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DREAM trips for seriously ill children continue to inspire families across the kingdom with treasured memories and holidays that will never be forgotten.
Now in its 10th year in Bahrain, the UK-based British Airways Dreamflight charity gives almost 200 sick youngsters a year the chance to experience Florida's theme parks. Of these children just a handful come from outside the UK, including two each year from Bahrain.
Debbie Beedie, commercial support executive at British Airways and Dreamflight co-coordinator for Bahrain, said: "This is for children who face difficulties all the time, to ensure they have a fantastic time. All except six children are British so that shows how special the Bahrain children are."
Two Bahrainis are joined by two children suffering from the hereditary ill-effects of the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster along with two youngsters from Hong Kong.
Dreamflight began in Britain in 1986 when British Airways flight crew members Patricia Pearce and Derek Pereira came up with the idea of a special holiday to bring joy and happiness into troubled young lives.
In November 1987, a Boeing 747 full of 288 sick children and adult helpers flew off to Florida for five days of fun and laughter.
The original Dreamflight was only intended to be a 'one-off' trip but was such a success that it has been an annual event ever since.
Dreamflight Bahrain began in 1999 as a result of a conversation between Mr Pereira's sister who then lived on the island and John Bishop, former country manager for British Airways.
The process in Bahrain begins when the British Airways office in A'ali Mall receives information about children who would benefit from the experience from Salmaniya Medical Complex.
Mrs Beedie said: "The nomination form comes around January or February. It's not a given guarantee that we go every year, so we just keep our fingers crossed.
"We have been lucky again and this year we have scheduled the trip for October 15."
The names of eight children between the ages of eight and 14 are put forward and two are chosen for the trip by the airline's medical director - a paediatric consultant.
There are many criteria that they must meet including being strong enough for the trip to the US.
Abdul Aziz, 43, a specialist in communications at Batelco is the father of Ahmed, 12, who was selected to go on the holiday last year. "Ahmed was so happy. This was a once in a life-time opportunity. He screamed with excitement and it was defineltely a dream come true.
"Ahmed suffered from stomach cancer and had been undergoing chemotherapy treatment for five months. Fortunately he is a lot better now and more active too."
Mrs Beedie said: "Sadly, we cannot select all the deserving children for the trip and so we select those who have suffered from an illness that is terminal or who are recovering from cancer."
The chosen children are accompanied by eight helpers including one person from Bahrain, a group leader, a paediatric doctor, senior nurse, physiotherapist, two nurses and two non-medical people.
Prior to the trip the children are offered English language classes from Berlitz for a couple of months to help with their conversational skills during their time in the US and while away they are able to keep in touch with their families via phones specially donated by Batelco.
The 10-day trip begins with a flight to London where they stay overnight and leave early the following day.
Once in Orlando, the children get to visit various sights including Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom, MGM studios, Universal Studios, Sea World, Blizzard Beach, Discovery Cove and the Islands of Adventure.
Mrs Beedie said: "We break the children into groups of 12 or 16. Each group is named after a Disney character and is given T-shirts of different colours so they can be easily spotted in a crowd."
The children are escorted and looked after 24 hours and at night a nurse patrols the corridors.
On their return to Bahrain the two youngsters are escorted home in a luxury limousine courtesy of Speedy Motors, with a mountain of memories to share with their family and friends.
