. It is a path that was set by out founding fathers and God willing we will continue on this path. We will instil the spirit of giving in the coming generations so that the path of giving will continue being a key part of our future,” said Shaikh Mohammad.
The campaign which was launched on July 11 initially aimed to dress one million needy children around the world however after it succeeded in receiving the donations needed to achieve this target in just 10 days, Shaikh Mohammad ordered that the number of beneficiaries to increase.
Mohammad Abdullah Al Haj Zarouni, manager of Emirates Red Crescent’s Dubai branch which is implementing the campaign told Gulf News they have already provided clothing to one million children.
“The donation made by Shaikh Mohammad is no surprise as he is known for being a generous and kind leader. We have already dressed one million children and are currently working on reaching children in 46 countries,” said Zarouni.
Haj said that the countries and children reached so far by the campaign are: Bosnia 8,000 children, Senegal 20,000 children, Yemen 100,000 children and India where they started distributing clothing to the 200,000 children. In Albania they started distributing the clothes to 5,000 children, Egypt 100,000 children, Lebanon 50,000 children, Jordan 5,000 families and Tanzania 10,000 children. They also finished distributing clothing in Malawi, Uganda and 15,000 of the 100,000 children target in Pakistan.
“Tomorrow we have a delegation going to Indonesia where we distribute clothes in phases of 10,000 children. As for future countries that we will visit soon they will include the West Bank, Gaza, Mexico, Germany, South Africa, Kenya, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Romania, Thailand, Ethiopia and Malaysia.”
Shaikh Mohammad praised the effort of the Emirates Red Crescent and the other parties tat contributed in the success of the campaign.
