KUWAIT: The 5th Noor Boubyan campaign organized by Boubyan Bank in collaboration with the International Islamic Charitable Organization and the Dinarain Initiative succeeded in confirming the renowned charitable and humanitarian role of Kuwait worldwide, by achieving the campaign's goals of successful removal of cataract, along with other charitable activities.

Noor Boubyan is no longer a campaign that merely targets eyesight-restoration, as it is now considered one of the most important humanitarian campaigns that confirms Kuwait as a leader in charity work in the four corners of the world.

The campaign lasted for about a week in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and succeeded in drawing great attention in Kuwait and Mauritania through the several various activities performed by the campaign's team, which comprised of many ophthalmologists accompanied by volunteers from Boubyan Bank, the International Islamic Charitable Organization, and the Dinarain Initiative.

Drilling an artesian well.

The campaign's target was Mauritania, which is somehow unknown to many who do not know that it is an Arab and Islamic country, and which is known as "The Land of a Million Poets" due to the wide spread of classical Arabic poetry among people there. This country was selected to be the fifth destination of Noor Boubyan campaign which was launched in the beginning of 2016 as an idea of the then CEO of Boubyan Bank, Adel Al-Majed, who wanted to make Boubyan Bank synonymous with charitable activities and work in a different and influential manner.

Accordingly, the Corporate Communications Division at the bank started acting on the idea in order to implement it in collaboration with the International Islamic Charitable Organization and the Dinarain Initiative. Preparations took almost a year until the launch of the first Noor Boubyan campaign to the Niger in Dec 2016 with the participation of 20 volunteers including doctors, a group of youths from the bank, the IICO and the Dinarain Initiative.

Over four consecutive years from 2016 to 2019, the campaign successfully restored the eyesight of more than 10,000 persons in the Niger and Uganda. Following a 2-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the campaign returns strongly to Mauritania this year. Cataracts, which impairs vision and may even lead to utter blindness in some cases, is the most widespread disease in Africa despite the minimal treatment cost thereof, which does not exceed KD 45.

Engaging with orphans.

Busy Agenda

Over the past years, the Noor Boubyan Campaign was not a mere campaign for eyesight-restoration or cataracts surgery; rather, it has become a comprehensive campaign that comprises of many events and activities.

During the period of Oct 21-28 in Mauritania, the campaign offered 10 masters and doctoral scholarships in ophthalmology to doctors in Mauritania so that they may be able to perform these operations in the future and help volunteer medical teams that visit them from around the world.

Moreover, the campaign distributed more than 1,500 prescription glasses to children and adults after performing the necessary medical tests, emanating from the belief that "prevention is better than cure". The campaign comprised of many events and activities including meetings with orphans, widows, those with special needs, and visually impaired persons, in addition to visiting prominent Islamic sites in Mauritania and meeting with university students as well as other students.

Kuwait’s ambassador with the delegation.

Various activities 

During the campaign, Boubyan organized the "Recite with Boubyan Competition" with the participation of more than 400 participants of both genders starting with those aged 8 and above. The competition is considered one of the biggest ever to be held in the country over the past years.

Additionally, it laid the foundation stone for one of the schools of Dinarain Initiative, in addition to commissioning a water well in a distant village, which was drilled and prepared at the expense of the International Islamic Charitable Organization, thus enabling more than 5,000 families to benefit from pure water. Many workshops were also held and saw the attendance of representatives from charitable societies, and the private sector in Mauritania, as well as civil society organizations, etc.

Checking on patients after performing the surgeries.

Highlights

The Ambassador of Kuwait to Mauritania Ebadah Magaad Al-Dosari played a major role in the success of the campaign by facilitating all the procedures and arrangements for the delegation, and he accompanied it in all its events from the first day of the campaign. It is worth noting that all members of the embassy played a major role in making it a success through the embassy's many entities in the country.

The Mauritanian "Upper Hand Society" played a major role in the success of this campaign as they handled all logistical and organizational matters in Mauritania under the leadership of the society's Secretary General Dr Mohammad Abdulrahman Ould Al-Sabar, and Ali Al-Sheikh, Media Manager.

The campaign's volunteers represented 6 Kuwaiti doctors, 11 volunteers from Boubyan, 7 volunteers from IICO and Dinarain Initiative and 8 social media influencers. The official Mauritanian mass media reacted to a great extent to the campaign with daily coverage of all its events through Mauritanian newspapers, radio, and TV in addition to social media platforms.

Mauritanian official authorities were very interested in the campaign, which witnessed the participation of 3 ministers; namely the Minister of Social Work, Childhood, and Family, the Minister of Health, and the Minister of Islamic Affairs and Traditional Education of Mauritania in addition to senior state officials, who either attended the events or met with the delegation.

The costs of Noor Boubyan are raised through 3 sources; the main source is the revenues of Steps Campaign organized by the bank in the holy month of Ramadan, where the bank donates KD 1 for every 5 minutes of walking completed by the participants throughout the holy month; the second source is the donations of the International Islamic Charitable Organization; and the third is the donations of Kuwaitis throughout the campaign.