
Sharjah builds 8,860 wells, six desalination plants worldwide
Mohammed Rashid Bin Bayat, the Vice Chairman of Sharjah Charity International, emphasised that having clean water is essential for everyone. He stated, 'Access to clean water is no longer a luxury; it has become a basic human right.' He explained that the efforts are not just about giving water, but also about investing in the future of communities that are heavily affected by water shortages.
Bin Bayat highlighted that these projects do much more than provide water for drinking. They help improve health, create stability in communities, and boost local economies, especially in areas that depend on farming and raising animals.
Additionally, the organisation built six desalination plants, which will offer a long-term solution for hundreds of thousands of people in need of water that is safe for drinking and farming.
Recently, Sharjah Charity International (SCI) has begun implementing the 'Ramadan Iftar' project in 43 countries, allocating 300,000 Iftar meals throughout the Holy Month of Ramadan at a total cost of Dhs3 million.
The project aims to provide Iftar meals to fasting people in various countries, in coordination with the relevant authorities and the association's offices spread across many countries covered by the project.
Khaled Hassan Al Ali, Director of Projects and External Aid Department, expressed his pride in expanding SCI scope of work this year, highlighting that the project reflects the commitment to spreading the values of giving and solidarity, ensuring that support reaches the largest possible number of people in need worldwide.
In January, The Board of Directors of the Sharjah Charity International (SCI) held its regular meeting, chaired by Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Board. The meeting covered the main agenda items focused on charitable and humanitarian work in the Emirate.
During the meeting, the council approved the association's plan for the Ramadan campaign 'Jood,' focusing on effective strategies to meet campaign targets, expand beneficiary reach, and address past campaign shortcomings.
Amendments to the association's organisational structure were endorsed, with discussions centred on restructuring and renewal to boost institutional efficiency.
The council agreed to implement various new charitable initiatives within and outside the country, emphasising sustainability in project selection.
Discussions revolved around a charitable endowment project supporting patients in the Majaz area, aligning with plans to enhance free healthcare centres in the Emirate.
A delegation was appointed to assess the association's projects in Niger, including oversight of construction and maintenance activities at Sheikh Khalid bin Sultan Al Qasimi Village.
Attendees were briefed on meetings with the Ministry of Community Development and the Department of Islamic Affairs in Sharjah to enhance joint coordination for humanitarian goals.
In conclusion, Sheikh Saqr praised the dedication of board members and teams, urging increased efforts to fulfil the association's vision of spreading goodness within and beyond the community.
In December 2024, with a donation from Dubai Islamic Bank - the humanitarian partner of the Sharjah Charity International (SCI) projects - the SCI launched the 'Dathironi' campaign to confront the frost and severe cold that many areas in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina are exposed to.
This came during a field visit by Sharjah Charity's delegation headed by Abdullah Sultan Bin Khadim, Executive Director, and including Mohammed Hamdan Al Zari, Head of the Projects Sector.
The initiative aims to protect more than 7,000 beneficiaries from the two countries from frost and severe cold by distributing heavy clothing and blankets, in addition to various heating methods, and to provide them with the means to protect them from the harsh winter cold.
Abdullah Sultan Bin Khadim, Executive Director of Sharjah Charity International, said, 'There is no doubt that this initiative, which came with generous support from Dubai Islamic Bank, expresses the value of joint work and its impact on charitable work and achieving the welfare of beneficiaries. We are aware of the humanitarian role played by the Islamic Bank in supporting the SCI's projects through many windows, most notably supporting the Zakat Al Mal project, in addition to launching joint initiatives inside and outside the country within the framework of social responsibility.' Bin Khadim pointed out that the initiative embodied the SCI's goals and vision in ensuring leadership in humanitarian aid programs, as the Sharjah Charity's delegations toured remote areas and met with beneficiaries who find no refuge from the harsh winter cold in those areas where temperatures drop to very low levels, and provided them with reassurance by providing the necessary heating means.
