It has just undergone recent renovations, and now one Jordanian orphanage has received a rather regal guest. The King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein Orphanage in Al Salt welcomed HM Queen Rania Al Abdullah last week, as the royal dropped by to tour the reimagined facility.
Her Majesty supported renovation work on the orphanage, which currently hosts 12 girls between the ages of 4 and 15, in collaboration with Nashmi Center for Youth Empowerment. The project saw the facility’s bedrooms, common areas, washrooms, kitchen, and outdoor spaces upgraded, as well as modern accessories and fixtures installed.
However it wasn’t just the renovation work that Queen Rania made time to see, with the royal also spending time with the girls in the orphanage’s care. HM shared a video and images from the day with her 4.7 million Instagram followers, which show her tenderly embracing and chatting with the girls. Holding their hands, the royal was given a touching tour of the orphanage by its wards, and later joined them for hugs on the sofa as she spoke with the center’s staff. “Your smiles are priceless!” Queen Rania captioned one image, as she drew two young girls into her arms.
The Queen was welcomed by orphanage president, Sabri Al Masoud, director Rima Kloub, and founder of Nashmi Center, Ala’ Al Bashiti to the orphanage, which was founded in 1965 by the Jordan Red Crescent Society. This visit was not Queen Rania’s only recent philanthropic action either, with the royal last week announcing a new education-focused competition. The Queen Rania Foundation, which HM launched in 2013, is offering US $200,000 (SAR/AED 734,000) to three local start-ups that champion education in the region.
“The Queen Rania Foundation supports quality education that is fit for the region’s ambitions, but we know we cannot do this alone,” Her Majesty said in a statement. “Many of the learning challenges we face require the energy and innovative thinking of entrepreneurs in order to prepare our students for a world that is increasingly shaped by smart technologies, and address the learning losses refugees are facing. I hope this competition can help identify and encourage the kind of innovative approaches we desperately need today.”
Application are open until November 10 at startups.qrf.org.
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