Advocating the Rights of Children (ARC) has hosted a 2nd HEAL Festival from 1-2 March 2013, at Iskandhar School. The purpose of this festival is to provide children with simple tools to help eat better, get more active and be healthy. This was achieved through fun and educational games, aimed at different age groups, under each message of the HEAL Campaign: Eat a Rainbow, Rethink Your Drink, Dunk the Junk, Snack Smart, Unplug and Play. Children were encouraged to play atleast one game under each message to participate in the Lucky Draw, where 7 winners were chosen each day.

Over 800 children and 700 adults attended this two-day event. The highlight of the festival was the launching of the The Colourful Companionship of Casey Cabbage-the first of the five of the HEAL storybook series- by the famous Maldivian artiste, Unoosha (Kiddy dhahtha).

ARC extends its sincere appreciation to Mauritius Commercial Bank for being the main partner for HEAL Campaign, to the associate partners Seagull Foods and Silver Sands and also Iskandhar School, STO, Music World, M.U. Store, Madiha Fresh and Cafe Alfresco for their contributions. The success of this festival was also largely due to the support and cooperation received from the following associations in spreading the message of Unplug and Play: Table Tennis Assocation of Maldives, Badminton Association of Maldives, Maldives Chess Federation, Carrom Association of Maldives, Maldives Basketball Association, T-Rex Basketball Club, New Radiant Sports Academy, Athletics Association of Maldives, HEAT and The Body Club.

This event would also not have been possible without the generous support from volunteers of Maldives National University, Care Society, Hulhumale Preschool, Madharasathul Falaah, and Zaailing Preschool, and mostly, all ARC volunteers who most generously gave their valuable time and effort to make sure the festival was a success and the children had a good time.

More information regarding the HEAL Campaign may be found at www.arc.org.mv/heal.