Sheikh plants the first online flag

ABU DHABI // Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak launched an online campaign on Tuesday to encourage half-a-million people to “plant” flags on a map of the UAE.

To mark UAE Flag Day, the Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development pinned the first flag. People are invited to take photographs of themselves and the UAE flag and upload them on to their location on a map on the website.

Sheikh Nahyan also raised the UAE flag on Tuesday at his ministry building, amid celebrations by schoolchildren and staff.

“Forty-four years ago, the founder of the United Arab Emirates, the late Father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, raised the flag of the United Arab Emirates as a symbol for the establishment of the United Arab Emirates,” Sheikh Nahyan said. “This great historical occasion cannot be forgotten in any way, especially as it now represents the official start to our yearly celebrations of the everlasting National Day of our dear and precious United Arab Emirates, to which we are grateful.”

Sheikh Nahyan thanked the nation’s leaders for “their sincere efforts and contributions”, which had established “welfare, security and safety, offering development, openness and prosperity, raising the name of the UAE high among other nations”.

Khulood Al Jabri, an artist at the ministry, was helped by four female undergraduates to create a 4 metre by 2 metre wall painting for Flag Day.

Ms Al Jabri said the project aimed to “portray the development of the UAE’s journey through history, as well as showcase the importance of the role of women in the past and present in building human capacity and community”.

Event organiser Hasina Saeed, 30, said: “We raised the flag with joy, surrounded by the people we care about and pride in the flag.” Ali Al Mehri, 21, a volunteer, said: “Anyone in the UAE is proud of this nation and proud of its celebrations.”

aalkhoori@thenational.ae