As summer activities multiplyMukalla prepares to host country’s second tourist festival [Archives:2005/859/Business & Economy]
Mahyoub Al-Kamaly
By the advent of July, the summer centers started in most Yemeni mosques and schools, however the movement toward the coastal areas progress slowly due to the deteriorating livening standards of families and the price hike in most of the basic commodities, which are believed to hinder the activities of the summer centers.
Meanwhile, Mukalla, the provincial capital of Hadramout is ready to host the country's second tourist festival scheduled to be held between July 14-30. The festival is aimed at exploiting all the facilities of the therapeutic tourism and the natural elements to boost the Yemeni tourism.
The religious activities got intensified numbering up to 1200 and attracting large numbers of learners.
On the other hand, there are several courses organized in the field of small industries, computer and the Internet.
Directed activities:
Sa'eed Hassan, a university student said such centers are equipped with computers and other appliances that serve learners to progress at a good rate in the courses. A learner is in urgent need for exploiting the summer vacation in the required way in order not to experience a state of mental leisure that has its negative effects on the family and the society.
Sa'eed commented that such summer activities are 100% directed and have their faults as well as some positive points. According to Sa'eed, the Ministry of Youths and Sports should cooperate with Education, Endowments, Culture and Tourism and Information ministries to set some solutions for the summer activities and keep them away from being dominated by political matters.
Abdulkarim Haumash, General Director of the Cultural Activities at the Ministry of Youths and Sports holds the view that this ministry has given a great priority to such centers. These centers provide a convenient shelter for youths who suffer from leisure time during the summer vacation.
Haumash confirmed that these centers enable youths both males and females to develop their capacities and increase their knowledge in various areas, either cultural, social or scientific ones.
For her part, Safa Mohammad al-Raimi, a university student stressed that these centers have become an official cover for the government since their people show their political and religious influences on their activities that target minds of the youths. They are educational activities that make generations deviate from any extremism-related culture.
Qasim al-Sabri, a teacher, said the summer centers should be well organized to feed the minds of youth in a proper way and help them in exploiting their leisure time.
Al-Sabri added: “we hope the official parties to support the summer activities with some profitable educational aids.
He recommends that the civil community organizations should have a hand in these activities in order to add to them some of the positive social features and help them offer a variety of different activities to make them more inclusive.
The summer centers, mainly the scientific ones seemingly absent due to their big cost, should cover most of the Yemeni governorates. The summer centers have to be well-prepared to offer course on computer, electricity and other scientific specializations.
Eesa Mohammad Abdullah, a student, is of the view that the summer centers should accommodate all the students, males and females and be accompanied by cultural and scientific contests, in addition to the arrangement of training courses on computer, Internet and other scientific majors.
Sometimes, families appear to be the major obstacle as they never motivate their children to join the summer centers due to the persistent need to engage them in other works.
Qais al-Shara'abi, a citizen, said that his economic conditions do not qualify him to activate minds of his children who live in the capital. He mentioned that if he wants to have a tour along with them in the coastal areas, this will cost him around YR250 thousand, a budget that can not be afforded by him to spent a week time in Hodeida, Mukalla or any other coastal city.
Students males and females believe the variation of the summer centers and their activities may give them a positive notion and increase their scientific acquisition.
Ali al-Sanabani, Director of Youth Care at Sana'a University explain that there are several activities scheduled to be implemented during the summer vacation. Such activities includes as many as 25 students who will receive training in some Arab universities in Egypt, Sudan and Syria in different majors.
These students have been selected in terms of superiority so as to avoid deviation from the goals specified by the Youth Care Management. This participation comes as part of encouraging the scientific creativity. In return, Sana'a University will receive 20 students from different Arab universities to get training in different companies and institutions.
The views taken from students seem to be contradictory and do not signify a feeling of the summer vacations, but the majority of them associate the summer activities to the abilities of their families to fund any field visits.
The country's second tourist festival scheduled to be held during the second half of July is the most distinctive among the other summer activities in Yemen due to its connection with an important natural feature that is the availability of cold seawater and the unique traditions practiced by locals in the area including the popular meals and sporting activities.
The Preparatory Committee of the Country's Second Tourist Festival decided in its Mukalla meeting chaired by Abdulqader Ali Hilal, Governor of Hadramout and Head of the Festival Program-designing Committee.
The program due to last for around 15 days will include sporting and cultural activities and popular dances. The event will include tourist promotion for the city of Mukalla and some of its attractive sights.
In a statement to Saba News Agency, the Governor of Hadramout declared he expects the festival to achieve a great success following a series of successes scored by the first tourism festival.
Dr. Salim Mubarak al-Awbathani, Head of the festival's Preparatory Committee mentioned that goals of the festival includes acquainting with the facilities of the therapeutic tourism in Mukalla and activating the economic life of the city through attracting visitors and tourists, in addition to recognizing the civilized heritage of Yemen.
The festival also aims to activate the sea sports and sporting medicine through exploiting the therapeutic features of the cold seawater in an area where seawater in summer is the coldest compared to other places in Yemen and the Arab world as well.
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