World Of Stories Officially Opens At Mercato

World of Stories, the first Signature Event of Dubai Summer Surprises, officially opened at Mercato on Monday, June 15, with a special function involving members of Dubai Cares, the education partner of the event for this year, and members of Modhesh Friends Club. The event was attended by Laila Suhail, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Shopping Festival Office, and Yousif Mubarak, Chief Operations Officer of DSF Office, in addition to Dubai Cares representatives and a host of other officials.

The evening began with a Dubai Cares youth representative delivering a speech on behalf of the organization. She welcomed the guests citing that Dubai Cares is the official education partner for Dubai Summer Surprises and that Dubai Cares was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum to help improve children’s access to primary education around the world. In less than 2 years, Dubai Cares is reaching 4 million children and helping them break free from poverty.

She added Dubai Cares offers residents of the UAE a chance to help by getting involved in various fundraising and volunteer initiatives that support children’s primary education worldwide, including Dubai Summer Surprises given its focus on showing children the power of education in a fun learning environment.

The Dubai Cares youth representative concluded her speech by noting that Dubai Cares believes in the children of the UAE and recognizes their contribution to helping make a difference for children around the world. Since Dubai Cares was launched, children throughout the UAE played an important role in support of Dubai Cares. In 2008, as part of the Million Book Challenge, students throughout the UAE came together to read over 1.3 million books. For its part, Dubai Cares is distributing an equal amount of books to children in need.

Running until June 23, World of Stories focuses on the adventures of Alice, the main character from Alice in Wonderland, to take audiences on a magical journey. Staged in three shows at 5pm, 6:35pm, and 8pm, Alice Adventures follows a magical journey where Alice slips into a dream where she meets several characters from various other stories such as the Fairy Godmother, Mary Poppins, Cheshire Cat, Aladdin, Robin Hood, Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White. All shows will be staged in English and Arabic.

An exclusive meet and greet opportunity followed the show with each Modhesh Friends Club member receiving a book as a gift. The club members were then taken on a tour of all the corners of World of Stories which includes activities to keep children, families, and shoppers entertained throughout. Large 3D talking cutouts of characters will greet visitors as they enter the mall. These characters will inform visitors of the event and create a fun interactive experience all day long.

For children who like to read, the Enchanted Forest Library comes filled with fairytale books that will hang from artificial trees and be sometimes hidden to encourage children to search for them. For three hours every evening, a professional host will thrill the children by reading a selection of stories.

An arts and crafts zone themed on the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party is another highlight of the event. Children can sit amidst the colourful tea party with Mad Hatter cutouts around them and engage in an array of arts and crafts activities. A Mirror Maze is also being put up where visitors can see themselves shrink and enlarge in the mirrors.

An addition to this year’s World of Stories is a Quran Exhibition that aims to provide a true insight into the Quran, its revelation, its preservation and its message to humanity. Extracts from the Quran will also be recited in three readings a day.

Additionally, the mascot of the White Rabbit will be in the mall to meet children and pose for photographs. Gilded frames containing iconic characters from children’s literature and well known quotes will also be displayed around the mall.

Noor Dubai Restores Sight Of More Than 500,000 Men, Women And Children Worldwide In First Six Months

Noor Dubai, the UAE-based charity initiative focused on preventing and treating low vision and curable forms of blindness, has successfully treated more than half a million individuals across the Middle East, Africa and Asia in its first six months of operations.

The HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid initiative, administered by the Dubai Health Authority, announced its half-year progress today with the Lions Club International Foundation, the world’s largest volunteer service organization. Noor Dubai is funding the foundation’s fight against river blindness and other preventable vision loss in Africa, and has so far healed more than 400,000 in Ethiopia, Mali, Cameroon and Uganda.

Working with Middle East-based and international NGOs, Noor Dubai has also restored vision to more than 100,000 people across the Middle East and South Asia by providing cataract surgeries, medication and corrective eyewear.

His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, CEO of Noor Dubai and Director General of the Dubai Health Authority, described the half-million mark as a significant milestone.

“HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, founded Noor Dubai in September 2008 with the aim of healing more than one million men, women and children around the world in one year. We are honored to have crossed the half-way mark in less than six months, thanks to our pioneering partners, and are confident of achieving our goal,” he said.

Al Murooshid praised the commitment and hard work of the Lions Club volunteers and staff to reach some of the world’s most remote areas and its poorest populations. The joint Noor Dubai-Lions programme will provide villagers with access to the powerful Ivermectin drug, which kills the parasite larva that causes river blindness.

Dr. Tebebe Berhan of the Lions Club in Ethiopia said: “The commitment and generosity of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the Noor Dubai organization towards river blindness control is highly significant. The fight against this debilitating disease is critical not only in terms of public health but also for its positive effect on economic development and poverty reduction. The control of this disease thus positively impacts the health and vitality of individuals and their communities as well.”

Dr. Tebebe thanked HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum for launching Noor Dubai and for extending its humanitarian services to hundreds of thousands of patients across Africa. Noor Dubai has improved the quality of life for these individuals and raised the productivity and effectiveness of their communities.

Noor Dubai, he added, is the only initiative worldwide that helps in fighting river blindness by providing curative treatments and preventive medication to people who live in the remote areas of Africa where there are no medical services.

According to the Lions Club Foundation, more than 18 million people in Africa are infected with insect-borne river blindness, with more than 300,000 left irreversibly blind. An additional 125 million people are at risk from infection.

Noor Dubai is also working with international non-profit development agency ORBIS to provide patients with medical treatment, including cataract and trachoma surgeries, spectacles and training for primary health care workers, teachers and volunteer leaders from women’s groups. Additionally, nurses from district-level health centers will be trained to provide primary eye care and perform trichiasis surgery.

Noor Dubai is also working with Al Basar International, a Saudi-based NGO focused on blindness prevention: Together, the agencies have led a series of highly successful free cataract camps focused on screening, diagnostics and corrective treatment across South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.