BAHA: Away from the umbrella of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities and the Tourism Development Board, a number of villages around the city of Baha, south of the Kingdom, are organizing summer gatherings consisting of cultural, social, sport and entertainment activities financed and supervised by the villagers themselves.
The most popular of these local festivals have been taking place in the villages of Bani Salim, Masnaah and Heznah.
The director of the Heznah summer gathering Isa Ahmed Al-Khuthaimi denied in a statement to Arab News any attempts by the concerned organizations in the region to meddle into the affairs of their festival or to make it part of the overall Al-Baha Summer Festival.
“We have contracted Al-Hijaz sport club to bring lecturers and organize training sessions for the villagers in communication skills,” he said. Asked about the official sponsor of the festival, Al-Khuthaimi said it was the villagers themselves who provided material and moral support to the festival.
“We have not yet calculated the financial costs of the festival, which have included poetry nights, sporting events and religious and cultural lectures. The aim of these gatherings is to get the best out of the youth. Many of them have inherent talents that should be brought out.” Asked about the noticeable absence of women at these events, Al-Khuthaimi said there was no space in the village for women to make similar activities to those of men. He, however, said religious lectures would be held for them by a number of male and female preachers.
“We have announced that on the village’s Internet site: www.heznah.com,” he added. Marketing specialist at the Tourism Development Board Abdul Rahman Mahdi Al-Ghamdi said such gatherings have been held on the personal initiative of the villagers to get together during the summer break.
