The "Salam Ya Seghar" Kite Festival concluded its activities at Al Majaz Park, with the aim of raising community awareness about both the "Salam Ya Seghar" campaign and the Big Heart Foundation and showing solidarity with children who suffer from the negative impact and aftermath of wars and unrest.
Following the announcement of the festival, hundreds of children, school students and their families flocked to Al Majaz Park to participate in the fun yet informative event by flying their kites high in the Sharjah skies, to send their messages of love and peace to children living under difficult circumstances in different countries throughout the world.
Despite its symbolism, the festival dedicated to supporting and showing solidarity with the needy children was not limited to kite flying, but rather focused on this theme as the only means of entertainment in refugee camps and devastated areas.
The festival furthermore featured numerous engaging activities and insightful workshops, film screenings and a mini zoo.
The event organisers also set up booths for selling various foods and drinks, whose proceeds have been allocated for the Salam Ya Seghar campaign. Donations boxes, which were placed in various locations in the park, saw an overwhelming response from visitors to Al Majaz Park.
Speaking about the public participation of the festival, Mariam Al Hammadi, Director of Salam Ya Seghar, said, "The Kite Festival has produced a huge public turnout in the last two days, thus we are happy to announce that it has achieved its purpose. We also noticed an overwhelming response from children and their families, and their positive interaction with the events that aimed to highlight the plight of their peers in countries that suffer from wars and turmoil as well their negative impact on children's lives." On the selection of kites, Al Hammadi said, "For children especially, there is an undeniable magic and joy in flying and in flying endlessly without boundaries. This feeling of freedom they experience when flying a kite symbolises the freedom, optimism and limitless horizons of the bright future that lies ahead of them, and this is why we have chosen the kite flying." She added, "The children's great reaction to this initiative reflects its success. We succeeded through the kite flying festival in encouraging the children of Sharjah and the UAE to interact sympathetically with the suffering of children in countries that witness unrest." Al Hammadi stressed that the festival has sent simple messages that were not difficult for children in the UAE to understand. 'Through this symbolic celebration, we highlighted the ordeal of children who are passing through extremely difficult conditions as a result of wars and turmoil in a number of countries in the region, presenting kite flying as the sole means of entertainment that gives them hope to feel optimistic about their future,' she added.
Source: WAM