Sheikha Hissa bint Hamdan reflects on equestrian lessons and father’s legacy at Global Women’s Forum Dubai 2024

Her Highness Sheikha Hissa bint Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Goodwill Ambassador for the Voices of Future Generations (VoFG) initiative, took the signifier connected the 2nd time of the Global Women’s Forum Dubai 2024 successful a league titled ‘Challenges and Inspiration successful Equestrian Stories’. Moderated by Jennifer Malton, Director of Voices of Future Generations and Sustainability astatine the Emirates Literature Foundation, the league highlighted Sheikha Hissa’s puerility experiences, the power of her father, and her advocacy for empowering children done storytelling.

Recounting her aboriginal years, Sheikha Hissa reflected connected the profound power of horses connected her idiosyncratic growth. “Horses person been my top teacher,” she said. “I judge children larn a batch from being astir animals successful general, but horses person been a humbling acquisition for me. They person helped maine to beryllium compassionate and deliberation of others.”

Sheikha Hissa paid tribute to her precocious father, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, highlighting the profound interaction connected her life. “My begetter was a horseman himself. He was a immense power connected me, particularly erstwhile it came to falling successful emotion with horses and taking attraction of the environment.”

Recalling cherished memories with her father, she shared, “We had farms, and we would spell with him arsenic children to prime vegetables. He loved animals successful his ain way. He had marine reserves and farmlands, and helium was passionate astir wildlife successful the region. Once, I had a gazelle, a rescued animal, and helium guided maine connected however to instrumentality attraction of it. These small moments successful beingness had a immense interaction connected me.”

Sheikha Hissa reflected connected however her equine riding experiences instilled 2 halfway values: the value of taking work and the powerfulness of cultivating compassion.

The league was attended by Her Excellency Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Vice President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, and Chairperson of the Board and Managing Director of the Dubai Women Establishment; and Her Excellency Hala Badri, Director General of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.

Empowering children
On her relation arsenic the Goodwill Ambassador for the Voices of Future Generations for the Middle East region, Sheikha Hissa explained its mission. “The inaugural is astir children that scope from the property of 8 to 12 years old. Half our children constitute successful English, and the different fractional constitute successful Arabic, due to the fact that Arabic is our main language, and we wanted to marque definite children tin person some books.”

She highlighted the initiative’s dual absorption connected publishing and outreach. “Our main task is to find kid authors, people their stories, and marque definite that these books, not conscionable successful the Arab region, but globally, scope everyone.” She besides spoke astir the initiative’s efforts to bid children arsenic sustainability ambassadors.

She besides credited her father’s encouragement erstwhile the inaugural was archetypal presented to her. “When I got this pitched to me, I wanted to spot what helium thought. He was afloat connected board, which shouldn’t person amazed me, due to the fact that helium cared astir children. He cared astir their education.”

She described the inaugural arsenic multifaceted, focusing connected publishing and outreach. “Our main task is to find kid authors, people their stories, and marque definite that these books scope everyone, not conscionable successful the Arab region, but globally.”

During her session, Sheikha Hissa emphasised the value of practice successful children’s stories. “When we work oregon spot thing connected TV, we look for things to subordinate to ourselves, and sometimes they’re not representing our civilization oregon however we are arsenic a society,” she noted. “When our children people stories for others successful the portion and globally, it impacts however radical presumption us.”
Sheikha Hissa called connected parents and communities to enactment their children’s acquisition and originative pursuits.

The Voices of Future Generations (VoFG) initiative, launched nether UNESCO's patronage, is simply a planetary task that encourages children to constitute astir sustainability and their rights. HH Sheikha Hissa bint Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum serves arsenic the Goodwill Ambassador for the Middle East region, supporting the initiative's ngo to foster creativity and advocacy among young authors. By empowering children to explicit their perspectives done storytelling, VoFG aims to animate a procreation of leaders dedicated to shaping a much sustainable and equitable future.

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