ABU DHABI // The plight of children born with cleft palates and lips made such an impression on Zaara Mohyuddin that she vowed to raise enough money to pay for 10 surgeries.
She and her family exceeded that goal in about three weeks, raising more than Dh10,500 so far for the charity Operation Smile.
And Zaara is only eight.
“I started by asking my friends if they could help me, and my teacher, and when I asked all of them, I asked my parents if they could ask their friends for money,” said the British School Al Khubairat pupil.
The family raised the money as part of Zaara's suggestion to run in the Colour Run, a five-kilometre fun run in which organisers throw coloured powder on the participants, at Yas Marina Circuit. Zaara learned about tomorrow's event after seeing an advertisement in the paper stating it was raising money for Operation Smile.
She knew of the charity after a school assembly where pupils were taught about the children from impoverished countries who cannot afford surgeries to repair cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities.
“It really resonated with Zaara when she learned about the conditions other children are facing,” said her father, Samir, an IT consultant.
"Straight away she declared that she wanted to do it [the Colour Run] because she wanted to raise money for Operation Smile."
Mr Mohyuddin said he and his wife at first thought they could raise enough money to fund operations for eight children, each of which costs the charity Dh880.
“We set an ambitious target,” he said. “Zaara said, ‘No, I want to raise for 10’. ”
The family was thankful for the amount of donations from family and friends.
“We were a bit taken aback and very surprised, and very, very grateful that people have responded,” said Samir.
“It means at least 10 children will be able to receive corrective surgery for their smiles because of the [family’s] efforts,” said Morag Cromey-Hawke, executive director of Operation Smile UAE.
“Dh10,000 for an eight-year-old child is absolutely fantastic.”
Zaara and her family are originally from the UK and moved to Abu Dhabi from London about five years ago. They said it will be the first time they had run in such an event.
Zaara said she had been training to prepare. “At first I found the running really hard and wanted to stop, but when I thought about all the children who needed my help, I kept going,” she said.
The main goal of the event is to encourage people to exercise, said Fleur Castle, director of marketing at IMG, the organising company. “What the Colour Run is all about is getting people active and exercising in a fun way, so, making people realise being healthy and active isn’t daunting and scary,” she said.
The Colour Run starts tomorrow at 8.45am and finishes at noon, with runners starting in waves. A festival starts at 9.30am with activities such as bungee runs.
More than 6,000 people are expected to attend, Ms Castle said, and the organisers have pledged to donate US$1 (Dh3.6) for each person taking part.
Insurance company Daman is a co-partner in the event, which was held last year in Dubai.
Mr Mohyuddin said the family has set up a profile for accepting donations at www.justgiving.com/Zaara-Mohyuddin.
lcarroll@thenational.ae
