“Our duty and responsibility is to cultivate goodness and nurture every noble idea whose goal is to elevate humanity.”

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Chairman of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Dubai, in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, First Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Second Deputy Ruler of Dubai, today (Sunday) crowned Fawzia Jabbara Mahmoudi from the Kingdom of Morocco with the title of “First Hope Maker” in The Arab world, and received a financial reward worth one million dirhams.

In addition, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum directed to honor the two finalists, who are in addition to Fawzia Jabbara Mahmoudi: Hind Al-Hajri from the State of Kuwait, and Abdul Rahman Al-Rais from the Kingdom of Morocco, and granted each of them a reward of one million dirhams, bringing the value of the prize in the sixth session of the “Hope Makers” initiative to three million dirhams.

Fawzia Jabbara Mahmoudi was crowned with the title of “First Hope Maker” after she received the highest percentage of votes at the closing ceremony of the sixth session, which was organized today at the “Coca-Cola Arena” in Dubai, for her initiative to establish the “Operation Smile” association, and her success in performing more than 19 thousand surgical operations, outperforming more than 15,800 hope makers who applied to participate in the sixth session of the largest initiative of its kind to honor donors in the Arab world, bringing the total number of participants in The “Hope Makers” initiative spanned six sessions to more than 335,000 participants.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum congratulated the new heroes of giving in the Arab world and everyone who participated in the sixth session of the “Hope Makers” initiative and left a positive mark on people’s lives. His Highness said: “We congratulate you for this strength in giving and dedication… and this humanitarian presence that influences the present and future of our countries and societies.”

His Highness added: “There is no pursuit in life and no success without hope… Every challenge we overcome and every progress we seek depends on having hope… Conquering the impossible begins with hope… and the story of human civilization was written by man with hope.”

His Highness concluded by saying: “The UAE will remain loyal to its great humanitarian mission of creating hope. Our duty and responsibility is to cultivate goodness and nurture every noble idea whose goal is to elevate humanity.”

Later, His Highness said in a blog post on the “X” platform: “Today in Dubai, we honored a group of Arab hope makers… in its sixth session launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum… the first maker of hope… and the maker of positivity in our region… and the builder of the most hopeful global model in the world.”

His Highness added: “We congratulate the winner, Fawzia Mahmoudi… and Hind Al-Hajri from Kuwait… and Abdul Rahman Al-Rais from Morocco… for their victory in the Hope Makers Tournament… in Dubai, everyone is a winner today… and everyone is a doer of goodness, of whom we are proud and of his work.”

The closing ceremony of the sixth session of the Hope Makers Initiative was attended by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Supreme Chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline and Group, His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the National Olympic Committee, Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, and a number of senior officials.

Spread optimism

Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Secretary-General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation, stressed that the “Hope Makers” initiative embodies the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, in spreading optimism and positivity, and supporting noble initiatives aimed at changing the reality of Arab societies for the better, noting that this unique initiative has opened broad horizons for humanitarian and volunteer work in The Arab world, and revealed role models of effort, silent work, and the ability to transform ideas into ambitious projects aimed at helping others and giving them the opportunity to live a decent life.

He said: “The (Hope Makers) initiative demonstrated, over six sessions, and through more than 335,000 inspiring stories, the extent of the drive for volunteer and humanitarian work in Arab societies, and the extent of the need for these charitable efforts to continue, which highlights the importance of (Hope Makers) in illuminating the efforts of the heroes of giving and encouraging them to continue this approach, and inspiring new generations to participate in this humanitarian journey,” noting the great Arab interest that the initiative has received since its launch in 2017, There is a high demand for nominations in each of its sessions to obtain the honor of winning the title of “Hope Maker”.

“Operation Smile”

In 1999, Moroccan hope maker Fawzia Jabbara Mahmoudi founded the “Operation Smile” association, an association that provides free and integrated treatment for cleft lip and cleft palate deformities from birth until adulthood. Today, the association runs three centers in the cities of Casablanca, El Jadida, and Oujda, in addition to a fourth center under construction in the city of Marrakesh. The association has sent 164 missions to 30 cities, each mission lasting five days, during which 100-150 cases are examined and about 90 operations are performed on average. Since its founding, with the help of more than 650 volunteers from all over the Kingdom of Morocco, the association has been able to perform more than 19,000 surgical operations and provide dental treatment services that benefited more than 120,000 people.

