BONITA SPRINGS, Florida, Feb 28, (KUNA): The National Union of Kuwaiti Students (NUKS) USA Branch organized a two-day festival, entitled ‘Olgun Festival’, for the Kuwaiti students to celebrate their country’s 49th National Day and 19th Liberation Day.
Many students from across the US, despite the bad weather in some states, turned up for this festival to express their joy and celebrate these occasions in a festival that was filled with many activities and events.
During the opening ceremony Saturday evening, Counselor at the Kuwaiti Embassy in Washington Reem Al-Khaled delivered a speech on behalf of Ambassador Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah during which she extended, on behalf of the students, congratulations to the Kuwaiti leadership and wished Kuwait security and further development and prosperity.
In the speech, the counselor also praised the efforts exerted by the chairman and members of the union for organizing this great festival, which reflects the desire of the union for “further development and give a variety of the services and programs offered to the students.”
She noted that the title of the festival also reflects Kuwait’s beautiful history as it is the core of the most important trade “on which our state relied, which is the pearl trade that was the only source of income for the Kuwaitis then.”
She recalled the speech His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah delivered on the occasion of the last ten days of the holy month of Ramadan, part of which emphasized the means to maintain national unity.
She continued that “citizenship is about a close relationship between the individual and the country, it is about duties jointly assumed by the state and the citizen in building the nation.”
 She added that “true citizenship, which we ought to adhere to, is based on three core and crucial elements to consolidate the pillars of our national unity.”
She indicated that the first pillar is to have the feeling that the citizen is an “essential and active element in building the society and the state,” while the second pillar is an “enduring partnership between the citizen and the state,” and finally is that the “responsibilities of the citizen are doubled in tightening the conscious in the service of his country.”
She called on the students to pursue their studies and get the highest degrees to return home, where they are needed, and also called on them to respect the American laws especially those related to the residence and immigration.
Al-Khaled affirmed that the doors of the Embassy, General Consulate and the two Cultural Offices are always open to serve the students and to remove any difficulties they might encounter.
She praised NUKS for providing “an active channel to interact with the students if they face any problems or an emergency.”