Poetic Heart event promotes tolerance in 11 languages

Anishka Mehra, event organiserIt

The sixth edition of a poetry event in Dubai transported the audience back to their childhood days. On Saturday, the Poetic Hearts event in Dubai - organised by SGI-Gulf (Soka Gakkai International) in association with Knowledge Village - saw 11 poets promoting tolerance through 11 different languages.
The annual event spread over two days began with a chorus performance in Arabic by a group named 'Naseem', followed by the first set of six poets. Emirati poet Dr Talal Al Junaibi showed the audience a white flower, as a symbol of tolerance. Al Junaibi's poem - Jewels of Soul - perfectly reflected how every soul is beautiful.
Another poet who grabbed everybody's attention was Wael Al Sayegh, who recited his poems in English. A heart touching poem by a Malayali poet, Kuzhur Wilson, was based on his dear friend's 30 years of experience of life in the Middle East. Other standout poets were Professor Kithika Wa Mberia, reciting in Swahili, Sajidah Al Mosawi (Arabic), Sheikha Khulood Al Mualla (Arabic), Sheen kaaf Nizam (Urdu) and Nayef Al Herais (Arabic). Later in the evening, Akash Keiji Ouchi recited a poem by Daisaku Ikeda in Japanese. Indian poet Geeta Chhabra recited inspiring works in Hindi and English. The first day of the event concluded with a young emerging Indian singer based in Dubai, Siya Arora.
Schoolchildren rock poetry
On Sunday morning, 32 school children from different schools showcased their talent.
One aspiring poet, Jude Osama Riyahi, a Jordanian student from AlMawakeb School in Garhoud, expressed her views on the ongoing situation in places like Syria and Palestine. One of the organisers, Anishka Mehra, said, "I remember when we first organised this event, it saw some 250 people attend, but today more than 700 people have turned up." Nikita Walia, one of the performers, said: "Last year, it was Japanese and this time we performed in Arabic. It is interesting to discover that learning other languages is not that difficult."
Special highlights
Special needs students from SNF had a small stall at the event, with beautiful accessories, jute bags, envelopes, greeting cards and paintings for sale. The items ranged from Dh5 to Dh500. The idea was to include the differently abled kids and adults in the celebration and work closely to promote the initiative of the government to make UAE a friendly place for disabled people.
ankita@khaleejtimes.com