UAE lights up smiles on Peshawar school attack survivors

The brave heart survivors of one of the worst terrorist attacks in recent history finally found a reason to smile after a visit to the UAE to meet their real-life heroes.

Over 132 students from the Army Public School in Peshawar, who had borne witness to a terrible tragedy following the December 16, 2014 attack on its grounds, flew down to the UAE under the patronage of Sheikh Nahyan bin Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Nahyan.

Students from grades nine and 10 were hosted for the inauguration of the new Pakistan Super League (PSL) in the UAE, where they met some of their heroes such as the country’s Twenty20 captain, cricketer Shahid Afridi.

Organised by energy drink Moto, the students saw their hometown team, Peshawar Zalmi, play and win their first match of the tournament, against rivals Islamabad United.

Last Thursday, 146 survivors arrived at in Dubai, for a four-day trip to the UAE, with the youngsters also getting a chance to play against Afridi’s PSL team in a charity beach cricket match hosted at SkyDive Dubai.

Afridi said in a statement: “It means a lot to put a smile back on the faces of these kids.”

Mohammad Awada, CEO of Moto, said: “It is almost unimaginable to think about what these children have been through… wanted to help make this a memorable visit and we were more than happy to support such an exciting and worthwhile initiative.”

The students also took a trip to Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi.

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