FUJAIRAH // Young women at a youth centre joined the rest of the country in marking Commemoration Day by creating a mural called Martyr of Light.
Four female members of Fujairah Youth Centre decided to create the mural in recognition of the sacrifice of martyrs, and they got the project under way on Monday.
Nadia Al Blooshi said that they intended to make all the martyrs names part of the design, with each written in gold.
“Our supervisor came up with this idea and we were all excited to start with it. We started collecting the names of the martyrs,” said the 23-year-old.
“We took lessons on how to write Arabic calligraphy and how to use gold paper in the past few weeks at the centre and we intend to use these skills to create the wall mural.”
Noura Al Blooshi, 13, said: “It’s not an easy thing and it will require long hours of hard work but it’s the least we can do to recognise and appreciate our martyrs.
“It will take four days to be completed and we look forward to seeing the final results.”
At 11.30am on Commemoration Day, centre members came together with pupils from Umm Al Ala’a school to take part in the UAE-wide minute’s silence before raising the UAE flag and sing the National Anthem.
“On this day we are all united to say that the martyrs’ sacrifices will never be forgotten and that we are proud and ready to serve our country,” said Ameina Al Suriedi, 14, a pupil at the school and member of Fazaa, a community services group.
Maha Al Ali, a 12-year-old pupil, said: “I played the National Anthem on the keyboard while my fellow classmates sang it; this is a very special day dedicated to our martyrs.”
After the National Anthem, Fatima Al Yalyali and her sister Rawadi sang a song and read a poem for the martyrs.
Fatima had been preparing and memorising a piece of poetry dedicated to the lives of the martyrs for the past two weeks.
“I asked my teacher to choose for me a poem about the martyrs and how much we are proud of them so I could memorise it and sing it during the ceremony,” said the 11-year-old.
“It wasn’t easy but I tried hard and I managed to read it correct today; it’s a gift from me to the martyrs.
“My uncle is in the war now and we pray for him to come home safe and sound and we are very proud of him.”
Younger sister Rawadi had memorised a song called the martyr’s song.
“My mother had helped me in searching for the right song on the internet and I memorised it. It talks about how we should all sacrifice anything to protect our country,” said the eight-year-old.
Commemoration Day was also marked across Ras Al Khaimah, and an exhibition, called Martyr in the eyes of an artist, opened at Manar Mall.
The exhibition, run by the Emirates Association for Social Development, included a variety of paintings and expressive images that reflected the idea of Commemoration Day through the eyes of school pupils and local artists. It will run for two days.
rhaza@thenational.ae
