KARACHI, Aug 25: More than 100 special children had a lot of fun for a couple of hours at a function organized by noted artist and social worker Jimmy Engineer in an elite restaurant here on Monday.

The children enjoyed various games and joyrides in play area next door.

Speaking on the occasion, Jimmy Engineer said that he had been organizing such functions at least once or twice in a month in different restaurants and five star hotels in the city for special children regularly for about three years. Monday’s function was organized after a gap of about two months due to summer vacations in schools.

A few years back, he said, when he visited an institution for the handicapped, he felt that the children were in gloomy mood. He said he realized that they should have recreational facilities and adequate opportunities for outing and fun at the same places where normal people used to go and enjoy. So, he added, he started planning such activities for special children.

He said that he then succeeded in determining the way the handicapped children could have fun and the idea was to organize functions. With some efforts, he added, he managed to materialize his idea and organized many such functions over the following years.

The artist advised parents of special children not to feel shy while accompanying them outdoors. Rather, he said, they must take them along frequently for outing and provide them ample opportunities to assimilate with normal children. An increased interaction between the special and normal people may help them build and maintain a healthy relationship with each other.

Special citizens in the West and developed states are provided many facilities, he pointed out and observed that in Pakistan they were not being given even their due rights.

He appealed to philanthropists to come forward and help special children in whatever way they could. In this regard, he called for generous donations to social welfare organizations and institutions engaged in rendering valuable services for the noble cause of rehabilitating special children.

Shakeel Ahmad of the Salt-N-Pepper Food Court at the Dolman Mall recalled that Jimmy Engineer had organized the first of his function series at this restaurant some three years back. He said that since then, this programme had become a regular feature and was held every month at the restaurant.

Children belonging to the Ida Rieu School and College for the Deaf and Blind, Darul Sukoon, Hope and Faith, Garage School, Darul Khushnood and the PREWA attended the function.