“Fatima’s house”

The story of Kuwaiti hope maker Hind Al-Hajri began during her work as a volunteer teacher in the United Republic of Tanzania, where many of her students were orphans. Hind Al-Hajri used to visit the homes she requested in Zanzibar, and some of those homes were destined to be demolished during the rainy season, so the sibling children living in those homes ended up being separated and living with families who lived below the poverty line and were unable to provide them with the basics of life.

Hind Al-Hajri, seeing the sibling children separated by difficult circumstances and without any means of communicating with each other, decided to act immediately. She took the initiative to buy a piece of land and build a large house on it, which she called “Fatima’s House.” Today, six years have passed since the construction of “Fatima House,” which embraces 47 children and provides them with safety, decent living conditions, and confidence in a better future.

Hind Al-Hajri lives in Zanzibar with these orphan children, who are 20 girls and 27 boys. She knows all their stories and carefully follows the details of their daily lives.

“Surour” program

The name of the Moroccan hope maker, Abdel Rahman Al-Rais, was linked to a humanitarian program to help widows and needy women throughout the Kingdom of Morocco. Al-Rais, a content creator, launched the “Sourour” program, and took upon himself the task of touring the rural and remote areas of the Kingdom of Morocco, going to the grocery stores in the villages with the aim of paying off the debts of any widow, girl, or needy woman who supports her family without support or assistance from anyone.

Abdul Rahman Al-Rais chooses remote villages that are far from the main cities and to which aid is difficult to reach, because he realizes that this group of society is the most in need of assistance. He receives financial contributions from those who wish to provide aid and charity without appearing or announcing themselves, and he takes it upon himself to deliver them to those who need them in the remote villages.

Abdel Rahman publishes his initiative on YouTube through episodes in which he documents aid operations without showing the faces of needy women, and spreads a culture of hope and positivity in Moroccan society. The number of beneficiaries of the initiative to pay off the debts of widows and needy families has reached more than 7,000 people.

Abdul Rahman Al-Rais’s efforts are not limited to paying off debts. Rather, he implemented other initiatives such as digging wells, building small homes, and helping needy people perform Umrah rituals with the support of benefactors, bringing the total beneficiaries of his initiatives to more than 20 thousand people.

Wide interaction

The “Hope Makers” initiative targets individuals and institutions from anywhere in the Arab world or the world, who have a project, program, campaign or initiative that is creative, innovative and has a clear impact, contributing to improving the lives of a segment of people or alleviating the suffering of a specific group in society or working to develop a specific environment socially, economically, culturally or educationally, or contributing to solving any of the challenges of the local community, provided that this is done voluntarily and without compensation or without achieving profit or material benefit.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the first session of the Hope Makers Initiative, in 2017, through an innovative advertisement that His Highness published on his official accounts on social networking sites, offering a job for a “Hope Maker”, the conditions of which are that the applicant must master the skills of giving and serving people, and be positive and believe in the energy of those around him from the people of the Arab world, and have experience in undertaking at least one community initiative, in return for a reward worth one million dirhams, noting that Applying for the position of Hope Maker is available to anyone without specifying a specific age.

His Highness’s announcement received great interaction in the Arab world, where the number of nomination requests from Amal Makers, individuals, volunteer groups, and humanitarian and community institutions, exceeded 65 thousand applications, from all over the Arab world, a number that exceeded expectations, knowing that the target number for the initiative was 20 thousand.

Inspiring initiatives

The first session featured Nawal Al-Sofi from Morocco and residing in Italy, who dedicated herself to saving refugees fleeing to Europe across the sea and contributed to saving more than 200,000 refugees, and the initiative of Hisham Al-Dhahabi from Iraq, who embraced the cause of street children in his country, offering them all forms of care through his founding of the “Iraqi House for Creativity.”

