ATAA magazine celebrated the fifth anniversary since it was launched by issuing its twentieth issue at the end of September 2020. That was with the presence of a number of children who are friends to the magazine.
They came to its headquarters congratulating and expressing their love and constant following to the magazine and showing their eagerness to read every new piece of it.
The children came to ATAA Association headquarters in Istanbul and met with Mr. Abdul Rahman Al-Shardoub, the chief editor of the magazine, and Mrs. Ghada Matarmawi, the magazine’s administrative coordinator.
During that meeting, the children talked about the idea of its issuance, and they were introduced to the stages of preparing the magazine in addition to the activities done by the magazine.
“ATAA” magazine has been published on a quarterly basis since 2015 until today, and it is distributed to children residing in Turkey and the northern regions of Syria. Since its launch date, more than 750,000 copies of its twenty issues have been distributed.
Ghada Matarmawi indicated that the idea of issuing the magazine came out because of the difficult conditions that children are suffering from during the war; with the northern regions of Syria lacking any meaningful magazines, books, short stories or supporting educational materials that could educate them and get them to love reading. In addition to that, there was an urgent need to raise children well and instill educational and positive values in them, especially with the donors’ weak support in the direction of educational projects on behalf of the humanitarian and relief projects.
The magazine aims to contribute to the education of children and adolescents, to instill different knowledge and values in them, and to build the personality of a positive child who is open to society and linked to its history, civilization and language, a child who strives to love and to give.
Also it aims to develop the children’s education in various aspects of life through literary, scientific and visual knowledge and to provide them with creative and intellectual skills, and also to pay attention to the psychological aspect of the child by presenting his problems and discussing their causes in a smooth and age-appropriate manner, doing that by publishing interesting, entertaining and purposeful materials.
“Ataa” Magazine targets children from 5 to 13 years old, and it includes story pieces, fixed cultural and entertainment pieces and other pieces that vary from one issue to another; with the presence of key characters in the magazine, on top of which is “The Child Ataa”, who directs children in each story to adopt a specific value, and “Dua”, who provides a model for the diligent and creative girl, and “Yaqoot” who introduces the child to various information from history and geography, in addition to the humorous child “Kharbut”, a character who presents funny and humorous situations to instill a sense of humor in children.
Matarmawi noted that the magazine is keen in every issue to have many scientific and literary pieces and some general information with the aim of enriching the scientific stock of children, in a way that gives them the desire to study and to learn, and also to reveal their scientific and literary tendencies from a young age in order to contribute to the use and the development of their energies in the best possible way.
The magazine interacts with its children readers through the “ATAA Friends” corner, where children can publish their photos, drawings, and scientific and literary contributions.
In addition to a special corner titled “I want to be”, which deals in every issue with a talented child in a specific field to encourage children and motivate their parents to pay attention to their talents.
In each issue, the magazine devoted a special story that is presented to children in both Arabic and Turkish languages in order to promote the integration of Arab children residing in Turkey. In each issue, the magazine is keen to provide psychological and educational counseling to children through the corner “Wahat al-Huda”.
According to Matarmawi, “Ataa” magazine faces many difficulties, including the lack of funding, especially with the expansion of the geographical area and the increase in the target group, which requires an increased cost to print additional issues of the magazine.
It is worth mentioning that ATAA Humanitarian Relief Association pays special attention to the education and protection sectors since its establishment, and that’s why it has launched several projects directed at children living inside Syria and refugees residing in Turkey.
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