Students of Sri Lankan International School, Riyadh (SLISR) were the most enthusiastic participants in the annual charity bazaar held at the Sri Lankan Embassy here recently. The event that raised around SR20,000 within a few hours of its start was organized by the Riyadh-chapter of Sri Lankan Expats Society (SLES). “Many schoolchildren have participated in the charity bazaar, contributing for a noble cause,” said an SLES official. He said the SLES, founded in 1993, is reaching out to the destitute and needy members of the Sri Lankan community in Riyadh. “The purpose of allocating a special space for the first time to schoolchildren was to inspire them about charity work,” he said. Several stalls put up at the ‘Teen Corner' were seen selling items like music and movie videos, artificial jewelry, snacks and toys among others. The official said that the SLES has been organizing free medical clinics every Friday and gives out a sum of SR500 each to accident victims, repatriation of distressed housemaids, remittance of funds to Sri Lanka during calamities, building houses for the poor in the flood-stricken districts and digging tube wells in areas with water scarcity back home. “The SLES has a membership of over hundreds of Sri Lankan nationals. We never keep reserves and give out whatever is raised through charity bazaars, annual fees or that donated by our members,” he said. Calling the bazaar a success, he thanked the Sri Lankan Ambassador A.A.M. Marleen and V. Ganesh Moorthy, chairman of the charity event. Over 25 vendors who participated in the event included Western Bakery Nesto Hyper Market, Arab National Bank, Telemoney, BFSA, Mazola, Soroup Trading Co. Ltd., National Agricultural Development Co. (Nadec), ABT Cargo, Wellness Products, Al Jufailiah Corp., Seemas Textiles, Trico International, Unique Choice, Al Hada Water, Al Stafford National Motors, Al-Harmain Trading. Food Island and Doosa Restaurant, Suncity Polyclinic and the Sri Lankan Airlines which sponsored air tickets in the raffle draw were the other participants. Enma International and Fazal Mohamed, purchasing manager of Al-Faizaliah Hotel were the sponsors of the charity event. S.B.C. Thassim conducted a “Garage Sale”, the proceeds of which were donated for the SLES weekly medical clinic.
