Plays and puppets spread message of child protection at Dubai carnival

Dubai Foundation for Women and Children organised the two-day event at Mirdif City Centre.

DUBAI // A free carnival will teach children how to protect themselves from abuse and bullying through plays, puppet shows and other activities this week.

Staff from the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children have organised the two-day event to be held at Mirdif City Centre as part of their fourth annual child protection campaign.

The carnival will be on Thursday and Friday from 10am to 10pm in the mall's central galleria.

It hopes to attract school groups and families, who can enjoy games, face-painting, arts and crafts workshops and drumming sessions.

There will also be plays and puppet shows in English and Arabic - using favourite stories such as Little Red Riding Hood and Finding Nemo - to teach youngsters about child rights, bullying and dealing with strangers.

The carnival, aimed at children aged six to 12, is for "the whole community, all nationalities", said Afra Al Basti, the foundation's director general.

The activities are "fun and light" but they incorporate serious messages about child abuse, children's rights and "how to manage difficult situations", said Anna Mansour, senior mall manager for Majid Al Futtaim Properties, the carnival's sponsor.

In previous years, the foundation's child protection campaign involved distributing brochures and booklets to raise awareness. The carnival is a new idea.

"Hopefully this year will be different and hopefully this year will target more people," Ms Al Basti said. "Hopefully this year, the parents will understand what it means to protect their children. Sometimes [abuse] is not outside the house or the environment."

In a recent case referred to the foundation, a seven-year-old girl in Dubai was allegedly sexually abused by relatives.

"It's not easy to talk about a girl who is seven years old who has been raped by three members in the family, and she can't say anything," Ms Al Basti said. "She doesn't know what is happening to her."

Acting on a tip, foundation staff entered the girl's home with police. "Nobody wanted to let us go in the house," Ms Al Basti said.

The girl is living in the foundation's shelter and receiving therapy while police investigate her case. Ms Al Basti said she believed the girl was adopted into her family but said the details were unclear.

When adults raised issues such as sexual abuse with young children, games and other forms of play could ease the process, Ms Al Basti said.

"In play therapy, they just express their feelings easily and they talk about what happens to them by acting with the toys, by saying stories, by imagination, by everything," she said.

The activities at the carnival would play a similar role.

"The puppet show will send messages for the children on how to protect themselves, how to call for help in emergencies," Ms Al Basti said. "It's all with messages."