Abu Dhabi: The British School Al Khubairat's (BSAK) Primary School presented a cheque for Dh153,600 to the United Nations children's fund (Unicef), after 12 months of fund-raising — an initiative carried out by 950 pupils.
Unicef was the school's chosen charity for the 2009/2010 academic year.
The funds were donated to help victims devastated by an earthquake that hit Haiti in January this year, and are to be used specifically for emergency relief.
"Some of the fund-raising events were led by the school and others were initiated by the pupils themselves. The students take ownership of their fund-raising activities, and take pride in how much they can raise to help other people around the world.
Caring about others
"This not only teaches the children how to raise funds, but also encourages them to understand and care about the lives of other people in the world, and imbues them with a sense of responsibility to help," said Mark Yeowell, Head teacher, BSAK Primary School.
The pupils took part in a myriad events including: odd-sock day which helped raise Dh10,301, dress up for Book Day which brought in Dh8,702; a non-uniform day which raised Dh45,000; and a sponsored skip/hula event which raised Dh70,966.
Moataz Azzam, Programme Assistant at Unicef, attended a special assembly at the school to receive the donation.
"This is a remarkable achievement by the pupils, parents and staff at BSAK," he said.
