Reading Nation campaign hits 3 million books, with 2 million to go

Pupils of Horizon School pack books into boxes to send to underprivileged children around the world. Alex Atack for The National

DUBAI // About three million books have been collected through the Reading Nation Ramadan Campaign by Dubai Cares.

The campaign was launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of ­Dubai, to provide five million books to children around the world. It will continue until the 19th day of Ramadan, when Zayed Humanitarian Day falls.

“I can’t give you the exact numbers of what has been collected so far but I can say that we have collected three million books and two million books are remaining,” said Tariq Al Gurg, chief executive of Dubai Cares.

“I’m very hopeful that we will have achieved our goal by the 19th of Ramadan.”

A highlight of the reading campaign was an open week at more than 800 UAE schools, which ended yesterday.

School pupils were invited to donate books and the response was impressive.

“All books are being collected and shipped to International Humanitarian City [in Dubai] and will later be categorised in terms of languages and topics,” said Mr Al Gurg, who added that he was impressed by how clever some schools had been with their message, personalising books with notes to their recipients.

Pupils were given the opportunity to send dedications to the beneficiaries of the campaign, written on stickers that will ­accompany the books.

“Having children and students from our region supporting children and students from other regions is a phenomenal story,” Mr Al Gurg said.

“I’ve noticed that each child has written a personal note in the books that they’ve donated.”

As well as books being shipped to beneficiary countries, monetary donations will help to pay for the printing of books in the language of the receiving country.

Dubai Cares’ partner, the UAE Red Crescent, has started distributing books in some of its camps in Jordan and Iraq.

The lead librarian at Horizon Schools in Dubai, Roze Gesquiere, said that the Ramadan book drive was a good time to instil the values of caring and sharing in their pupils.

“A big part of our values and what we try to teach children is caring, especially during Ramadan,” she said.

“We encouraged kids to go home, look at their library and think of a book that they’d like to donate that would make another child happy.

“Most of the children participated. I had some kids come in with boxes of books. The response has been amazing.”

Ms Gesquiere was thrilled with the work being done through the UAE’s Year of Reading.

“Libraries are sometimes left away from the spotlight and I think it’s great to show the ­importance of reading,” she said. “With reading you are giving children the key to their ­future, so I think it’s fantastic that this is put in the spotlight.”

Reggie Harrison, 10, helped pack the books in boxes for them to be sent to Dubai Cares. “Some people don’t know what it’s like to escape to a different world through reading,” said the Horizon pupil. “Sheikh Mohammed has been really kind to think of every person and not just one group of people.”

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