BY RAYNALD C RIVERA
DOHA: Nearly 100 children with special needs took part in the first World Smile Day event in the country, organised by Future 318, in cooperation with SFQ Sports Academy yesterday.
Children from Qatar Society for Rehabilitation of Special Needs, Step by Step Learning Centre and Doha International Centre for Special Needs participated in games and sports prepared by academy staff.
“World Smile Day is our way to give back to the community and do our best for the people with different abilities. All of us are given different levels of ability and these people who are here today need some special attention and we’re more than happy to open up our doors to them,” said SFQ Sports Academy Director Eric Gardow.
“We want them to feel more special, but more importantly, gain long-term daily living skills everybody needs to be physically fit whatever their level is,” he added.
Children enjoyed basketball, football, tennis, lego, Monkeynastix and yoga in groups. Shows, including a Latin American folklore ballet demonstration and a magic show, also brought smiles to the faces of young participants.
“Not only are we providing an event for them to have fun but hopefully they learn something to take home that can help later in their lives,” said Gardow, adding they plan to make World Smile Day an annual event for the community.
“Children with special needs have always been close to my heart and I wish to share love with them through this event,” said Future 318 Founder Conchita Ponce, who initiated the project.
Ponce expressed keenness to turn the event into an annual initiative focusing on people disregarded in the community. “This is one way of showing to the community that these people are special human beings who need our love,” she said, urging youth to join the campaign as Ambassadors of Change volunteers.
The programme was the inaugural event of Future 318 Project Chain Reaction campaign with a series of events to promote social change. The next event will be a breast cancer boot camp this month.
The day is celebrated on the first Friday of October. Its founder Harvey Ball, a commercial artist from Worcester, Massachusetts, created the smiley face in 1963 and launched the day in 1999. The Peninsula
