Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), through its ‘School of Life’ project, is presenting a programme rich in knowledge and interactions next December under the theme ‘The Great Outdoors,’ aimed at building creativity and life skills for citizens and residents across the Dubai Public Library network.

The desert is an influential element in the local culture, as it constitutes the largest area in our geography, so it has received the lion’s share of attention in the educational sessions offered from 6th to 18th December to illuminate the importance of the desert and the special skills required to live in it. Desert safari is one of the most popular outdoor entertainment in Dubai.

The desert is an important tourist area in Dubai, and ‘Safari tourism’ plays an important role in giving people a unique opportunity to discover the desert and its natural beauty. The ‘School of Life’ sessions will be hosted by Al Safa Art and Design Library, followed by similar sessions in Al Twar and Hor Al Anz libraries.

Each session in the programme sheds light on a set of skills that camping and safari enthusiasts need, and offers them different methods to help them navigate and survive the desert as well as learn ways to build tents simply and inexpensively.

Despite the natural beauty of the desert, it remains a vast place in which it is easy to get lost. It can require possession of a set of certain skills, which are provided by the ‘Building Your Survival Kit’ session. These tools enable them to survive in the sand dunes, while in the ‘Navigating in the Desert’ session, they learn about signs and instruments that help them, in case they were lost, to communicate with anyone in the desert, and show them how to distinguish visual and audible signals and use them to speed up rescue operations.

The desert in Dubai is not barren, but rather a vibrant area, especially in the winter, when it turns into a destination for families to spend some time camping. In the ‘Scavenger Hunt’ session, the ‘School of Life’ project present ways and games that families can play in the desert to activate the language of communication between their members.

All the knowledge-based and interactive ‘School of Life’ activities, supervised by a group of experts, reflect the commitment of Dubai Culture to providing an innovative educational environment across the Dubai Public Library network, in an effort to develop and refine the skills of society, and to adopt positive thinking as a basic value. The project is in line with the Authority’s vision of cementing Dubai’s position as a global centre for culture, an incubator for creativity and a thriving hub for talent.