The second session of the “Hope Makers” initiative attracted more than 87,000 nominations, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum honored the five Hope Makers who qualified for the initiative’s finals with a financial reward worth one million dirhams each, bringing the value of the “Hope Makers” award to five million dirhams.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum also announced the establishment of the Hope Makers Academy with 50 million dirhams to support hope makers in the Arab world, provide humanitarian incubators for their projects, transfer global scientific expertise in the humanitarian field to them, and provide executive and leadership training courses for them in cooperation with the best expertise and specialized international institutes.

The second session featured the initiative of Nawal Mustafa, from Egypt, who devoted herself to the issue of female prisoners and their children. She also founded the “Caring for the Children of Female Prisoners” Association to shed light on the children who live inside the prison walls with their inmate mothers.

Giving without limits

92,000 Hope Makers participated in the third session of the initiative, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum honored the five Hope Makers who qualified for the initiative’s finals with a financial reward of one million dirhams for each of them.

This session was distinguished by the initiative of Dr. Mujahid Mustafa Ali Al-Talawi, from Egypt, who has been providing health care to the poor and the poor for decades, for a nominal fee or for free, and supports the poor, the needy, and orphans in his village of Tala in Upper Egypt. The initiative of Steve Sosby, the American journalist who obtained Palestinian citizenship for his efforts with the children of Palestine who lost limbs and for encouraging teams of doctors and volunteers from around the world to support Palestinian medical teams, also emerged, establishing a children’s relief fund. Palestine.

Quality projects

The fourth session received more than 58,000 Arab Hope Makers, where His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum crowned Iraqi Tala Al-Khalil with the title of “Hope Maker” after she received the highest percentage of votes in the closing ceremony. His Highness directed that all four Hope Makers who qualified for the finals of the initiative be winners of the title, and they are, in addition to Tala Al-Khalil: Iraqi Mohammed Al-Najjar, Moroccan Amin Emner, and Egyptian Fathia Al-Mahmoud.

The Iraqi hope maker, pharmacist Dr. Tala Al-Khalil, succeeded in making a major change in the lives of sick children with disabilities, as she established the “Warriors Academy” in Basra, and through personal effort was able to care for more than 200 children with Down syndrome and cancer. As for the Iraqi hope maker, Dr. Muhammad Al-Najjar, he restored hope to many amputees in Iraq, and was able to establish a football team that represents Iraq in international forums.

The Moroccan hope maker, Amin Emner, turned his accounts on social networking sites into a new portal for giving, as he adopted many humanitarian initiatives and relief campaigns to distribute aid to the needy, dig wells, and build bridges. The Egyptian Fathia Al-Mahmoud, nicknamed “Mother of Orphans” and “Mama Fathia,” also received great appreciation after she received 34 orphan girls in her home and supervised their care, education, and upbringing, in addition to founding her. “A Touch of Hope” Association for Orphan Care.

The fifth session of the “Hope Makers” initiative was characterized by receiving more than 26 thousand applications for nominations within one month, as His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum crowned the Moroccan Ahmed Zainoun with the title of the first Hope Maker, after receiving the highest percentage of votes at the closing ceremony, for his initiative to treat children with xeroderma pigmentosum, or what is called “Moon Children.” His Highness also directed to honor the three finalists for the fifth session, and give each of them a reward worth One million dirhams, bringing the value of the “Hope Makers” award to 3 million dirhams.

Honor giving

The “Hope Makers” initiative, which falls under the umbrella of the “Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives” Foundation, aims to shed light on the hope makers in the Arab world, both women and men, who devote their time, effort and resources to serving others, helping the poor and needy, providing relief to the afflicted and contributing to improving the lives around them, and introducing the initiatives, projects and programs of the Hope Makers through various traditional and digital media, and through new media platforms, and enhancing their fame. In their societies and in the Arab world.

It also aims to reward distinguished hope makers with the most influential initiatives by providing them with financial support to help them continue their initiatives, intensify their humanitarian and volunteer efforts in their communities, and expand the scope of their initiatives and projects to include a larger number of beneficiaries.

The initiative seeks to contribute to instilling a culture of hope and positivity throughout the Arab world and to encourage giving, whatever the circumstances, and regardless of the size of the challenges. It also seeks to contribute to creating positive, inspiring role models for young people in the Arab world who will be role models for others in working for constructive change and developing their societies, and to celebrate these models as new heroes or true stars who deserve praise and appreciation.