reaching u

Reaching u (u concept’s CSR)

Nick and Delphine Watson are parents of a little boy called Rio. Rio is a child with severe special needs and attends school at Rashid Paediatric Therapy Centre, Dubai.

Their own personal experience and line of work inspired them to create “reaching u“, which was formed in 2006.

u concept’s mission for the “reaching u program” is to bring awareness of children with special needs to the community of the UAE. Also, to create a fun, positive, innovative concept to promote health and fitness for children with special needs while providing them with opportunities to gain new life skills and experiences, thus guiding them towards a more productive, healthier, independent, and enjoyable life!

u concept is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for children with special needs throughout the United Arab Emirates.

The 6 pillars of reaching u are:

• Integration
• Awareness
• Opportunity
• Experiences
• Health & Fitness
• FUN

Previously reaching u has organized the following programs and events:

PROGRAM 1
FREE Personal training for children and adults with special needs: Through generous personal sponsorships from our clients, u concept has been able to offer FREE personal training sessions to children and adults with special needs at the u concept centre.

PROGRAM 2:
Beach Blast: Integrated groups of kids, for fun exercise sessions on the beach:
Again, through generous donations, u concept was able to purchase six specialized floating wheelchairs for use on the beach and in the sea. With this, a FREE fun, beach group exercise program for kids (with and without special needs) was developed – to encourage integration, awareness and allowing children with special needs to “join in” and exercise.

EVENT 1
A free fun day for awareness of special needs:
We have now held this event annually for the last 4 years, at Jumeirah

Beach Park. A day full of fun activities, including – bouncy castles, obstacle courses, DJ, shows, playing games, face & henna painting, arts & crafts stalls, large format canvas painting, clowns etc…

The event is open to everyone, and aimed to encourage families that have children with special needs to bring their children along, as well as main stream children.

The purpose of the event was to bring awareness and integration of people with special needs to the community of Dubai. It is a “real” community day, where thousands of people attend – of different ages, genders, abilities, religions and nationalities – a “real” community having fun together!

We have been very honoured to have HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE, Ruler of Dubai as the Patron of all these events. Her HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein also attended this years event in March.

This is now an annual event.

EVENT 2
A sponsored team to climb Mount Kinabula:
On 9th June 2007, Nick lead a team of 12 people (including 2 Emiratis with special needs from Dubai Club for Special Sports) to climb and conquer Mount Kinabula in Malaysia (4,095m).
The purpose of this event was again to raise awareness and money to buy specialized buses for the children at Rashid Paediatric Therapy Centre.

For contact details of reaching u, please go to ‘u locations’ section!

This is only the beginning of reaching u!

… “its all about u!”