True spirit of festival shines

THE humid evening air was filled with the urgent beats of traditional Bahraini drumming, a camel plodded through the Manama traffic and traders in a traditional Arabic bazaar hawked their wares.

It was the opening night of a cultural festival, Project Ramadan, which will run until the end of the month at the Yateem Centre, Manama.

“It’s wonderful. I’m really enjoying it, it’s great to see traditional Bahraini culture,” said Ali Salah Mohammed, 22, a graphic designer from East Riffa who had joined the crowd watching the drummers.

Inside families enjoyed a showcase of Bahrain’s vibrant culture. A host of activities and entertainments that included an animatronics display of Ali Baba’s Souq – a life size structure with animated puppets – delighted children.

A clown wondered around making balloons, and children enjoyed face-painting, henna, hair-braiding, nail art and story-telling.

Frieda Godhino, 34, a financial consultant from Adliya, brought her daughters aged two and four. She said: “I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s very unique. My kids have loved it, especially the face-painting and balloons. They’ve had a lot of fun.”

Hesham Khalid, 40, a graphic designer from Adliya, said: “I’ve haven’t seen this kind of thing before in Bahrain. My daughter Salma, nine, and son Khalid, six, have loved it.”

Upstairs Bahraini handicrafts, calligraphy, ceramics and woodwork were on sale and a gallery of rarely-seen photographs offered a singular glimpse into the kingdom’s history.

For the cost of 500 fils, visitors can also buy a ‘pearl of wisdom’ which contains a moral message, and can also create a ‘peace palm’ by painting the palm of your hand with a message of peace.

A Ghabga dinner was also held where visitors enjoyed a feast for a minimal fee, and will happen every weekend evening.

The brainchild of the Yateem Centre and Bahrain-based branding and communications company, Unisono, the event aims to celebrate the key elements of Ramadan – communication, charity and community.

 “Our idea was to get people to really understand the spirit of Ramadan. It’s a way of sharing and bringing together,” said Unisono partner and director of strategy, Amy Morgan. “We hope to create a cross-cultural dialogue. We’re hoping to break down barriers and get people talking.

“Ramadan is a festival for warmth for family and charity and we felt that it would be a good way to create awareness about it and get people to donate to a good cause.

“We’ve been amazed by how many people have helped us.”

Volunteers from Discover Islam helped visitors with any questions about Ramadan and talks from theological scholars will also take place over the next few weeks. Live events are staged from 7pm.

All the money raised during the festival will go to charity and towards supporting a local community centre.

Funds raised will go to aid the Make A Child Happy (MACH) project organised by Al Muqabah Charity Fund. MACH offers gifts to sick children lying in hospitals during Eid Al Fitr annually, special medication for children facing difficulties in government hospitals and educational support for those in need of special care.

On the last night of the festival an auction will be held where unique photos, donated by company KSDI will be up for grabs.

“We’d like it to be an annual event,” added Ms Morgan. “We wanted to establish a proper initiative, not arm chair charity and we’d like to see projects that we can to continue to invest in.”