Over 5,000 people walked through a portion of Jumeirah Beach Road with blue buckets on their heads, to draw attention to the plight of children who have to walk for miles to get access to drinking water.
The event was organised by Dubai Cares. "This really warms your heart to Dubai,” said one participant. "This is Dubai at its finest.”
The march was led by a band from Dubai Police, and the Freej characters, each with blue buckets on their heads.
Some 250 volunteers, many of whom came from Zayed University, helped organise the march and provide food and beverages for participants.
On Friday, the world celebrated the 20th anniversary of the UN adoption of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child.
Repton School organised a car boot sale last Sunday and raised Dh36,000 for children's charities.
The event also saw face painting, bouncy castles and raffles.
Three other companies, too, took part in the event — First Select International, Dubai Roundtable and
Little Wonders.
The beneficiaries included the charities: All 4 Down's Syndrome, Dubai; Tumelong Day Care Centre, Botswana; Asha Mission Children's Home, India; and Sri Lanka Children's Clinic.
"This was a fantastic event that saw Repton School, its staff, parents and students come together with the Dubai community to have a day of fun and in doing so, supporting four very worthy causes,” said Andrew Hudson, CEO of First Select International.
On Friday, children's charity Unicef said that although much had been achieved since the introduction of the Convention, more needed to be done to counter child poverty.
GLOBAL FACTS
- The annual number of deaths of children under five years of age has fallen from around 12.5 million in 1990 to an estimated 8.8 million in 2008, representing a 28 per cent decline in the rate of under five mortality
- Between 1990 and 2006, 1.6 billion people worldwide gained access to improved water sources
- Globally, around 84 per cent of primary-school-age children are in class today and the gender gap in primary school enrolment is narrowing
- Children are no longer the missing face of the HIV and AIDS pandemic
- Important steps have been taken to help protect children from serving as soldiers or trafficked into prostitution or domestic servitude
- The age of children getting married is rising in some countries and the number of girls subjected to genital mutilation is gradually falling. – Khaleej Times
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