Ambassadors chosen to represent and promote Dubai’s Expo 2020 bid believe that winning will boost the region’s economy, present multiple work opportunities, offer new levels of innovation and make it one of the world’s top cities.
“We as residents will be able to take part in an amazing event and people will experience many cultures. Also, 2021 will be the 50th birthday of the UAE, making the Expo even more special,” says 15-year-old George Zacharia, the youngest bid ambassador.
A student at Our Own English High School, Sharjah, Zacharia is among the 11 finalists selected by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to become ambassador after winning a competition lodged on the Expo 2020 website. The public was encouraged to submit poems, essays, paintings, photographs and short films explaining why the Expo should be held in the UAE. Zacharia’s entry in the under-18 art category was inspired after visiting Burj Khalifa’s viewing platform.
A short film by 20-year-old Sara Al Boom featuring the myriad nationalities of people in the UAE won her the ambassadorship. She spent four weeks filming people despite the intense heat of Ramadan last year. And the Emirati journalism student from the Mohammed Bin Rashid School for Communication at the American University of Dubai is no stranger to diversity.
“I remember in school I would be the only UAE national in a classroom. The diversity helped me understand that though each country has a community within this city, Dubai is your home no matter where you are from,” says Al Boom.
A colourful painting depicting Dubai’s ethnic mix won Khwala Darwish her position as a bid ambassador. “The main figure in the painting comes from Majid, an old Arabic comic magazine. The figure is in silhouette and all the other characters represent the different nationalities in Dubai living in harmony,” she says.
Although different from her current work, which includes research on subjects such as the human body’s cardiovascular system, Darwish feels the Expo’s focus should be on Dubai’s cultural diversity. “The UAE is the first Middle Eastern country that has ever applied and this win will be great for the entire region,” she adds.
Raising awareness about the bid has been particularly successful among young people because of social media. Zacharia has worked tirelessly to promote the bid through social media, verbal presentations at schools and at events across the UAE, as well as by writing articles on the subject. “I also created an online presentation (http://goo.gl/WZZdGs) that gives you an idea of Dubai Expo 2020,” he says.
The ambassadors take part in events around the UAE when possible. These have included supporting the green platform Goumbook’s tree planting programme, Give A Ghaf, attending an iftar for labourers organised by Navabavana Global Youth (a non-profit, non-government organisation based in Kerala, India) to celebrate the Zayed Humanitarian Day, and the opening of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s new sustainable building in Al Quoz.
“Mostly we attend events that have been influenced by the Expo’s core sub-themes — mobility, sustainability and opportunity,” says Al Boom, adding: “About 277,000 jobs are being offered in the region if we host the Expo. I really hope we win it.”
