Lozi sisters spearheading initiative to teach art, music in Maan district

AMMAN — With the belief that individual initiatives can change lives, two Jordanian women set out to build their project to serve the needs of children in the Maan’s Husainiyah District.

Encouraged by a passion to help children in underprivileged areas, Noor and Rose Lozi launched the “Hemitna” initiative that primarily entails providing art and music classes and football training to more than 140 girls and boys in Husainiyah schools. 

Their initiative recently won the Global Youth Forum 2015’s Award in the United Arab Emirates.

“It is a social and developmental initiative that seeks to develop children’s’ skills in fields other than academic ones,” Rose told The Jordan Times, adding that she and her sister selected one of the country’s poverty pockets as they visited most of these areas with their father when he was an army commander in the southern region.

Although she is currently a PhD student in the UK, Rose said she was travelling back and forth between Amman and London to make this initiative a success, along with her sister Noor.

When they thought of implementing this project, the Lozi sisters had no funds from any institute, but they were determined to go ahead with their plan, conducting visits to several poverty pockets and interviewing children to ask them about their interests and the skills they want to hone.

“Some of them dream of becoming fashion designers; others want to play football,” Noor said, noting that it is the right of these children to be offered such activities, as they also need to be directed towards productive pastimes especially in their free time and holidays.

Sports, art and music, both sisters explained, can change the lives of children in Husainiyah; thus, they became more persistent about looking for partners to start contributing to building the capacities of these students.

Earlier this year, the sisters applied for a programme implemented by Al Ahli Holding Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Action and received training in London and Dubai on how to develop their idea on the ground.

The objective of CSR in Action according to Lina Hourani, director of Al Ahli Holding Group’s CSR Division, is to train young people on developing initiatives that serve their communities.

Participants in this year’s competition were from the UAE, Nigeria, the UK, Lebanon, Australia, Turkey and Jordan.

The Jordanian social project “Hemitna” won the $10,000 award, according to Hourani.  

She said the Jordanian team — along with Samuel Otigaba from the University of Salford, who joined the team — showed high level of passion and determination to give the underprivileged children a chance for a better future. 

Hourani noted that this is the award’s seventh edition, but it is the first time a Jordanian team has won it.

Elaborating on the mechanism of joining the CSR programme to compete for the award, she said universities nominate students, and young people who have creative ideas can apply directly.

Hourani added that Al Ahli Group works with governments, universities and certain institutes.

One of the group’s targets is to help young people network with their peers from other nations.

As part of the Hemitna initiative, Rose will also launch a campaign in the UK to collect musical instruments and send them to Jordan so that students involved in the initiative can use them.

In addition, the students’ paintings will be used on greeting cards made with recycled paper to be sold in Amman and London.

After winning the award, Hemitna also received sponsorship from Microsoft to develop a website for the initiative, and the University of Salford will send 12 volunteers to teach students in Maan, some 220km south of Amman.

“The implementation will start in September with the beginning of the school year,” Noor said.

As for the financial award, it will be used for sustainable items, such as preparing a room to be used for music classes.