PESHAWAR: Monday’s rain failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd gathered at the Peshawar Sports Complex to enjoy the National Youth Carnival 2017 — also attended this year by madrassa students.
“The annual event was launched in 2013, and each year we try to improve it,” Mohammed Usman from Liaison Corp., which is managing the event, told Arab News.
“This year, we decided to include madrassa students because they’re considered a deprived segment of society, and they normally have few opportunities of this kind.”
The carnival, which started on Dec. 8, is the biggest extra-curricular activity for youth in Pakistan, he said.
Shahid Amin, a teacher at Jamiat-ur-Rashid in Karachi, said 21 students from the madrassa are participating in 14 categories.
“This is the first time we participate in such an event. Our students are competing in categories such as painting, calligraphy, qirat, na’at, essay writing and others,” he told Arab News.
Amin lauded Peshawar’s hospitality, and encouraged more madrassas to participate in such events.
Student Rehmat Wali, who is participating in an essay-writing competition, told Arab News that there should be such a competition in Arabic too since most madrassa students know the language.
Saddam Khan, a student at Abasyn University, said each of the 30 categories is being managed by five or six volunteers, most of them university students.
Asfandyar Khattak, director of youth affairs in the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), said the carnival selection trials for candidates began on Oct. 5, and 13,000 students took part in the preliminary competitions. He added that 1,100 students are now participating at the provincial and national levels.
Besides accessing regular schools and colleges, an online form was made available, through which 350 private students applied for the carnival, Khattak said, adding that 17 madrassas were invited to participate.
“Most of the madrassa students are participating in qirat, na’at, calligraphy, painting and essay writing in different languages,” he told Arab News.
It is a great opportunity to promote extra-curricular activities and integrate madrassa students into mainstream activities, he said, adding that the event is improving with each passing year.
“Last year we conducted competitions in 26 categories. This year there are 30. We plan to include oral and written competitions in Arabic next year, since most madrassa students are adept at the language,” he said.
Sports Minister Mehmood Khan and KPK Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser said the provincial government spent 65 million Pakistani rupees ($593,450) on the event. Prizes worth 5 million Pakistani rupees are being given to competition winners, they added.
Youth from member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) — comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — will be invited to next year’s event, Qaiser said.
Pakistan’s National Youth Carnival brings madrassa, mainstream students together
Pakistan’s National Youth Carnival brings madrassa, mainstream students together
UK cyclists to ride 550km in Saudi Arabia to save children with heart defects
- The H&K Cycle Club was the first team to take the Hejaz route, and their endeavour has since 2022 inspired hundreds of other cyclists to follow suit
- The cyclists expect to face scorching heat, brutal headwinds, sandstorms, and long no-U-turn stretches of roads, along with physical and mental exhaustion
LONDON: A cycling team from London set out on Sunday on a 550km journey from Makkah to Madinah in Saudi Arabia to raise funds for children in developing countries with congenital heart defects.
This is the fifth year that Shamsul Abdin, the head of the H&K Cycle Club, and 40 riders aged between 18 and 65, are taking on the challenge through the Hejaz region.
Abdin told Arab News that the “Hijrah Ride” was a replication of the journey made by Prophet Muhammad over 1,400 years ago, when he migrated from Makkah to Madinah, where he established the first city-state of Islam. This migration, known as Hijrah, also marked the beginning of the Islamic Hijri calendar.
The H&K Cycle Club has expanded from just six riders 14 years ago to more than 40 members from various cities across the UK, including London, Manchester, Oxford, and Birmingham. In November, they began their training in the freezing temperatures of the UK, aiming to cycle over 100 kilometers each day within 6 to 7 hours for a 4-day ride in Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, they are expected to arrive in Madinah.
They have cycled throughout the UK and parts of Europe, riding from London to Istanbul to raise funds for various causes through Muntada Aid, a charity that works on projects in developing countries and organizes the “Hijrah Ride”.
They were also the first cycling team to take the Hejaz route, and their endeavour has since inspired hundreds of other cyclists to follow suit. Abdin has seen Saudi Arabia become more bike-friendly over the past five years, with cycling lanes integrated into city development, while drivers, locals, and authorities are now more aware of cyclists on the roads.
The cyclists expect to face scorching heat, brutal headwinds, sandstorms, and long no-U-turn stretches of roads, along with physical and mental exhaustion. For many riders, this will be their fifth ride in Hejaz. Some of them include Uber and bus drivers, business analysts, and even entrepreneurs, according to Abdin.
“The headwind feels like climbing a mountain; it’s a constant resistance. To overcome this challenge, we ride in a peloton, taking turns at the front. One person heads into the wind while the others line up behind, shielded from the gusts. After a while, we rotate, allowing everyone a chance to lead,” Abdin explained.
Almost £923,000 has been raised by the “Hijrah Ride” since its inception, to reach a target of one million pounds this year. Some of the money went into emergency aid programs in Gaza and Sudan. Muntada Aid aims to raise about £250,000 for its flagship project, “Little Hearts,” which will fund 150 surgeries for children with congenital heart defects in Pakistan and Bangladesh this year.
“I fell in love with this project, which gives children the opportunity to live up to their potential as adults, truly,” said Abdin, who was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in December for his contribution to charitable fundraising.
The riders will be escorted by two vehicles, one in front and one in the rear, carrying paramedics and media staff, along with food and water. They will split into two groups based on their cycling powers. Along the route, they will pass several locations, including Jeddah on the Red Sea, King Abdullah Economic City, Rabigh, Masturah, and Badr, before reaching the elevated roads of Madinah, where their journey, which started with performing Umrah in Makkah, will end.
Muntada Aid is a part of Al-Muntada Trust, which was founded in 1986 by a group of Middle Eastern students, including individuals from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, to address the famine crisis in Ethiopia. Since then, the organization has assisted children in 17 countries, including Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Kosovo, Bosnia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Mali, and Niger. They focus on developing infrastructure in education, health, water and sanitation sectors.
Nasrun Mir, the marketing director of Muntada Aid, told Arab News that they support “Hijrah Ride” with financial backing and logistics, and that they have obtained permits through communication with the Saudi Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Saudi embassy in London, and the British Consulate in Jeddah.
Mir, who is joining the journey as part of the media team this week, said that the reception in Saudi Arabia could not be friendlier.
“People offer us free food and drinks. They want to have conversations with us. They want to know what we do. In the Middle East, there is still no concept of using sports as a tool for charity. The general idea is that if I want to give money to the charity, I’ll give it to them. You don’t need to run. You don’t need to cycle,” Mir said.
In one incident, a local community prevented the riders from passing through their village unless they disembarked and sat down to eat with them. In particular sections of the road near Madinah, a Saudi police vehicle has escorted the riders for a few kilometers, he added.
“There have been incidents where people have stopped us from eating our own food during the break. They literally took our food and said, ‘No, you come to our village; you cannot eat your food. You have to have food, which we will prepare.’ This delayed ride for a couple of hours,” Mir said.
