AUS student volunteers renovate a family home as Eid present

Students from American University of Sharjah (AUS) handed over a home for a deserving family after they have restored it. A special ceremony was held on the occasion at the restored home yesterday, October 21, 2012. The house was renovated by the students as part of the Hand in Hand: Renovating an Orphan's Home project.

The renovation came as part of the AUS students' commitment to strongly support and interact with the local community in a fruitful partnership, an initiative which was strongly led by the AUS Office of Student Affairs. Over 100 AUS student volunteers helped with the renovation project. The restoration took seven days and students from AUS worked in partnership with Sharjah Social Empowerment Foundation undertaking a variety of jobs, from cleaning to painting.

"We are delighted that this project went well. This is the fourth project we are doing with the Sharjah Social Empowerment Foundation, and this year we have seen more students giving their time, talent and resources back to the community," said Dr. Moza Al Shehhi, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs. "We are always trying to raise awareness of our students in giving back to the community. When we see increased interest in our students participating in community services, it shows us that our message is getting through and we hope more students will get on board and give back to the community."

According to Nawal Yaser, Social Research Manager at Sharjah Social Empowerment Foundation, the foundation started the project in 2004 to repair homes of needy families in Sharjah. "We started with small projects and we grew slowly. We work with a number of partners and AUS is one of our main supporting partners," she sai. "We normally do one project a year, but due to increased demand, this year we will do two projects in partnership with AUS."

For this project, the foundation provided paint, painting materials and carpets with AUS providing volunteers, furniture, other accessories and some gifts to the family living in the restored house.

"It was a lot of fun helping to clean, scrape and paint this house," said Anas Masamreh, an electrical engineering major who volunteered for the project. "To some of us the house seemed small but we knew that when we are finished with it, it would be like heaven to the people who live in it." 

Also present during the handover ceremony were Munketh Taha, Director of Student Development and Organization; Aisha Ali, Community Services Manager; officials from Sharjah Social Empowerment Foundation and from AUS Community Services Office as well as student volunteers.The restoration was organized by the Office of Student Affairs at AUS, in collaboration with Sharjah Social Empowerment Foundation.