April 8, 2006

 

Special children’s mela Special children unfortunately have fewer opportunities for recreation. In view of this the Children Library Complex, Lahore, organized a children’s mela to keep the spirits of these children high and provide them with the opportunity to have lots of fun. It was the wonderful event organized by the undeniable team effort of the library to provide them with a platform to express their creativity. More than 300 children from various special schools participated in painting and national songs competitions with great enthusiasm. Students were provided canvas and paints. They enjoyed each and every event of the entertaining bonanza out of which the most thrilling was the magic show that stole the hearts of entertainment-starved children. In the painting competition Mohammad Aamir, Tooba Sahar and Ayesha Babur of Hamza Foundation bagged the first, second and third positions respectively. Kashif Mansoor, Ayesha Ghulam, Afnan Nadeem and Shoaib took consolation prizes. In the national songs competition, Aamir, Arsalan Ahmed of Shahdab Special Education and Training Centre and Ayesha of Rising Sun Institute were declared first, second and third respectively. Awais of Special Education and Training Centre bagged the consolation prize. Saira Bano of Al-Hajvery special Education School, Harris of Govt. Physical Disabled School and Mustafa of Pakistan Society for Rehabilitation of Disabled (PSRD) won the first, second and third prizes respectively and Ali Riaz of PSRD won the consolation prize in the national songs competition, disabled children group. Apart from the winners, special gift packs were awarded to each student. The guest of honour, Saba Sadiq, the provincial advisor for social welfare department, distributed prizes among the winners at the prize distribution ceremony and the project director Children Library Complex, Rubina Tariq Gillani, also graced the occasion. Amna Nasir Jamal i

 

Anti-germ campaign Fatima Jinnah Park in Islamabad’s lush F-9 was the focus of sustained activity as thousands of children entered the Germ World and were trained to eliminate and destroy the germs that spread diseases. The children were active and were given the opportunity to be the champions of change in order to live a healthy life. The activity allows children of all ages to be a real life hero who demolishes all that stops them from living a healthy life. Starting off in Islamabad and travelling through Gujranwala, Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Rahim Yar Khan and Sukkur down to Hyderabad and Karachi, Germ World completes the journey across Pakistan to give you a chance to visit the event and get trained to be a germ buster. “My kids had a wonderful time running around the park, going from one area of the activity to another,” said Noreen a mother of three. Her children Azhar aged three, Rabia aged six and Mustafa aged eight happily visited the school and the germ house as well as the cricket camp and the karate training session. “They loved hitting the germs and it was a great physical exercise for all. Even Azhar was involved,” she said laughingly as her three year old kept saying ‘Yah’ and copied the karate style kicks.” Germ World is a very real world with a home, street, school, interactive play area, cricket field and food area. It is a safe and hygienic world that offers a whole lot of excitement, involves germ bashing and lots of karate training, cricket and surprises along the way. In Islamabad the children enjoyed the open air activity over the three-day-long weekend, as they donned the red bandana and were put through a round of karate training, then went on to the maze in order to find the ‘germs’ and eliminate them. Anybody who is interested in fighting germs can qualify to be a Lifebuoy Germ Buster. Children across Pakistan who take part in the training symbolize the spirit to fight against germs and get to experience the thrilling, action-packed nature of the activity. It is hoped that this campaign goes a long way to educate kids and allow them to live active and healthy lives. Fareshteh Aslam i

 

Be WaterWise As the winners of the “WaterWise Art Contest 2006” were announced recently in Lahore, the winers from two age groups 8-10 years and 11-13 years were awarded prizes and certificates in a colourful prize distribution ceremony. Nayyar Ali Dada, renowned architect of Pakistan, who was the guest of honour, awarded prizes and certificates to the winners. Munno Bhai, a renowned writer, who was the key note speaker at the event, was of the view that art, in its broadest meaning, is the expression of creativity or imagination. He also believed that art in any medium allows children to express their creative side. Almost 50 leading schools participated in the art contest and an outstanding number of individual entries were received from the students of the participating schools. The themes that the children based their work on was “Water for life” (8-10 years) and “Let’s conserve together” (11-13) years. The event was sponsored by Dadex and the Worldwide Fund for Nature – Pakistan was the activity partner. A number of awareness campaigns were conducted in different schools for a month that aimed at creating awareness about water conservation among school children. Judges included Dr Shagufta Shah Jehan, Director Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency; Ms Beena Qureshi, Consultant; I. A. Rehman, Director Human Rights Commission of Pakistan; and Mr Amjad Aslam, Head of communications (WWF-Pakistan) and R. Naeem from the National College of Arts. The top 50 entries were put on display which were evaluated by the judges. The winners for the 8-10 years were Zahra Arshad, Maaz Haseeb, Dureshahwar Butt, Mahnoor Siddiqui, Saad Malik Sameeul Jawed. In the 11-13 years competition the winners were Summaiya Qader, Jasia Fatima, Safdar Hussain, Anam Shakir, Abdullah Ilyas and Sana Saif. i

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