The Child Safety Campaign (CSC), an initiative of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, will organise a series of reading sessions for children at the upcoming sixth edition of the Sharjah International Children’s Film Festival (SICFF 2018).

The reading sessions will feature three storybooks that Child Safety Campaign published in April 2018, in Arabic and Braille languages, and will teach young visitors at SCIFF about their rights, how to stay safe outside of their home, and online.

The first session takes place on October 15 at 10am, featuring the storybook ‘Tumtum the Duck’, written by Sahar Naja and illustrated by Fadi Fadhel. The story addresses how children should handle requests from strangers. It is about a duckling that goes out for a walk but comes across a wolf who tries to lure her and persuade her to go with him. Fortunately, she remembers her mother’s advice and refuses.

The second session takes place on October 17, featuring ‘My Grandmother the Tree’, written by Sabah Deeby and illustrated by Sylvia Vivanco. Addressing children’s rights, the story emphasises the importance of helping children to fulfil their dreams and protecting them from all forms of negligence, exploitation, mistreatment and abuse. The story is about a tree that comes across a little girl who is denied her right to education and is not allowed to attend school. The tree transforms into a lady and solves the girl’s problem as well as other kids, by fulfilling their aspirations and wishes to go to school, at the same time providing them with a safe environment in which they can live, play and gain access to education.

On October 18, the final session will feature ‘The Little Jerboa’, written by Reem al Qarq and illustrated by Rana Qadry. The story addresses children’s day-to-day lives on social media. It depicts the virtual life that children experience and how they could be harmed by strangers that pretend to be friends. The session will also provide advice on how to handle online threats.

Hanadi Al Yafei, Director of SCFA, and Head of the Organising Committee of CSC, said: “The Sharjah International Children's Film Festival presents a unique opportunity to reach children of all ages and nationalities and their parents, to enhance their awareness about child safety.”

“Storybooks and reading sessions are an ideal opportunity to teach children the basics of how to stay safe in their daily lives, in addition to enabling us to reach their parents and educate them on children’s rights. Such contributions ensure the advancement of our society and nation.”

Al Yafei commended SICFF’s efforts in the development of children’s mental faculties and skills, educating them on new fun-filled concepts that could develop to become a hobby, passion or ambition, in addition to fostering their awareness on handling various situations.

The storybooks were launched by Child Safety Campaign - in cooperation with Kalimat Publishing, an imprint of Kalimat Group that is dedicated to publishing children’s books, and supported by 1001 Titles, a Knowledge Without Borders Initiative - during its participation at the 10th Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) in April 2018, in order to raise awareness about child safety and child rights.