Sharjah International Narrator Forum launches first workshop of its 21st edition

SHARJAH, 3rd September, 2021 - The Sharjah Institute for Heritage (SIH), launched Wednesday the first interactive workshop of the 21st Sharjah International Narrator Forum (SINF) at the headquarters of the Centre of International Organisations for Cultural Heritage at University City, Sharjah. The workshop, which targets children aged 12 years and above, will include several sessions, including "Introduction to Character Design’ which will be presented on the first day and will commence next Saturday. The second session focuses on designing characters and drawing animal stories, while the final session will feature the creative works produced in the earlier workshops. Dr Abdul Aziz Al Musallam, Chairman of SIH and the Supreme Organising Committee of the SINF said: "The Kalila and Dimna character design workshop will be an important feature of this year’s edition of the forum, especially since the whole month of September will be dedicated to character design. The 21st edition of SINF will be different from its past versions, since our session will extend throughout all of September, which is the new format that we have adopted after two fruitful and productive decades of organising the event, which has achieved its position as the premiere event for storytelling and literature in general. He added: "In this year's edition, we have important personalities coming from research and the various types of arts, such artist Omar Al-rawi as well as exciting events, programmes and activities aimed at children. There will be significant changes which will build on the accumulated experiences and knowledge that the forum has gained over the past two decades." He pointed out that the presenter of the workshop, Ahmed Manar Al-lahham, who is renowned for his skills and the information he provides, will help the participating children as they try to draw the characters of Kalila and Dimna. And although the characters are drawn from a well-known Indian book, the translation by Abdullah bin Almuqaffa has become an acclaimed Arab literary piece. Dr Al Musallam expressed his thanks to Professor Allahham and said he will have a positive impact on the participants of the workshop. Aisha Al-hussan Al Shamsi, Director of the Arab Heritage Centre of the Institute and General Coordinator of the Forum, said: "The first interactive workshop will enable the children to learn important skills on how to draw characters, and will eventually be given the opportunity to create their own versions of popular literary characters such Kalila and Dimna." She pointed out that the interactive workshops will last for 15 days and will be conducted in the institute’s headquarters as well as its branches. They will give the participants a great experience and provide them a balance of cultural knowledge and drawing skills. In turn, the presenter of the workshop, Ahmed Manar Al-lahham, said: "We tried with the children a new method of drawing using geometric shapes and then drawing on them. We had interesting and lively interactions as children tried drawing and sharing ideas amongst themselves. It was great seeing them work as a team."

fighting for,” the bishop said. “Our law as it stands, which prohibits assisted suicide, sends a clear message: we do not involve ourselves in bringing about the death of another person, no matter how ill or depressed they might feel.” “This is the surest way to protect those who are nearing the end of their lives from abuse, coercion or, indeed, internal pressure to choose assisted death out of fear of burdening their loved ones.”the bill passed its first reading in the House of Lords on May 26 and is awaiting a date for its second reading. It is the latest in a long line of attempts to legalize assisted suicide in the U.K. Some pro-lifers believe that the bill poses the greatest challenge yet. “The most significant attempt was in 2015, when the House of Commons overwhelmingly rejected a private member’s bill which would have legalizedassisteddyingforterminallyill adults,” noted Mckinney, who was appointed to lead Nottingham diocese in the same year.“this year, an almost identical bill, sponsored by Baroness Meacher, has passed its first reading in the House of Lords and is expected to be debated by members of the House, once it reaches its second reading this autumn.”the bishop said that if the Private Members’ Bill became law, healthcare professionals could supply seriously ill people with lethal drugs with the intention of helping them end their lives.“enthusiasts for a change in the law like to euphemistically label this controversial proposal as ‘assisted dying’, when in fact what they are demanding is assisted suicide for seriously unwell, vulnerable people,” he said.the 67-year-old bishop said that offering patients in despair “a lethal prescription” would mark “a disturbing shift in our culture of care.”he suggested that advocates of assisted suicide would not be satisfied with the terms of the present bill.“it would also be naïve to believe that, once a bill such as Baroness Meacher’s is made law, demands for assisted suicide would simply be limited to those who are terminally ill,” he said. “If the purpose of assisted dying is to alleviate suffering, then why should it be limited to the terminally-ill with only six months to live?” “Campaigners will inevitably argue that it should also be allowed for those who have years of suffering ahead of them, due to chronic illness or disability.” He said that the experience of Canada showed how rapidly “supposed safeguards” could be swept away, extending assisted suicide far beyond the terminally ill.on March 17, the Canadian Senate approved Bill C-7, which expanded the eligibility for “Medical Assistance in Dying.”the legislation stripped the requirement that a person seeking assisted suicide must have a “reasonably foreseeable” death, and also allowed for a person to opt for assisted suicide with mental illness as a sole underlying condition. In September 2020, the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation reaffirmed the Church’s perennial teaching on the sinfulness of euthanasia and assisted suicide.since then, supporters of the practices have made gains in several European countries.austria’s top court ruled in December 2020 that assisted suicide should no longer be a criminal offense.in February this year, Portugal’s parliament backed a bill approving euthanasia. But President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa vetoed the legislation.also in February, Catholic leaders and human rights advocates expressed concern over a bill seeking to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Ireland. But the Dying with Dignity Bill failed to progress.germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled in February that a provision in the German Criminal Code criminalizing commercial assisted suicide was unconstitutional.in March, Spain’s legislature passed a law legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide, making Spain the fourth country in Europe to approve the practices, after the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.pope Francis was asked to comment on the move in Spain in an interview with the Spanish radio station COPE aired on Sept. 1.“In Italy, the average age is 47 years old.

In Spain, I think it is older. That is to say, the pyramid has been inverted. It is the demographic winter at birth, in which there are more cases of abortion,” he said. “The demographic culture is in loss because we look at the profit. It looks to the one in front... and sometimes using the idea of compassion: ‘that this person may not suffer in the case of…’ What the Church asks is to help people to die with dignity. This has always been done.”bishop Mckinney urged Catholics to write to members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament, and the House of Lords, expressing their opposition to the bill.“please convey this vital message: that a prescription for lethal drugs is not the civilized solution for vulnerable people seeking a dignified and peaceful end,” he said.

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