Dubai: A reading community is a healthy community, Hessa Bint Eisa Bu Humaid, Minister of Community Development, said at the launch of the ministry’s Month of Reading initiative.
The Month of Reading is observed across the UAE in March every year.
The ministry has cooperated with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, and local authorities in the initiative, which comprises 14 events aimed at spreading a reading culture among children, people of determination, and the elderly.
Bu Humaid said: “A reading community is a healthy community and that’s why we are keen on maintaining a reading culture by applying this programme through the month. Reading can be educational or relaxing; it brings together different segments of the community, lifts their spirits and increases their levels of positivity and happiness.”
The programme includes initiatives such as ‘Read for Me’, a platform that helps people of determination, elderly and hospital patients to engage with each other and the greater community and maintain mental health through reading sessions with children.
Open Reading Day is for people of determination, The Creative Novel encourages them to write novels, Our Parents’ Library will encourage reading among the elderly, while the Knowledge Cafe, hosted at Kuttab Cafe in Dubai on International Women’s Day, brought together a selection of female writers for a series of informal talks.
The ministry has dedicated several initiatives to children. The Learning My Rights event coincides with Emirati Children’s Day on March 15. The event will be hosted at community development centres across the UAE.
A Read for Children and Share campaign has been started on social media while the book donation campaign My Book for Happy Yemeni Children has been launched in cooperation with Emirates Red Crescent.
Another event will be organised on March 21 to coincide with World Down Syndrome Day.
