The National Archives fosters students’ values and ideals and supports their charitable and humanitarian initiatives
The National Archives’ keen interest in the activities of the Student Historians’ Club members led to students’ participation in a number of community and humanitarian initiatives that are closely related to the themes of the “2017 Year of Giving” initiative.
In the Year of Giving,
the National Archives fosters students’ values and ideals and supports their charitable and humanitarian initiatives
The National Archives’ keen interest in the activities of the Student Historians’ Club members led to students’ participation in a number of community and humanitarian initiatives that are closely related to the themes of the “2017 Year of Giving” initiative. Such initiatives will foster their moral values, such as tolerance, giving and patriotism, and enhance their loyalty, sense of belonging and national identity.
The National Archives devotes its attention to students, because they are the nation’s real wealth, the society’s nucleus, the intellectual powerhouse, and the lighthouse of knowledge. Their distinguished status have been reflected in their activities that were consistent with the themes of Year of Giving, i.e. social responsibility, voluntary work and serving their country. Therefore, such student activities and initiatives are an actual translation of the culture of benevolence and giving, which is at the core of UAE’s vision that is based on the vision of the late founding leader, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
In the firm belief of the importance of transferring knowledge and bringing the UAE’s history to light, the students included in their programs seminars inside and outside schools to introduce the nation’s heritage, reinforce moral values and tolerance, and foster national identity and good citizenship. This is at the heart of the National Archives’ mission, which aims at enhancing civic spirit and national identity.
Students did not stop here, but in pursuance of their activities, they launched several initiatives to serve the homeland in the belief that serving, safeguarding, defending their country and seeking to elevate its status are the most important expressions of benevolence and giving. Students were proud of and grateful to the nation’s martyrs and expressed, through writing and drawing, their gratitude for the martyrs’ efforts in defending their nation. Moreover, they planted a number of trees bearing the names of the nation’s martyrs in their schools gardens and made drawings that embodied a set of moral values that are associated with the national identity. In addition, the students lauded the martyrs’ high status and their sacrifices to their country and people by means of messages addressed to the martyrs by students’ parents and via social media accounts opened by students for this purpose.
Given that the National Archives is mindful of its social role and responsibility, the student members in the Student Historians’ Club reflected this by focusing their energies and capabilities on serving their society. Therefore, they adopted and excelled in charitable and humanitarian campaigns and initiatives. They sought to nurture the sense of social responsibility by playing host, in schools on a scheduled day, to the determined ones (people with special needs), as named by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates. Students gave orphans Eid presents and accompanied them to attend a football match. Furthermore, they helped some needy families, organized Omrah trips to Mecca and helped working women realize their dreams by supporting their small enterprises.
Student events took place in some shopping malls. Some schools organized an entertaining charity day under the slogan: “By Giving, We Cheer Others Up”. Some schools honored cleaners on Labor Day. Most of these activities were carried out in the context of voluntary work, in addition to days dedicated to the heritage, and to acquainting foreigners with the UAE history, and other days to the heritage cinema, which broadcasted oral history interviews. The Student Historians’ Club members promoted and publicized their activities through social media. The club activities continued unabated in all forms of giving, including without limitation, patriotism, voluntary service or social responsibility. Their excellent work was evidenced by the Student Historians’ Club contest. This was sponsored by the National Archives in cooperation with its strategic partner, Abu Dhabi Education Council as part of the National Archives efforts to gear up students’ energies towards well-devised and planned national historical programs that contribute to the development of society, building and enhancing students’ personalities and instilling moral values and high ideals in them.
