DHAHRAN, 18 November 2004 — Thousands of orphaned boys and girls all over Saudi Arabia took part this week in holiday celebrations sponsored by Saudi Aramco and supported by thousands of its employees across the Kingdom.
During Ramadan, Saudi Aramco’s employees and contractors purchased new children’s toys and gifts, which were collected at company facilities around the Kingdom. The toys and gifts were distributed to orphans during daylong festivals in Dhahran, Jeddah and Riyadh.
In Dhahran, the company’s Transportation Department provided 30 buses to shuttle orphaned boys and girls from Qateef, Al-Hasa, Umm El-Sahik, Ras Tanura, Abqaiq, Saihat, Dammam and Alkhobar. These 976 youngsters aged 5-20 spent a day at specially prepared sites and enjoyed a variety of activities, from contests and games to music and sports demonstrations. They were also provided with snacks and party foods.
For the Eastern Province boys and girls festivals, 70 people volunteered their services to help make the day special and fun-filled. About half that number were Saudi Aramco volunteers who gave up part of their holiday to bring to the children the goodwill of the people from all over the world who work for Saudi Aramco. Other volunteers were drawn from the local community, including 20 Boy Scouts.
Before distributing the gifts, some local soccer stars such as Khaleel Zayani, Omer Muhanna, Saleh Khalifah, Omer Bakhishwain, Sameer Helal, Fuad Mugahway, Yaser Al-Qahtani, Yusri Al-Basha and Sami Jasem played an exhibition match with the orphans.
At the end of the Eid celebration, a team from Saudi Aramco’s executive management, led by president and CEO Abdullah S. Juma, distributed gifts on behalf of the company’s employees.
“Saudi Aramco doesn’t do this for publicity,” Juma told dignitaries gathered at the Eid celebration.
“We do this to give back to our society. I am pleased to see these youngsters playing and being happy. I hope this event inspires more people to volunteer their time to help these wonderful children.”
Juma also presented a perspective that would be good for everyone in Saudi Arabia to remember during this holiday season.
“These orphans are our sons and daughters,” he said, “and they really appreciate the interest in them that our employees have demonstrated.”
Saudi Aramco management would like to acknowledge the donation to the Orphans’ Eid Celebration of 1,000 gifts each from Petrolube, Giftmart and the Gulf Chapter of the Project Management Institute. Out of 14,000 total gifts collected from Saudi Aramco employees and others, about 4,000 were distributed to children at the Saudi Aramco sponsored orphans’ events. The remaining presents were sent to charitable organizations for distribution to orphans who were unable to attend the parties, so that a little bit of Eid cheer would be spread far and wide.