WAM
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Gulf Today
31-07-2025
- Gulf Today
The cold truth
While still living in the village of Chemlan in Lebanon's Chouf mountains, we had an old-fashioned wooden ice cream bucket with a handle to turn a tall metal container. We used to put our ice cream mixture into the container, place it in the bucket, surround it with ice sprinkled with salt and turn until frozen. Homemade ice cream was far more delicious and fun than driving to the town of Aley where a shop sold twenty types of ice cream, including yellow melon and mulberry as well as standard flavours vanilla and chocolate. We left the bucket behind when we became refuges in Cyprus during Lebanon's civil war. Several years ago, I was in Damascus' ancient Souq al Hamadiyah waiting for a shopkeeper to wrap up a parcel when I saw a riotous gathering further down the street. I wondered if this was a political or economic protest as Syria was experiencing hard times and went to see what was happening. The 'riot' was outside the Bakdash parlour where customers had gathered to buy ice cream. Founded in 1895, Bakdash is famous for its traditional mastic-flavoured ice cream manually churned with wooden paddles. The milk-cream-mastic mixture was initially chilled with ice brought from the mountains. In 2013, Bakdash opened a branch in Amman to serve Syrians settled there and the wider community. Earlier I had witnessed a smaller crowd at an ice cream parlour in the residential Karrada quarter of Baghdad. During May 2017, this proved to be a deadly location when a Daesh suicide bomber killed 26 people and wounded dozens as they broke the Ramadan fast with ice cream. While in Aleppo in Syria, I have always paused at Mahrosa to enjoy a dish of milk pudding topped with vanilla ice cream sprinkled with crushed pistachios. My driver, Joseph, could not visit Aleppo without this ice cream fix at this parlour although there are dozens more ice cream shops in the city, Syria's commercial hub. Ice cream has long been a global food just as coffee has become a global beverage. While coffee, which originated in Yemen, is prepared and served in multiple ways, the basic ice cream recipe is the same. It includes milk, cream, and sugar and multiple flavourings and fruits. Frozen desserts long predate coffee. Historians suggest they first appeared in 550BC in Persia, which had a very sophisticated and advanced civilisation. A first century AD Roman cookbook included recipes for deserts chilled with snow. Between the 8th-12th centuries the Japanese made a desert with flavoured syrup and ice shaved from blocks stored during the winter months. During China's Tang dynasty (618-907) a frozen goat's milk dish frozen called 'susan' became popular. During the Yuan dynasty (1206-1368), imperial chefs made another frozen dessert called 'iced cheese' flavoured with fruit, honey and wine. Legend holds that Moghul Emperor Kublai Khan gave the recipe to the Italian Silk Road traveller Marco Polo (1254-1324) who took it back to Italy. In the 16th century, India's Moghul rulers brought ice from the Hindu Kush mountains to make kulfi, a dish made with cream flavoured with saffron, cardamom, rose water, or mango which remains popular today in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Gulf. The 17th century saw ice cream introduced to France and England while the confection crossed the Atlantic to North America and was consumed by founding fathers of the United States George Washington, Tomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. In 1866, ice cream reached New Zealand. Ice cream became popular around the world during the first half of the 20th century after hosts of vendors produced and promoted their own varieties. Ice cream has even become a political weapon in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Ben & Jerry's, founded by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 1978 in the US state of Vermont has become a global brand. In July 2021, Ben & Jerry's announced it would end sales in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory and Israeli settlements which are illegal under international law. Ben & Jerry's argued sales in Palestinian lands is inconsistent with the values of the firm which supports a number of charities as well as action to counter global warming. The Republican Trump administration is currently using ice cream imports as a means to condemn rival Democrats. The office of the US Trade Representative wrote on July 20 on X, 'America had a trade surplus in ice cream in 2020 under President [Donald] Trump's leadership, but that surplus turned into a trade deficit of $40.6 million under President [Joe] Biden's watch.' The ice cream deficit is with Japan, South Africa, the European Union, Brazil, Canada, and Turkey. Although from these countries, imports count for a small portion of ice cream consumed in the US which remains a major exporter. From 1995 to 2020, ice cream exports earned the US from $20 million to $160 million, according to the online platform Observatory of Economic Complexity. The chief customers were Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Canada. In 2021 and 2022 the surplus disappeared and an ice cream deficit of $92 million and $32 million appeared. Italy has become the chief provider of imported ice cream. However, imports amounted to a tiny fraction, 0.18 per cent of the total, in 2024 while the US exported about 1 percent of total domestic production, 1.31 billion gallons during that year. Meanwhile, US individual consumption of ice cream has fallen from 8.3 kilos a year in 1975 to 5.3 kilos by 2023. Photo: Reuters

Middle East Eye
24-07-2025
- Middle East Eye
Gaza: This 12-year-old dreams of combing her hair again after surviving an Israeli attack
