A click during the Iftar programme, titled ‘Thank You’, held under “Yes I Can” initiative by Inclusion and Special Needs Support Center at Qatar University yesterday. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula
Doha: In what was termed by many as a humble gesture to change the common perspective about them as takers to givers, the students with disability at Qatar University (QU) has hosted over 400 cleaning workers and security personnel of the varsity at an Iftar event in recognition of their services.
The programme, titled ‘Thank You’, which was launched by ‘Yes I Can’ initiative under the Inclusion and Special Needs Support Center (ISNSC) of Qatar University.
ISNSC provides the necessary tools and services to support special need students and contribute to integrate them academically and socially. Iftar programme was held as a first campaign of ‘Yes I Can’ initiative, under which the students with disability of QU planned a slew of campaigns on social and environmental causes. Over 125 boy and girl students with disability and their friends joined the initiative as members of the founding body.
“Yes I Can initiative aims at highlighting the active and vital role of people with special needs in serving the community and building the country and their contribution to achieve Qatar National Vision 2030 with its all points including human, social, economic and environment side-by-side with other sections of Qatari community,” Dr Khaled Khader, Adviser to the Office of the Vice-President for Student Affairs at ISNSC, told The Peninsula at the event.
He said that this initiative is an extension of the moral values prevailing in the Qatari society of all sections including people with special needs. “Therefore, Yes I Can’ initiative is organising a series of campaigns highlighting the role of people with special needs in all aspects including social, charitable, academic, economic and environmental,” said Khader.
Abdullah Mohamad Al Ishaq, a member of Yes I Can’ initiative and a student of Qatar University, said that under the initiative first campaign ‘Mashkourin’/thank you’ was organised for their outstanding efforts in maintaining the security of the campus and cleanliness of the university environment.
“The second campaign ‘Maqrtua’/ (you well done your job) will be launched for senior citizens, as an expression of gratitude from the younger generation for the efforts of the elderly in building the country and upbringing their children,” said Al Ishaq.
He said that the students with disability in another campaign ‘Waiyakum’ will express their solidarity to the children with cancer to reduce their suffering Ayoub Mohamad Al Janahi, another member of the initiative and a student of Qatar University, said: Our campaign ‘Diratna’ will aim at raising awareness of the importance of protecting and protecting the environment for future generations. He said that as soon as the initiative was launched, over 125 students with special needs and their friends registered as members of the founding body of the initiative.
