Ooredoo Launches 'Play for Dreams' Online Portal

Doha, July 08 (QNA) - Ooredoo has launched 'Play for Dreams' (www.playfordreams.com) an online portal dedicated to creating, capturing and continuing the moments that enrich people's lives. The portal will be developed to store and feature future examples where Ooredoo has helped to make dreams come true and to stimulate human growth with a number of proposed initiatives which will be announced later this year, the Qatari telecom company said Monday. Ooredoo, previously known as Qatar Telecom, launched the portal with a series of short films, capturing the moment when it teamed up with the Leo Messi Foundation to bring dreams to life for a special group of children from across the globe. Nineteen children arrived in Doha to meet their football idol, Messi, and Ooredoo caught their initial surprise and experiences on video before, during and after their meetings, to ensure these were more than just once-in-a-lifetime moments but experiences to last forever. These short films are now being posted online for the first time. "Ooredoo Chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani said, "Human growth in the communities in which we operate is the cornerstone of our new global brand. Young people should be given life chances to learn and find purpose in their lives to have the opportunity to grow and to fulfil their potential. Making dreams come true for these young children is one small but important part of bringing this vision to life. "Football is a shared passion that unites youth in all countries where Ooredoo operates. Messi is the role model to inspire and enrich young people to make the most of their life's chances. With Messi on board, we recognised the opportunity we had to bring these children's dreams to life and now with 'Play for Dreams' we want to show that we are committed to making this happen, today, tomorrow and continuing into the future." Among the children to visit Qatar was Ali, an Iraqi, who recently played Messi in a short film showcased at the Dubai International Film Festival and at Cannes. The film depicts Ali's dreams to become a professional footballer, but he is told to stop due to a physical disability. Like many Iraqi children, Ali was affected by the country's recent years of instability and now only has one leg. "Meeting Messi will be a dream come true," Ali said before meeting the Argentina and Barcelona star at the event. Another child Salha was happy to learn she had an opportunity to meet with her hero. When bulldozers came to demolish her family home over a year ago, Salha turned to her imagination and authored a now award winning short story that outlined a dream in which she travelled with her flying lamb 'Hantoush' to Spain to play with Messi. After travelling back with her to help clear the land mines on her favourite football field in Palestine, she was offered a permanent place on his 'dream team' but had to refuse due to her responsibilities at home. Salha's father is serving a life sentence in prison and at the age of 15, she takes responsibility of the family. "I wrote the story because it is my biggest dream to meet Messi," she said. "I never thought it would come true. I'm so grateful that it has." Ali and Salha were two among the 19 children invited to Qatar. Among the other children to visit Qatar, Walid (Bizerte, Tunisia), Abdelmoumene (Algeria), Shalhan (Maldives), Emir and Zola (Indonesia), Hawre (Iraq), Mohammed (Oman) and Salman (Kuwait) all had similar dreams and fascinating backgrounds. 'Play for Dreams' will be regularly updated to tell each of their respective stories. Speaking about the initiative Messi said, "I want to encourage children across the world to be positive and to live for the future. I'm always glad to make a difference in communities and my Foundation helps me to do that, especially when it helps bring smiles to the faces of children. "They have the most vivid imaginations and dreams, but only on rare occasions do these dreams come true working with Ooredoo, I am delighted to be a part of something that can help make this happen." (END)