‘WITH SPORT, WE CAN’ CAMPAIGN KICKS OFF IN SALALAH

SALALAH: ‘With Sport, We Can’ campaign to raise health awareness among the community kick-started on Friday with large participation of college students and community members. The community-oriented campaign is the brainchild of Public Relations students of the Department of Mass Communication in College of Applied Sciences Salalah.

Naif bin Ahmed al Shanfari, Chairman of the Omani Special Olympics in Dhofar Governorate, launched the campaign by a symbolic ribbon cutting at the old airport walkway.

Dr Ahmed bin Abdulrahman Bakhair, Dean of the College, and a number of staff members and students were present on the occasion.

As a mark of the launch of the campaign, a marathon was organised in which Khalid bin Mohammed Barakat ranked first, Yusuf bin Saeed al Mashakhi came second and Salem Mohammed Bait Said came third.

Since the campaign evoked good response from the community, the three youngest participants, Abdulrahman bin Mohammed al Sahri, Hatem bin Mohammed al Sahri and Ahmed bin Salem al Sahri, were given special honours on the occasion.

This campaign aspires to lift the spirit of the community by creating an interactive atmosphere full of joy and enthusiasm ‘on and off campus’ for five days. It is aimed at creating awareness for healthy lifestyles by involving all sections of the society including adults, teenagers, children and the elderly people. The campaign’s main goal is to raise awareness for sports activities among the community members in their day-to-day life. It also seeks to achieve specific objectives like educating the people of the benefits of sport in leading a healthy lifestyle.

“Also we want to tell people about the adverse effects of sedentary lifestyle and highlight the importance of food choices to lead a healthy and happy lifestyle,” said Dr Arafat al Jameel, Lecturer in Mass Communication Department.

The campaign, according to him, is aimed at educating the community to adopt healthy approach to lose weight, avoid obesity and diseases caused due to unhealthy lifestyle and inculcate the Islamic values, which encourage sport activities among the community members.

“We will motivate the community to take part in the campaign and create an invigorating environment where everyone feels connected to sport,” he said.