"The Rashid Paediatric Therapy Centre is a centre providing the basic activities of a school but with specialised therapy activities for children with special needs," says Mariam Othman, Director of the Centre.

"The Centre was established in 1994, some eight years ago, and we have been in the same building in the residential area of Jumeirah behind the Safa Park roundabout since the beginning.

"We are very fortunate that we have been able to raise the funds for a new Centre, which is nearing completion in the Al Barsha district of Dubai, on land which was donated to us by His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister.

"The Centre is a private charity and relies for its funding on members of the public, parents, businesses and various other sponsors.

"Shell has been an active supporter of the Centre since its inception and we have been receiving an annual donation from Shell to help us purchase equipment and other materials. In September, when we move to our new custom-built premises in Al Barsha, we will be able, thanks to funding from Shell, to establish a brand new department for the hearing impaired.

"Shell is sponsoring the equipment for this department and has promised to continue its support in the future to ensure that the department will be able to continue to function for the foreseeable future.

"The total cost of developing the new Centre is some 12 million dirhams and so far we have managed to raise eight million dirhams for the construction work that has taken place and a further million for equipment, furniture and other requirements.

"The new Centre has accommodation for teachers, which is very important as most of them are expatriate workers. It also has three workshops, a swimming pool, a gymnasium and, of course, classrooms.

"Many businesses in Dubai have contributed to the new Centre by giving us not just money but furniture, beds and other equipment which we need. However, we are still four million dirhams short of our target and on top of this we have to find two and a half million dirhams every year to maintain and finance the daily operation of the school for our 120 children.

"So I am grateful, not only to Shell for its support, but to all our sponsors, supporters, friends and family who have helped us to build our new Centre to improve the lives of our children 'for a better future'," concludes Mariam.