Twelve-year-old Hala Shukri Dehliz was playing with her friends on a swing in Gaza one evening during Ramadan, even as the constant sounds of war raged in the background. Suddenly, an Israeli air strike detonated near the swing. Its force twisted the metal chains around her head, tearing off parts of her scalp along with her hair. 'My hair got stuck with the swing,' she recalls. 'The skin of my head was removed. I was rushed to the hospital. I stayed there for two months, but they couldn't treat me. The inflammations and ulcers only got worse.' The first day they did surgery, they used 175 stitches to close her scalp. 'I woke up and saw myself without hair. I had a breakdown and fainted. My parents tried to reassure me. They said, 'Don't be afraid. You'll travel and get treatment. Your hair will grow again.' But I kept crying.' New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Before the bombing, Hala had prepared for Eid with excitement. 'I had bought ties for my hair and Eid clothes,' she says, her voice breaking. 'But I spent Eid in a hospital bed. I didn't feel the joy. I didn't wear the clothes. I was just... there.' 'We have been displaced six times' Hala's father, Shukri Omar Eid Dehliz, speaks with the fatigue of a man shouldering the unbearable. 'We are originally from Rafah. We have been displaced six times. Our home was bombed and demolished. Each place we went, we could only stay for 20 days, a month, sometimes two. Now, we're in Khan Younis, al-Mawasi, living in a tent near the sea.' Their tent stands on rented land they can 'barely afford'. Hala Shukri Dehliz in Gaza with her siblings (Eman Alhaj Ali/MEE) 'Winter brings floods inside the tent. Summer is unbearable. There's no electricity, no solar panels. Even basic food is missing,' he said. There is no bread. No medicine. No safety. 'Hala can't even take painkillers,' he says. 'She needs to eat before taking them, but there's no food. We survive on aid - mostly lentil soup. Every child gets one small plate per day. That's it. 'We are a family of seven. Some days we have only two pieces of bread. We divide them among us. The children cry for food. I have nothing to give them. It's a cruelty no parent should face. My child begs for bread, and I can't provide it. Sometimes, we just want to die instead of continuing this life in Gaza.' A mirror without reflection Hala's daily routine is now confined to the interior of a suffocating tent. She isolates herself from other children who react to her scarred head with confusion and fear. 'When I try to go outside, the children ask why I don't have hair. They get scared. So I stay inside. I play alone. I try to write and draw myself,' she says softly. 'When I try to go outside, the children ask why I don't have hair. They get scared. So I stay inside. I play alone' - Hala Shukri Dehliz 'Every day, I stand in front of the mirror trying to comb my hair. But there is no hair to comb.' Hala was a top student, dreaming of becoming a doctor - dreams now paused by trauma and the physical pain of untreated wounds. 'I was always the first in my class,' she remembers. 'I used to wake up early, comb my hair, go to school, then play with my friends. Now, I don't go to school. I look in the mirror and I just see loss.' She still keeps a lock of her long brown hair, holding it as a reminder of who she was, and who she hopes to become again. 'I want to travel abroad and get treatment. I want to have my hair again. I want to play with my friends. I want to feel pretty again.' 'Gaza is starving to death' Hala's father speaks in anguish about the daily torment and mounting famine which has in recent weeks led to a growing number of deaths from malnutrition and dehydration. 'There's no flour, no rice, no milk or vegetables. Even when there's food in the market, the prices are too high for us. My four-year-old cries for bread. I can't bear it.' He recounts how their lives have shrunk into a punishing cycle of fear, hunger and helplessness. Former UN aid chief: Israel committing 'worst crime of the 21st century' in Gaza Read More » 'The bombs fall constantly. The children scream in terror. Gaza is in a state of disaster. We are unemployed. The borders are closed. No aid is coming in. As parents, we demand the world to act. This genocide must stop. 'We are not asking for luxury. We are asking for the basics - bread, water, medicine. We are asking for a chance for our children to live.' Hala's story is not an isolated tragedy. She is one of tens of thousands of children injured or killed in a war that has erased homes, schools and playgrounds, as well as whole families. Border closures have blocked any attempt to evacuate her for treatment. Her parents - both injured in separate attacks - desperately try to find sterile gauze, clean water and food to support her healing. 'She needs daily medical care,' says her mother, Mayada. 'She cries every day, remembering her hair. Her head is still full of ulcers and infections. If she doesn't get out soon, it will get worse.' Despite everything, Hala said she still dreams of a hospital bed in a foreign country where doctors will help her scalp heal. She dreams of brushing her hair and even one day becoming a doctor. 'I hope the world hears me. I hope someone helps me travel. I want my hair back. I want to be beautiful again.'

Al Etihad
24-07-2025
- Al Etihad
UAE continues maintenance of water wells in Gaza under 'Operation Chivalrous Knight 3'
24 July 2025 13:08 ABU DHABI (WAM)The United Arab Emirates is continuing to carry out maintenance works on potable water wells in central Gaza as part of its ongoing 'Operation Chivalrous Knight 3' humanitarian project is supported by Sharjah Charity International, Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi Charity and Humanitarian Foundation, Dar Al Ber Society, in coordination with the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility in is part of a broader initiative to rehabilitate vital water wells across the Gaza Strip's project comes at a critical time as Gaza's residents face a severe water crisis due to prolonged humanitarian challenges and widespread infrastructure to safe water has become an urgent necessity amidst escalating thirst, disease outbreaks, and malnutrition, particularly with desalination plants out of service and limited fuel for their initiative includes the rehabilitation of water well infrastructure, maintenance of pumps and generators, and reactivation of out-of-service wells, aiming to secure clean water flow to hundreds of thousands of residents in central Gaza and alleviate pressure in increasingly dire humanitarian security remains a key priority for the UAE under 'Operation Chivalrous Knight 3,' launched at the onset of the war. Among its recent strategic efforts is the implementation of a project to supply desalinated water from Egypt to the Al-Mawasi areas in Rafah and Khan Younis, expected to benefit around 600,000 residents in southern Gaza.



