‘We Read for Children’ Initiative Reaches for the Stars and Explores Outer Space during July

13 Jul, 2020

The Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), in conjunction with the launch of the Hope Probe to Mars later this month, announces that the Kalima Reading Club will dedicate all reading sessions held by the ‘We Read for Children’ initiative this month to outer space. The club will be hosting a series of virtual reading sessions featuring a number of exciting books about space and the solar system.

The initiative aims to promote reading among children and encourage them to adopt it as a daily habit. It will do so by hosting a series of virtual sessions, where celebrities and professionals from all walks of life read stories in Arabic, while visual effects and exciting background music bring the prose to life. These sessions are to be transmitted via Kalima’s social channels every Friday at 5pm UAE time.

‘We Read for Children’ will be hosting speakers who are passionate about reading and space, starting with Diana Al Sindy, who will be reading A Planetary Adventure by Hye-young Lee. This will be followed by Dr. Mishkan Mohammed Al Awar reading Don’t Follow Me by Eun Hong Jung, and Muzna Najeeb, who will take attendees into a ‘Journey throughout Space’ with a story by Seung-Yoon Kang.

“The Kalima Translation Project is celebrating the efforts of the UAE in the space race, as our national space programme ventures into new frontiers with the launch of the Hope Probe to Mars later this month.” Said Abdullah Majed Al Ali, Executive Director of the Dar Al Kutub sector at DCT Abu Dhabi.

"The ‘We Read for Children’ initiative is part of a series of activities organised by Kalima Reading Club, aiming to establish the importance of the Arabic language, both reading and writing, through a number of programmes, events and workshops that help nurture knowledge among the younger generations, which will help to achieve sustainable development" he added.

Reading Sessions Schedule:

Speaker	Story	Date
Diana Al Sindy	A Planetary Adventure	Friday 10 July – 5pm
Dr. Mishkan Mohammed Al Awar	Don’t Follow Me	Friday 17 July – 5pm
Muzna Najeeb	Journey throughout Space	Friday 24 July – 5pm

Diana Al Sindy is an Iraqi engineer in electric propulsion development for Virgin Orbit, the satellite launch service provider, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, where she is chair of a student space exploration and development team. She took part in NASA’s Cube Quest Challenge, designing a 6U Cubic Satellite with propellant feed system, powered by a monopropellant engine. She was named a Gordon Engineering Leadership Fellow and was awarded the Bahat Family Alumni Leadership Scholarship, the GKN Aerospace Chemtronics Scholarship, and the Osher Foundation Scholarship. She also became a Brooke Owens Fellow in 2017.

Dr. Mishkan Mohammed Al-Awar is Director of the Research and Studies Center at the Dubai Police Academy. She also serves as secretary-general of the Zayed International Prize for the Environment and holds a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Wales in the United Kingdom. Dr Al-Awar was honored for her outstanding participation in NASA's Exploration of Mars mission and is a recipient of the Dubai Excellence programme's Best Woman Award.

Muzna Najeeb is an Emirati student who won first prize in the Arab Reading Challenge of 2019. More than 455,000 students from 1412 schools participated in the fourth edition of the challenge in Dubai.