The annual Oriental Ladies Group (OLG) charity bazaar organized last week at the sprawling King Fahd Cultural Center (KFCC) in Riyadh was a big hit with the families of the diplomatic corps, and the Saudi and expatriate communities. OLG president Naheed Sultana, who is wife of Haroonor Rashid, Labor Consul at the Bangladesh Embassy, said the OLG annual charity bazaar was organized in the KFCC premises for the time in the history of the group and attracted over 3,000 visitors. Visitors to the bazaar included Saudi families and families of diplomats from a number of countries, as well as members of expatriate communities living in the Kingdom, said Sultana. “The bazaar is the OLG's main fundraising project and the proceeds derived from it will be used to support charities operating in the home countries,” Sultana said. She added that this includes natural calamities and other voluntary works intended to help the deserving members in each country. The bazaar was opened jointly by wives of the ambassadors of Bangladesh, (this year's host of the bazaar), Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Maldives and Nepal. The ambassadors' wives are the patrons of the group. Nineteen stalls offered a number of products fir sale including handicrafts, artifacts traditional fabrics and food items characteristic of each OLG member country. OLG was established in 1978 and its members are the wives of Riyadh-based diplomats from ten embassies including Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. OLG members hold monthly meetings to discuss and exchange views on a number of issues related to the customs and traditions, history and home science of the respective countries with the basic aim of promoting culture among members of the diplomatic corps and community in Saudi Arabia.
