Qatar Charity officials with the Somali delegation and orphans at the festival.
Thursday, January 08, 2015
DOHA: Qatar Charity (QC) has held its fourth annual festival for Somalia orphans.
It was organised under the patronage of the Qatari embassy. More than 1,500 orphans attended, along with a QC delegation, prominent Somali figures, members of the diplomatic corps of Arab and Islamic countries, and representatives from international organisations.
The festival was held within the framework of the annual plan of QC’s Somalia Office to provide comprehensive care for orphans.
Hassan bin Hamza, Acting Qatari Ambassador in Mogadishu, inaugurated the festival in the presence of Somali parliament Speaker Professor Mohammed Sheikh Othman Jawari, Jasim Abdullah Jassim, representing the QC CEO, and local and diplomatic dignitaries.
Jassim said QC has always sought to help the needy, particularly orphans, currently sponsoring 75,000 throughout the Muslim world, including 9,000 in Somalia, making it the third country in terms of the number of sponsored orphans.
Some of the orphans highlighted how they had suffered before QC’s intervention which changed their lives.
The festival also featured contests, songs and games. The festival’s theme ‘Our orphans… Leaders of our future,’ was chosen to encourage the orphans. The event aimed to give them a break from their daily routine at home and test their mental abilities. QC has recently implemented many projects in Somalia, including those in the education and health sectors, the construction of mosques and income-generating projects for tens of thousands of Somalis.
As part of the construction projects in Puntland, QC rehabilitated two health centres at an estimated cost of QR292,000.