JEDDAH, 30 July 2006 — Saudi Aramco kicked off its 5th Awareness and Educational Festival for children with special needs under the theme of “Children’s Joy” at Jeddah’s Al-Shallal Theme Park.
Thirty charities and rehabilitation centers from Jeddah, Makkah and Taif were invited to the festival which, Aramco hopes, will help the company increase its social interaction with the wider Saudi society.
This year there were five more charity organizations participating in the festival. The festival will be held every Thursday for the next six weeks and will host five organizations each week. Organizers hope to touch the hearts of 1,500 children with special needs.
Nabeel Ahmed Baeshen, manager of Saudi Aramco Affairs in the Western Region, attended the opening ceremony on Thursday. Baeshen welcomed participating charities and rehabilitation centers to the festival and said that the last five years had been very successful. He added that there were several improvements in the summer festival this year in line with the company’s aim of entertaining children with special needs.
Baeshen made a point of thanking the Social Affairs and Female Supervision Section for their support in providing necessary assistance to the program.
The summer festival contains several entertainment shows, awareness programs and educational competitions. Prizes and gifts are also distributed to participating children. One of the highlights of the festival is a program presented by characters from the famous Space-Toon cartoon.
In addition, the festival includes a number of first-aid and fire-safety awareness programs. Safety brochures, flyers and booklets were also distributed to the charitable organizations.
Officials from charity organizations thanked Saudi Aramco for holding the summer festival. Officials showed their appreciation for Saudi Aramco’s efforts in creating awareness and presenting educational programs in such an amusing way to a usually neglected segment of society.
