World Children’s Day: Emirates spotlights the work of its Foundation partners in improving the welfare of children around the world
On World Children’s Day, the Emirates Airline Foundation and its NGO partners share their hopes for improving the welfare of disadvantaged children around the world, and speak on projects that provide children with safe shelter, basic necessities such as food and medical services, and access to opportunities through education and skills training.
Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline and Chairman of the Emirates Airline Foundation said: “In the 18 years since its establishment, the Foundation has been helping to channel the generous donations of our passengers and employees towards projects focussed on improving the welfare of children in need.
“The Foundation currently supports 19 projects in 12 countries around the world, and we would love to do more. Children are our world’s collective hope for the future, and they deserve every dignity and opportunity.”
Some of the organisations and projects supported by the Foundation include: the Virlanie Foundation in the Philippines which helps provide housing and protection for 42 marginalised children; the Little Prince Nursery and School in Kenya which provides nursery and primary education for over 400 underprivileged children from the Kibera slums; and the Italian NGO Emergenza Sorrisi which sent medical volunteers to perform life changing plastic surgeries for over 100 children last year. In South Africa, Singakwenza, which works to build sustainable early childhood programmes in economically disadvantaged communities, trained over 1,400 parents, caregivers and educators last year; and in India, IMMPACT provides education through community-based learning centers to 3,000 girls each year who come from underprivileged families mostly in rural areas that have little or no access to schools.
In Sri Lanka, the Emirates Airline Foundation has been active for well over a decade, with support to refurbish and upgrade the Intensive Care Unit of the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital (LRH) in 2008, and the financing of some of the operating expenses including electricity costs of Prithipura Communities, begun in 2018, among its principal projects. The Foundation has also in the past 10 years supported an Open Heart Surgery project, the construction of a biogas plant for a children’s home in Tangalle and the ‘Gift of Sight’ project at the LRH.
The Emirates Airline Foundation is a non-profit charity organisation, made up of volunteer employees and friends of the Emirates Group, and managed under the patronage of HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saaed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group.
Through partnerships with NGOs and community groups, the Foundation aims to improve the quality of life for children, regardless of geographical, political or religious boundaries. The projects supported by the Foundation are located primarily at Emirates’ destinations, where the airline’s employee volunteers can participate and oversee their management.
To donate, and for more information on the Foundation and its projects visit: www.emiratesairlinefoundation.org
