SCRF greets child vloggers, TV hosts

Arya Ajay Vyas, is a 12-year-old popular YouTuber with a channel called ‘Wish Big’. A student of Mayoor Private School in Dubai, she also credited for a blog. Taking the stage of the Creative Kids Café on day 2 of Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) 2019, Arya revealed how her passion for reading and creativity earned her the first prize at the Oxford UAE Read Competition, which was conducted to celebrate the Year of Reading.

Expressing her articles on the environment, urging everyone to quit smoking and writing about festivals and fitness, Arya is multilingual winning several elocution competitions in English, Arabic, French and Gujarati languages. While she spends a substantial time of her day reading, as part of her daily schedule, she has equally found love in playing chess and has won many accolades.

When asked who her source of inspiration was, she says, “Former President Abdul Kalam inspires me a lot. He loved children and when I saw him in my school, I felt I wanted to be like him. I also wanted to be famous and soon realised after getting a reasonable amount of likes on my YouTube channel, that people in my school now take me more seriously”.

Another child with outstanding abilities making headlines is 9-year-old Durar Arafat Marqab, who hosted a television programme last year. The programme named ‘Alam Modhesh’, on Sama Dubai TV won her a massive fan following. Apart from being creative on YouTube, she also enjoys swimming, acting and working in media.

While some gifted children have more advanced abilities than others, the takeaway from this session at SCRF was the inspiration these young achievers brought to the audiences by showing them the importance of chasing one’s dreams despite failures, through their own lives.

For social media aspirants in the audience who want to establish followership, the two young prodigies advised, mixing “unfailing efforts with the continuous eagerness to be creative.”  

SCRF is one of the most important cultural events dedicated to children in the UAE and greater Arab region.

It has gone beyond just a book exhibition and developed into an integrated event that contributes to enriching the knowledge of visitors with science and literature, while ensuring the participation of organisations and centres dedicated to children.