REACHING OUT: Pupils drink and wash their faces at newly installed water point by Unicef at Dhaboolaq Primary, southwest of Somaliland.
By Umer Nangiana
For the fourth year, Imad along with his sidekicks Iman, Pamela, Rachel, and the Zumba Fitness Doha Qatar team at Sheraton will host a 2-hour Zumbathon, a zumba fitness dance class, to raise funds for the ‘Road to Awareness’ (R2A) campaign of Unicef (United Nation’s Children Fund).
All proceeds from the event to be organised at the hotel on May 19 (from 7 to 9pm) will go to benefit the R2A programme. R2A is an alliance Starwood Hotels and Resorts (EAME) formed with Unicef over 15 years ago. Unicef is a global organisation that provides healthcare, nutrition and education for the world’s most vulnerable children. It aims to protect their rights as well as help children who are exposed to conflict, natural disaster and HIV.
Unicef receives no monetary funding from the UN budget and relies entirely on voluntary donations. As of 2012, Starwood has worked with Unicef to ensure every child around the world has access to quality education. The participation and donation will go towards interventions such as building and improving schools, training teachers, supplying school equipment and campaigning to ensure children stay in school.
“Without it, a child’s development and lifetime of opportunities will be unobtainable. With it, a child will be given the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty and see a future full of opportunity,” says the hotel.
The Sheraton Hotel Doha has been part of the alliance, organising events to raise funds for R2A for almost five years; with the proposed calendar of events growing each year.
In the previous years, through one simple fun-filled masterclass, the alliance were able to raise the first year, QR9,000, the second QR12,000 and the third year QR20,000 for R2A. They hope the funds for this year would exceed the previous records.
The entry tickets for participation in the class can be purchased from Sheraton Health and Recreation Center in different sponsorship levels to support R2A.
The Road to Awareness associate fundraising campaign has been making a positive difference to children in the communities Starwood operates in since 2008. Every year between April and November, employees throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East organise fundraising events to help raise funds for Unicef’s vital work for children.
The campaign began when several senior associates at Starwood decided to take on a cycling challenge in the French Alps in aid of Unicef. In the six years since, associates have raised over $4.2mn, and the bike ride has continued to be a highlight of the campaign every year. The campaign has helped Unicef reach thousands of children around the world. In 2008, over 1,000 children used radio programmes to spread HIV prevention messages in Mozambique, 2,000 street children in Cairo, Egypt received psychosocial support in 2009 and in 2010, 3,400 vulnerable children in South Africa gained access to education.
In 2011, 150 schools in Romania and flood-hit areas of Pakistan were refurbished and supported with learning materials, 50,000 children are being supported with pre-primary education in Ethiopia since 2012, over 8,000 excluded children in Cameroon and Nigeria are being enrolled in school since 2013 and in 2014, the campaign aimed to help 21,000 people, including 3,500 schoolchildren, gain access to clean water in Somalia.
Dirty water, poor sanitation, and unhygienic practices cause millions of children to suffer needlessly from disease. Despite being preventable, water and sanitation-related diseases remain one of the most significant child health problems worldwide, according to Unicef.
Almost 750mn people lack access to safe drinking water and an estimated 2.5bn people lack access to proper sanitation facilities. The Check Out for Children partnership is helping to tackle this global problem by supporting Unicef WASH projects across Africa and the Middle East. The Middle East and North Africa is the most water-scarce region in the world, and two out of five people without access to safe drinking water live in Africa. Unicef works in more than 100 countries around the world to improve water supplies and sanitation facilities in schools and communities, and to promote safe hygiene practices. In emergency situations, Unicef also provides urgent relief to communities and nations threatened by disrupted water supplies and disease.
Funds raised by guests and employees at Starwood Hotels & Resorts will be used to help children wherever the need is greatest.
