16 nationalities come together for human map of tolerance

Giving out a message of tolerance, about 500 students along with 250 parents and staff of a Dubai school did a formation of a huge human map of the UAE on their school premises on Thursday. Dressed in their native country's traditional attire, students, staff and parents of about 16 nationalities gave out the message of tolerance, espoused by the leaders of the UAE, by holding up the UAE flag with the symbol of tolerance on it.
While the parents and teachers of Little Flower English School formed the outline of the map, the students queued up and filled in the space inside the map with their hands forming the symbol of tolerance. The formation started at 9am in the morning and took about an hour to be completed. It was followed by a speech from the school principal Abdulla Kutty who spoke about the importance of this emotion and the idea behind this activity to involve both young and old. He spoke extensively about the UAE's vision of tolerance and how the school was doing its bit to be part of it.
"This is the year of tolerance in the UAE and it is important to spread this message to all people - young and old. So we had this unique gathering of people from all walks of life, standing together to form the UAE map."
Parents too shared highlights from their countries and showed an eagerness to learn about each other's culture. Apart from the human formation and speeches in the morning, the school management also dedicated the last two periods of the day to tolerance-related activities such as showing children videos and asking them to articulate their views on tolerance.
Students from KG1 to Grade 6 displayed their art and craft pieces related to tolerance, prepared a skit showing how they can practise tolerance at school and outside. They also spoke about the importance of tolerance in life and conducted debates on the topic.
Annie Mathew, vice-principal of the school, said she was overwhelmed by the large turnout of parents and thanked them for the support that they have always given to the school.
School administrator Taquia Usman added: "It is amazing to see the people from different ethnicity mingling together happily and learning about each other's way of life."
The day ended with everyone vowing to do their bit towards realising the vision of tolerance stated by the leaders of the UAE.
Speaking of what he understood about Tolerance, a Grade one student said:
"Tolerance means appreciating and respecting differences in people. It means accepting everyone as they are, being kind, not shouting, fighting or being angry. Tolerance means sharing and showing mercy to all."
saman@khaleejtimes.com