Under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Al Quds University Friends' Committee will hold a charity dinner. The aim is to raise much-needed funds for disadvantaged students attending Al Quds University to help their lifelong dream of an education come true. The dinner, which is the Committee fifth dinner, will be held on Friday May 16, 2008 at Beach Rotana Hotels & Towers in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Rim Banna, a well-known Palestinian singer and composer, as well as the respected Bahraini Poet Abdulrahman Rafia, one of the most important poets in the Arab world, will be entertaining the audience during the dinner.
Al Quds University, the only Arab university in Jerusalem, currently faces a major, unprecedented financial and operational crisis brought on by the dire economic, social and political conditions presently prevailing in Palestine. Nevertheless, the University is devoted to providing higher education, with the highest possible standards to thousands of its students, despite of the challenging conditions imposed by the conditions on the ground.
Proceeds generated from this charity dinner will go to the UAE-based Al Quds University Friends' Committee, which has succeeded in raising funds for around 900 students, since it was established in 2004.
Individual tickets are currently being sold at AED 1,000. Alternatively, sponsorship for 1 table (seats 10 people) is available at AED 10,000 (Gold Sponsor) and AED 25,000 (Platinum Sponsor).
More About the Dinner’s Programme
Rim Banna, a well-known Palestinian singer and composer from the Palestinian city of Nazareth, will be entertaining the audience during the dinner. Rim, who began her career when she was only ten years old, has participated in Land Day Festivals and other national and political celebrations.
In 1991, Rim Banna got married to Leonid Alexeienko from Ukraine, an artist himself. He studied music with her in the same institute in Moscow. They both work together in the music field and compose their own music. Rim and Leonid have participated in several different Palestinian, Arab and international concerts and festivals around the world, where she has proudly presented the Palestinian ‘voice’ and the Palestinian song. Her songs are inspired by the Palestinian people’s culture, history and folklore.
The evening will also feature the respected Bahraini Poet Abdulrahman Rafia who will be reciting his most famous poems. Rafia ranks as one of the most important poets in the Arab world. He went on to live a life that is a poignant example of how far talent and determination, combined with a precarious life, can carry an individual from a simple background into instant fame. His poetry is intensely soothing, touches the heart with its simplicity, and directly focused on the interactions of the individual with the natural as well as the technologically-transformed modern world. Most importantly, he is famous in interpreting human anguish in a comedic way making his listeners think while smiling.
When Rafia gives a poetry reading anywhere in the Arab world, a rare event, he easily draws thousands of people from all walks of life and social classes. He is regarded as a national treasure in the Arab world and for every Arab, regardless of age, education, background, nationality, or religion.
More About Al Quds University:
- Al Quds University has thirteen academic faculties spread out on four campuses.
- Nearly 8,000 students from the Jerusalem area and from the districts of Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Jericho, Nablus, Ramallah and Tulkarim attend Al Quds University.
- Affected by the political conditions; Israeli occupation and the segregation wall, the poverty and unemployment rates, most families suffer from very bad economic conditions, reflected in their inability to cover the tuition fees of their children.
- This situation may eventually prevent many gifted and talented students from continuing their academic studies and lead them to drop out of University.
- The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in its 12th round survey indicated that the percentage of Palestinian families living below poverty line was 66.7%, compared with 56% in 2002 and 40% in 2001.
- The unemployment rate increased from 27% in 2001 to 33% in 2002.
- Since education is negatively associated with the incidence of poverty. In 2004, poverty rate for Palestinians obtained less than elementary education was 41.4%, whereas those with university degrees and above was 9.6%
