Kuwait relentless in offering humanitarian aid worldwide
Kuwait Zakat House opens schools complex in Lebanon
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 6, (KUNA): Kuwait has been relentless in offering humanitarian aid to the people in need in the region and around the world, affected by natural disasters or conflicts.
Kuwait Zakat (Alms) House opened schools complex in Saadnayel town in the Bekaa area, eastern Lebanon, to educate the Syrian refugees.
Adel Al-Jerry, Kuwait Zakat House Foreign Operations chief, said the complex was part of humanitarian projects to offer education and health for Syrian refugees.
Zayed Taqtaq, executive director at Gheras Society, which built the schools, commended Kuwait for philanthropic activities in Lebanon and the rest of the world.
The schools complex consists of ready-made small houses which can accommodate more than 250 students at morning and evening shifts.
Meanwhile, Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) sent a team to Indonesia to distribute food for victims of earthquake and tsunami that struck Sulawesi.
KRCS Chairman Dr Hilal AlSayer said the team would be providing food and medical kits for victims of the natural disaster. He hoped aid would alleviate suffering of Indonesians who lost their homes.
Al-Sayer also said another team was in India to offer aid for victims of monsoons which displaced 14,000 families.
Kuwait non-resident Ambassador to Kosovo Fayez Al-Jassem inaugurated Kuwait Health Center and Kuwait Orphans Village, all part of Kuwait’s philanthropy abroad.
KRCS handed out food aid, electrical appliances, and clothes to families inside Kuwait registered in KRCS.
Campaign
Deputy Chairman Anwar AlHasawi announced the campaign during the celebration of the humanitarian working day, to help the families in cooperation with Kuwait-based Ambassadors of South Africa, Swatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
The support of the disadvantaged families is of great importance to the Kuwaiti Red Crescent, as one of its humanitarian projects and programs with its partners in charitable work, said Al-Hasawi.
He explained that the participation of a number of African ambassadors comes on the occasion of the National Week of the African Union and the celebration of the International Day of Nelson Mandela, which began on Sept 28 and ends on Oct 4 in Kuwait.
South African ambassador to Kuwait, Mzolisa Bona appreciated humanitarian efforts of the Red Crescent at all levels, especially the aid of disadvantaged families in Kuwait.
Bona also appreciated role of KRCS in supporting people affected by natural disasters and alleviating their suffering, while
also commending spreading the culture of volunteerism.
Bona pointed out how Kuwait had become a model of humanitarian work, as reflected in the generous assistance it has provided to all people, including people in Africa.
On the other hand, Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to UN and International Organizations in Geneva, Jamal Al-Ghunaim, told the executive commission of UN Refugee agency (UNHCR) Kuwait hosted three international donor conferences to help Syrian people, co-chaired in a Syrian meeting in London in 2016, and participated in a follow-up conference in Brussels in 2017.
Those conferences contributed to USD six billion in pledges for the Syrian people, in addition to USD 3.7 billion for the period between 2018 and 2020.
Kuwait continues to coordinate with Syria’s neighboring countries to secure medical, health care for Syrian children, in addition to contributions to UN agencies and international NGOs to relieve the Syrian refugees.
Moreover, Kuwait has coordinated with the World Health Organization (WHO) to fight polio, rampant among the refugees in these neighboring countries.
On Yemen, Al-Ghunaim said repercussions of the coup against the legitimacy and absence of a political settlement have led to aggravating the humanitarian conditions in the country – in an unprecedented manner.
Affirming keenness on Yemen’s stability, Al-Ghunaim said Kuwait has continuously provided humanitarian and development aid to the “brothers there since decades ago,” in addition to presenting soft loans to fund development enterprises.
Succeeded
As to Iraq, he noted that the Iraqi authorities, backed by the international community, has succeeded in liberating the country of the “dangerous terrorist organizations.”
Out of its unwavering belief that post-war security and peace cannot be established without repairing the destruction, Kuwait had hosted the international community for rebuilding Iraq where aid pledges reached up to USD 30 billion.
Regarding the Muslims’ plight in Myanmar, he urged the international community to help in downgrading their suffering.
Kuwait had headed a delegation representing the UN Security Council that visited Bangladesh
and Myanmar in May to shed light on the Muslim Rohingya’s hardships.
In New York, Kuwait called on nations to band together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including humanitarian ones.
Abdulrahman Al-Shatti, of Kuwait’s Mission to the UN, told a UN committee meeting Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), which has around 960 projects in 106 nations, allocated loans worth KD 6.2 billion (around USD 21 billion) since establishment in the 1960s to help achieve development and equality.
Meanwhile, Al-Salam humanitarian work society said it was planning urgent winter aid in Yemen, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Philippines.
Society Board member Dr Nabil Al-Oun said the society was preparing convoys to help poor, refugees and homeless in the three countries who would face harsh winter.
He said the society would be providing food and clothes.
Al-Oun said the society was also supporting development projects that would help provide jobs for people, building villages for orphans and widows.