Noor Boubyan awarded for its humanitarian work

Al-Mehri Thanks to Almighty Allah, and the Efforts of the Volunteer Campaign, We Have Successfully Restored the Eyesight of More Than 8,000 Persons in Africa 

The Noor Boubyan Initiative for eyesight-restoration operations in Africa has made a great achievement by earning the Award for the Best Social Humanitarian Initiative at the GCC level. The bank was honored during the ceremony held recently on this occasion in the Sultanate of Oman, and the award has been received on behalf of the bank by Mr. Abdullah Al-Mehri, the Acting Chief Operations Officer.
Al-Mehri stated: “Noor Boubyan succeeded over the past three years in restoring the eyesight of more than 8,000 persons in a number of African countries through the launched campaigns in cooperation with a number of Kuwaiti doctors along with some of the bank’s volunteers and some of the entities that cooperated with the bank.”  
“The initiative, which is organized annually by the bank in cooperation with the International Islamic Charitable Organization and Al-Darayn Volunteer Team, succeeded, thanks to Almighty Allah, in giving hope back to thousands of those who lost their eyesight. It also supported them in their lives as by restoring their eyesight, they managed to continue their lives normally.”, Al-Mehri Added. 
Boubyan Bank was recognized in a grand ceremony during the fifth meeting’s celebration of the GCC Council of Ministers of Labor hosted by the Sultanate of Oman last week in the presence of the representatives of the State of Kuwait, H.E. Ms. Mariam Al-Aqeel, Minister of State for Economic Affairs, H.E. Mr. Saad Al Kharaz, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, and Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Shuaib, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

Noor Boubyan

The Noor Boubyan initiative was launched for the first time in 2016 as an idea by Mr. Adel Al-Majed, the Vice-Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of the bank, who urged the Corporate Communications Division to look for an initiative that could enable the bank to undertake its humanitarian role outside the State of Kuwait.
In this context, Al-Mehri elaborated: “This initiative does not only represent mere surgeries performed by physicians, rather, it is about bringing hope back to many people whose lives were fully changed after they had restored their eyesight as they became capable of helping their families; many of those lost their jobs after they had become visually-impaired due to cataracts, the very thing whose cure is targeted by the campaign.”
He added: “The most painful truth about this initiative is that each operation costs no more than USD 100; in other words, millions of lives around the world are reliant on the availability of this amount which is, unfortunately, an obstacle in light of the poverty of those people.”

Noor Boubyan IV 

On the other hand, Al-Mehri added: “The 4th Noor Boubyan campaign will be launched in the Niger next December and will extend over one week where we will be performing eyesight restoration operations along with making check-ups in some villages and dispensing medicines which will be donated ahead of the campaign to protect others from cataracts.”
Six specialist Kuwaiti doctors will be participating in the campaign along with a number of volunteers from the bank’s staff and the International Islamic Charitable Organization and Al-Darayn Volunteer Team.

Nature of the Kuwaiti People  

Al-Mehri explained that this initiative could not be separated from an established truth known for everyone, namely, the good nature of the Kuwaiti people, who have been known over the years for their charitable activities and donations that reached many corners of the world, acting as an ambassador to the world that has always been recognizing Kuwait as a giving nation. 
He added: “It is worth-mentioning here that this could be the first initiative of its kind to be fully undertaken by a Kuwaiti bank hand in hand with the competent entities. At Boubyan, we take pride in this fact.” 
“The goal of this initiative is not merely performing this number of operations which is - by the way- a small part of the number of operations needed to treat cataracts around the world, however, our goal is to highlight the importance of people’s cooperation around the world to put an end to cataracts since millions of people suffer from cataracts in Africa and Asia.”, he stated.
Al-Mehri thanked all those involved in this initiative over the past years including the International Islamic Charitable Organization, Al-Darayn Volunteer Team, and the Kuwaiti doctors who dedicated their time to the service of humanity side by side with the young volunteers from the bank, and social media influencers who volunteered in the campaign.