KUWAIT CITY, Dec 26: At its 9th annual Al Mass Awards Burgan Bank honored 10 special needs individuals for their accomplishments. The gala awards ceremony which was held at the Discovery Center, reiterates Burgan Bank’s commitment towards its corporate social responsibility through empowering the community of special needs. Commenting on the winners’ accomplishment Acting Chief Marketing Officer Bashir Jaber said, “These winners are an inspiration and an example to the society that nothing is impossible to achieve. Despite their disabilities they have achieved so much success.” Burgan Bank’s Al Mass Awards which is held every year in the month of December, honors outstanding individuals for their success and achievements despite their dissabilities. For the first time this year, Burgan Bank also honored two organizations for producing the highest number of winners for the past three years.

Ten outstanding individuals were presented awards in three categories — the Blue diamond award for those with a cognitive or mental disability; the Yellow diamond award for those with physical disabilities; and the White diamond award, for those with a sensory disability such as deaf, mute and blind individuals.
This year’s winners in the Blue Diamond category were: Jawaher Ibrahim Mubarak Al-Arfaj, Abdullah Kahled Haroon Al Saleh and Lulwa Mohammed Abdullah Al-Sharrah. Jawaher works as a supervisor in a production unit dedicated for girls, She was given the Al Mass Award for her dedication and excellence in hand embroidery and handcrafted works and painting on the glass. Abdullah who is an autistic has a gifted memory. Despite his disabilities he reads, writes, does science and math and is also very artistic. He is credited for memorizing 40 Japanese words and has won the first place in memorizing the Holy Quran at the annual His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah Contest. Lulwa is an artist as well who draws and paints. Despite suffering from Downs Syndrome, Lulwa has won awards for memorizing the Holy Quran and recently won at the 1st Annual Child Conference 2010 held under the motto “I am little young, but my achievement is big”. She studies at the Dasman Model School and has participated at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

There were four winners in the Yellow Diamond category. Nouf Dhae’n Essa is a talented accessories maker and also plays tennis, while, Fahad Raja Ebniyan Al Muwaizery is a talented in poetry writing. The yellow diamond category winners are well known for their sports contribution despite their disabilities. The other two winners, Abdullah Saad Abdulwahab Saad Al-Saleh and Nizar Ramadan Ahmed Mohammed have both been brilliant in sports. Nizar works for the Public Authority for Youth & Sport and was awarded the Al Mass Award for his overall achievement in sports. He continues to be a player in the basketball team on wheel chairs. He also delivers lectures about the people with special needs.
Meanwhile, the three winners in the White Diamond category were Meshal Fahd Ghali Al-Aazmi, Meteb Hamed Marzouk Al-Fadhli and Mohammed Walid Alteeq Al Majed. Meshal, visually impaired works as a teacher and can recite the Holy Quran. While both Meteb and Mohammed who are also visually impaired are talented keyboard players.
The two associations honored this year were: Kuwait Handicapped Sports Club and Kuwait Blind Association.
Al Mass; the diamond, signifies qualities of brilliance, purity and endurance. The Al Mass Awards recognizes the special needs of individuals through their patience, strength and determination to overcome life’s challenges. The Al Mass Awards continues to support and reflect upon their outstanding achievements and has been doing so for the last 8 years.