With schools out and the summer holidays upon us, a lot of working parents in the UAE might have one common concern — where do they send their children while they are at work? Not everyone can afford daycare and summer camps, but there is a charitable initiative that might be of interest to them.
This summer, over 100 children between the age of eight to 16 years from low-income families will benefit from ‘Boost’, an initiative in collaboration with the UAE Emirates Red Crescent. Children will attend free sports and activities camps in Dubai instead of being confined in their bedrooms.
Tracy Fountain, a British national based in Dubai, came up with this cause after a single mother, who was unable to send her son to a camp due to financial restrictions, contacted her in July last year.
Fountain told Gulf News: “This mother told me that her son’s behaviour had changed. When I spoke to her further, I found out that the child had been in his room for a month. My husband and I then helped put him in a summer camp. He was suddenly energetic, happier and his self esteem improved. Upon talking to her further, I discovered that within her network, there were 15 other families in a similar situation.”
Fountain, who works as a safeguarding officer for a children’s mental health facility in Dubai, then came up with the idea of starting a programme to help such families through the summer months. The idea was conceived last Ramadan and went live this year.
She said: “Summer is usually the peak time for such cases. Schools are closed and parents have to go to work. And we realised the number of people in a similar financial situation. So, I approached the UAE Emirates Red Crescent and they were already aware of the challenges that these people were facing. They were on board immediately. It’s a great coincidence that this campaign was launched during Ramadan.”
This is the project’s pilot year and Fountain hopes for its success. So far, the initiative has signed up 110 children in camps.
She said: “We had places for 160, but some people didn’t meet the criteria for selection. We are working with lots of partners on this initiative. Right now there are around 25 summer camps where children are being places and the transport cost is a lot.”
To ensure that all of the children enrolled in the programme are able to get to and from the summer camps safely, the initiative has secured a transport partner.
“Ensuring that children get to and from their summer camp safely is just as important as attending. That’s why School Transport Services (STS) will be providing safe, reliable transportation to and from every child’s activities,” said, M. L. Augustine, managing director of STS.
Since the project is still at its inception stage, personal donations are not being accepted.
Fountain said: “We’ve had so many people offering help personally. But, due to the regulations of the country, we cannot take individual donations at the moment. We’re running the initiative under the Red Crescent umbrella. Even if we need a sponsor, we have to get their approval.
“We have had a requirement for volunteers in the past, wherein people helped us with the signing up process for the children. And we are now working on getting volunteering licences. We are trying to prove the value of the programme and show its positive effect on the community. We’ve had to pull in a lot of people from the society to bring this together. Once we show its success, we can ask the Red Crescent on ways to take it forward for the future. Maybe next year, we’ll host it at a larger scale. We can learn from all the information we gain this year and make it bigger.”
For more information on the initiative, visit www.boost.ae.
