Fatima Muhammad and Samar Yahya

 

JEDDAH — Princess Adela Bint Abdullah attended the Saudi Girl Guides Day held at the Scouts headquarters in Jeddah Saturday evening.



“I am pleased to attend the Girl Guides Day under the slogan ‘Safe Girl … Safe Community’, which aims to spread the concept of safety in society through girls who will bring up generations by giving them the needed skills to deal with domestic violence,” Princess Adela said delivering her speech.



She expressed her hope to continue expanding the scope of work in the future and praised the steps taken that led to a significant increase in the numbers of girl guides.



Other speakers highlighted the success story of the girl guides in Saudi Arabia.



Prominent women who addressed the ceremony included Maha Fitaihi, President of the Saudi Girl Guides; Maha Almuneef, President of the Family Safety Program; Ghada Ghaznawi and Faiqa Ameen.



Princess Adela highlighted the importance of promoting social volunteering as a culture entrenched in the hearts of all citizens. She recalled, in particular, the outstanding performance of Saudi volunteers during the Jeddah flood disasters of November 2009 and January 2011.



The event featured an operetta presented by the guides and documentaries on workshops done by brownies and guides prior to the celebrations.



Troop leaders were named and outstanding brownies and guides were honored at the event.



Fitaihi expressed her sincere thanks to Princess Adela for her sponsorship of the ceremony and for her continuous support to the cause.



Fitaihi said the number of girl guides at the end of 2012 reached 514 brownies and guides against 80 in 2010, while the number of leaders was 71 compared to only 11 in 2010.



She said the organization’s vision is to make the Saudi girl a living and active example of a tender humanitarian with an Islamic and national identity who has become confident, through life-skills training and team work, to shoulder responsibilities and command respect of others.