SGI-Gulf Hosts Third Edition of “The Poetic Heart” at Dubai Knowledge Village

Soka Gakkai International Gulf (SGI-Gulf) in partnership with the education cluster of TECOM - Dubai Knowledge Village and Dubai International Academic City - successfully hosted the third edition of  “The Poetic Heart: Connecting Humanity” today.

  

Held at the Knowledge Village auditorium from 10:30am to 5:00pm, “The Poetic Heart” - a poetry symposium bringing together eminent poets to promote harmony, understanding, and peace - saw students from some of the most distinguished schools in the UAE, as well as well-known poets from around the world recite their inspiring poems.

Speaking about the initiative, Dr. Akash Keiji Ouchi, SGI Representative for South Asia and the Middle East, said: “The Poetic Heart is not just a poetry recitation session, but our expression to reach out and connect while reminding ourselves of the core values of peace, harmony, justice and peace. In today’s obdurately self-centric existence, this event is a gentle reminder to keep the poet within alive – nurturing values of righteousness, courage, altruism and optimism.”

 

The event witnessed a distinguished gathering of well renowned poets who shared their poetic masterpieces on topics such as world peace, harmony, justice and protection of the environment. The poets included: Shaikha Al Mutairi, Ali Al Shaali, Geeta Chabbra, Talal Salim Al Sabiri, Rad Aman, Nimah Nawwab, Dr. Shihab Ghanem, Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, Silvana Salmanpour, Ali Khalil Al Alsayegh, Dr. Sethu Kumanan, Dr. Abdul Hakeem Alzubaidi, Purnima Verman, Dr. Qais Ghanem, Kailash C. Mathur, Dr. Akram Jamil Konbos, Dr. K. Satchidanandan, Dr. Manfred Malzahn, Prof. Francesca Corrao, and Dr. Hassan Elmrani.

The agenda of the event involved poem recitation by 20 poets as well as budding poets from schools across UAE selected by a panel of poets. Special Guests of Honour included: Dr. Ayoub Kazim, Managing Director of TECOM Investments Education Cluster. In addition, youth from educational institutes across UAE and Japan as well as highly esteemed dignitaries from SGI Gulf such as, Dr. Akash Keiji Ouchi – SGI Representative for South Asia and the Middle East; and Mr. Rakesh Tharoor – General Director, SGI-Gulf were also present.

Ms. Geeta Chhabra, a poetic genius for the last 20 years with translated works in Arabic, said: “The event this year has gone extremely well and has evolved much better compared to last year. The Poetic Heart: Connecting Humanity is moving in the most purposeful direction. SGI icon, Dr. Daisaku Ikeda is a peace icon and when you have people of that stature supporting an event like this, people will definitely come forward to attend. I have loved the event and have great respect for the organisers.”

“In today’s world, poetry is important and should have substantial importance. Technology advancement is crucial, no doubt. However with this changing world, nothing seems to be stress free. From my own example I can say when I write poetry it is something like divine therapy for me. The Poetic Heart is certainly doing that. This event helps the in-flow of inner emotions. Children when encouraged will shape their world through poems. This will enable them to connect better with the outside world.”

Poems were recited in a plethora of languages such as Arabic, Italian, French, German, Malayalam, Urdu, English, Persian, Tamil, and Japanese.

Some of the poems that were recited during the event included:  “My Mother” By the renowned Emirati Poet Shihab Ghanem. “World of Glory” by Abdul Hakeem Alzubaidi and “VOLTI di DONNE” by Italian Poet Prof. Francesca M. Corrao.

Speaking about the event, Dr. Ayoub Kazim, Managing Director, TECOM Investments Education Cluster, which consists of Dubai Knowledge Village and Dubai International Academic City, said: “We are thrilled to offer our support for this event. We strongly believe such initiatives are important as they uphold the rich tradition of poetry and generate enthusiasm in the younger generation – this ties back to our efforts towards stimulating talent, knowledge and intellect for the overall development of society and the nation.”

Apart from the enriching and thought-provoking poems which also included youthful creations by students, the audiences witnessed enthralling performances from distinguished world music artists such as Nestor Torres, a Grammy winning flutist from Miami; Benny Prasad, a guitarist from India and Kamal Mussalam, an exceptional Oud player from Jordan.

A wonderful initiative to bring poets from different nationalities and languages together in an endeavor to promote harmony, understanding, and peace; The Poetic Heart is an annual event. The initiative, apart from bringing together world-renowned poets, aims at encouraging, fostering and inspiring young poets from school and colleges across the region by providing them with a platform to share their poetry alongside established poets.