8.2mn books donated to ‘those in need’

Dubai / Emirates Business

Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced on Wednesday via his official Twitter account that the Reading Nation Ramadan campaign has exceeded its set target of five million books to reach over 8.2 million books. The books will be distributed to unprivileged children and students in Arab and Muslim countries.
Commenting on the campaign’s outcomes, Sheikh Mohammed said, “As we have entered the last ten days of Ramadan, we conclude today our Reading Nation Ramadan campaign with 8.2 million books to be provided to those who need them. The books will open wide doors of hope for millions of needy students and refugees. They embody the divine message that we are truly a ‘Read’ nation. I thank everyone who has supported this initiative. Ramadan will always be a month of charity, and the UAE is, and will always remain, a generous nation and a global capital of benevolence.”
With the total cash donations amounting to over AED80 million in addition to book donations, the campaign will provide students across the globe with more than 8,280,000 books. Over 700 volunteers helped the campaign by receiving and sorting books and raising donations. The campaign’s auction was a huge success and generated AED 41 million in sales.
Mohammed Al Gergawi, Secretary General of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives said, “The annual Ramadan initiatives that are launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid give much-needed hope for millions of needy people. This year’s campaign complements the series of global development initiatives that are led by the UAE and focused on dealing with the root causes of poverty, ignorance and intolerance.”
Launched at the beginning of Ramadan by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Reading Nation campaign initially aimed to provide five million books to children in refugee camps and underprivileged students in schools across the world through granting two million books to refugee children and a further two million books to establish more than 2,000 school libraries around the world. In addition, the campaign was also mandated to support the educational programs implemented by the UAE’s humanitarian organisations worldwide – with one million books. However, the initiative exceeded its targets thanks to the great response from various entities and individuals in the UAE, with over 8.2 million books to be printed and distributed, and the number of beneficiary libraries increasing to 3,500 up from 2,000.
More than 500 schools across the UAE participated in the Reading Nation campaign. In cooperation with the Ministry of Education, the campaign organised an open week in all schools in the country to encourage students to donate books. Other accompanying events were also organised to spread awareness about the challenges that underprivileged children are facing.
In cooperation with Dubai Cares, the Reading Nation campaign recruited over 700 volunteers from UAE citizens and residents who supported the campaign’s events in schools, communicated with students and their families, and helped donors complete the donation process and write personalized messages. Volunteers also informed visitors and shoppers in malls about the campaign and its significance, while encouraging visitors to buy AED30 coupons to donate three books.
On the final day of the campaign, Dubai Cares organized an open day at Al Boom Tourist Village in which more than 400 volunteers helped sort books and put them in special boxes to distribute them to their beneficiaries.
Held as per the directives of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and attended by H.H. Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai , in addition to senior officials, the Reading Nation campaign’s auction generated over AED41 million in sales enough to provide 4.1 million books.
The charity auction sold all offered items, including a 106-year-old piece of the Kaaba’s Kiswa donated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and that generated AED2.1 million in sales. Other valuable items that were also donated by His Highness included a panel of extracts from his ‘Flashes of Verse’ poetry book signed by him and sold for AED1.1 million. Two paintings for artist Abdul Qadir Al Rais were sold for AED 970,000, while a painting by Dr. Najat Makki was sold for AED150,000.
A calligraphy panel depicting Surat Al Qadr and a 19th century manuscript edition of the Holy Quran belonging to Mohammed Al Murr, former Speaker of the Federal National Council, were sold for AED110,000 and AED250,000 respectively. Furthermore, the historic edition of the Holy Quran, donated by Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed Al Owais, UAE Minister of Health and Prevention, and dating back to 1682 was sold for AED250,000.
For its part, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) offered five distinguished double-digit license plate numbers that collectively generated AED25.5 million. Etisalat and Du Telecommunication offered 10 unique telephone numbers, with Etisalat’s numbers generating total sales of AED4.16 million, while Du’s numbers generated AED2.5 million in sales. The auction featured De Lamar, a mare of pure Arabian breed that was offered by Dubai Arabian Horse Stud and sold for AED260,000.
The Reading Nation Ramadan campaign enjoyed a wide interest and participation from official entities, corporations and members of the public. Both Etisalat and Du Telecommunications donated AED3 million each to the campaign, with the same amount also donated by Dubai Duty Free, DP World, MBC Group and a philanthropist who wished to remain anonymous. Furthermore, Emirates NBD and Lulu Group donated AED2 million each, while AED1 million was donated by each of Al Ansari Exchange, Kanoo Group, Hassani Group of Companies, Mohammed Saeed Al Kindi, and Ahmed Seddiqi and Sons.
The Emirates Red Crescent responded swiftly to the campaign during the first week of its launch by distributing 500,000 books to Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Kurdistan. In addition, 500,000 books were dedicated to Syrian refugees in the Emirati Jordanian Camp in the first phase, to be followed by 2,000,000 books to refugee camps, half of them in Iraq and the other half in Jordan. The Emirates Red Crescent, in cooperation with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, part of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, announced that it will distribute 100,000 books to a number of public libraries in Yemen.