Sharjah: A telethon to gather funds for Palestinian children has raised more than Dh52 million by 12am on Sunday through Sharjah TV.
The largest donation made was by two young Syrian girls, aged five and seven years old, who went to Sharjah TV's studio and donated Dh5 million. "We want the children of Gaza to dress like us and to live like us," said Lara and Maya Sankary while donating the cheque.
A UAE national child also visited Sharjah TV on Saturday morning and broke his piggy bank where he kept all his savings and donated it to the children of Palestine.
"The Palestinian cause needs great support from all possible angles and the children of Palestine need to gain access to the basic necessities of life, which they are currently lacking," said His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah.
Speaking from Canada through Sharjah TV, Shaikh Sultan gave a five-minute speech via praising the efforts of the campaign to reduce the pain of Palestinian children.
The telethon started with Dh600,000, an amount that was accumulated by donations sent earlier by text messages to the television station since the beginning of the campaign on April 12.
Within the first four hours the number of donations jumped to Dh21,450,538 at 2pm, Dh29,221,684 at 5pm and then steadily reached Dh36,467,919 by 7.30pm.
The telethon ran from 10am until midnight and was an essential part of the 50-day campaign called, "For the Children," to relieve the suffering of Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation.
The largest donations made by corporations were by Sharjah Bank, Sharjah Islamic Bank, Sharjah Municipality and Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority, who gave Dh2 million each.
Sharjah Radio was also involved in receiving donations, as well as the Sharjah channels 1 and 2. Two call centres were set up at the television station and special coordination was made at the Khorfakkan television station, Al Qasba and Sahara Centre to make it easy for residents to donate charity or discuss the need for aid in Palestine, according to Hind Al Naboodah, assistant manager at Sharjah Television.
The telethon started with footage of houses under bombardment from Israeli fire that were compiled from correspondents of Sharjah TV who went to Gaza recently, and displayed reports of how Palestinian children suffered from daily gunfire .
A total of 160 call operators worked at the campaign over five shifts, with 32 volunteers working in each two and a half-hour shift.
"We received many callers, not only from Muslims, but from Christians and other nationalities, in addition to many international calls," said Faisal Ali, Head of IT Section, who pointed out that that the most popular international calls were from America, followed by the United Kingdom and then Sweden.
There were three ways in which viewers could make donations, either by sending a text message, calling the station directly, or making donations to the designated account number at Sharjah Islamic Bank. A special telephone number was allocated to callers who wanted to make donations higher than half a million dirhams.
The majority of viewers sent Dh1,000 through text messages, and they had the option of donating Dh10, 50, 100, 500 or 1000.
A number of guests were invited by Sharjah Television to speak throughout the day talking in their specialised fields, which included doctors, sociologists and political analysts who discussed the impact of the on-going conflict in Palestine.
Sharjah Charity Society will work together with the office of Her Highness Shaikha Jawaher Bint Mohammad Al Qasimi, wife of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah.
All the donations will be sent to an affiliated charity organisation in Palestine at the end of the fundraising campaign on May 31.
