AUS student volunteers renovate a house for an orphan family of nine

More than 200 students from American University of Sharjah (AUS) volunteered to provide help in renovating the house of an underprivileged family of nine recently. As part of the university’s Hand in Hand initiative, the house, located in Sharjah, was renovated over the course of eight days, and handed over to the family. The project was an initiative of the Community Services division of the AUS Office of Student Affairs, in collaboration with Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services, and is the ninth renovation project completed under the Hand in Hand initiative.

The project was completed after a total of 668 shared hours of hard work with the volunteers working daily shifts on the renovation of the house, which included renovating four rooms as well as the kitchen and backyard.

The volunteers were actively involved in breaking of the wall, peeling old paint, lining and painting the walls, , scraping the windows, changing the false ceiling, selecting and buying furniture, and organization of the place. The volunteers created a playground for the orphans as they bought them games, swings, and put artificial grass.

The official hand-over of the house was attended by Dr. Moza Al Shehhi, Dean of Students; senior AUS officials and volunteers; who said, “The Hand-in-Hand Project is one of the most important voluntary initiatives by the university's Community Service Division. This initiative was launched in 2010, targeting homes of orphans and underprivileged families.  On September 2017, 200 student volunteers started renovating a house in Sharjah that belonged to an underprivileged family of nine members. The renovation job included painting, mending, and plumbing, carpentry, furnishing and decorating the house over a period of 9 days.”

“The success of this initiative is due to the continuous increase in demand from AUS students to join these programs in addition to our strong partnerships with humanitarian and charitable institutions especially Sharjah Social Empowerment Foundation,” added Al Shehhi.

“It is truly heartwarming when one makes a small difference that brings a big smile on not only one person but on a whole family, with just a little time, effort and passion to change the world little by little,” said Salma Abdel Fattah, an environmental sciences student at AUS.