day special campaign dedicated to people with special needs and disabilities was launched last week at the Red Sea Mall. The campaign is run under the umbrella of the JCCI social affairs management and the Lehayatina Ma'ana (Our Life Has meaning) Foundation. This is the second annual activity of its kind and is themed “Share with me my creativity”. Twenty of its participants are kids over 15 years old with special needs and different disabilities including physical disability, vision impairment, deafness, autism and Down syndrome. Lina Ahmad Hajjar, founder of the Foundation, said: “Since its establishment in 2010, we've worked to make different programs for people with special needs to involve them with the community in a very productive and more positive way.” The foundation has been working hard to make the 10-day campaign successful by educating the public on the underestimated contribution that disabled people can make to the community. “This campaign is a special message conveyed by special talents to all members in our community that we should all work together to build up a more successful and fruitful future,” Hajjar said. The campaign contains assorted activities ranging from plastic art exhibitions of works made by the participants, handmade accessories and fashion items, chants, lectures by hosted experts, and other special programs introduced by participants of hearing disability. One of the disabled campaigners, Haytham Maghrabi, told the Gazette he feels very happy being involved in the philanthropic activity. One of the most remarkable days of the campaign was on Friday when Saudi plastic artist Mohammad Ghabra talked about his experience in healing some disabilities and psychological disorders with painting and colors. “His treatment works through the sense of hands where the painter can travel with his imagination and mind from negatives to positives. The painting represents the life which every one lives and the colors represent the obstacles where we can control them and turn them into a very beautiful scene. Some visitors were allowed to try this psychological method by themselves and were amazed by this unique method which resembles to some extent psychological verbal healing sessions,” said Maghrabi. On Thursday, the campaign will also host a very rare case of a person with three disabilities: blindness, deafness and physical. The session entitled “If You Were Me” will focus on how anybody can overcome the most difficult problems in life with firm determination and strong faith. __
