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IGNITING HOPE FOR SPECIAL PEOPLE

The children and staff of Al Ain Juniors School decided to spare some moments for the children of Hope Centre, a centre for children with special needs, which is an offshoot of Al Ain Juniors School on which the Centre completely depends for its growth.

Hope Centre is the result of a passionate dream of Al Ain Juniors, which opens its portals to all children with special needs, both for those who can afford and the others, whose entry into the main schools is restricted.

Hope Centre houses a total of 37 such students as of today, with a humble opening in the year 2001. It boasts of professionals in the speech, occupational and physiotherapy departments. Special educators offer a structured special educational programmes according to individual needs. Hope Centre does not have a magic wand but offers ‘Hope’ to children to become independent both emotionally and academically. Since Al Ain Juniors is one big family, the staff and students decided to chip in by organising the ‘Charity Bazaar — Help us to help them’ recently as an expression of thoughtfulness. The Bazaar was inaugurated in the Al Ain Town Square by Shaikh Mohammed bin Sultan Al Dahery with the cutting of the longest cake ever made by a school.

The cake weighed 700 kgs and measured 25 feet in length and 2.5 feet in width. A gold coin was placed in it and the one with the lucky bite got it. Tanveer Arshad, the school Principal said, “The tremendous response came from not only the people of Al Ain city, but also from as far as Abu Dhaibi, Dubai, Ajman and Sharjah was tremendous. Over 7,000 people witnessed the Charity Bazaar and the orgainsers said that they had never seen such a crowd in the Town Square yet. Although we did expect a large crowd we did not expect one of such magnitude.”

There was also a raffle draw conducted by the Director of Red Crescent. The food stalls, garage sales, games stalls, the juke box and not to forget the dance, fashion and musical performances by both the staff and students all played their part in bringing alive a spirit of fun, frolic and excitement in all who came. As for the AJites, it was a feeling of fulfilment after the immense measure of sacrifice made by the students and staff alike.