Sharjah: Many people who knew Ameera Bin Karam remember her for the tremendous work she has done to inspire Arab women in the region and support cancer patients around the country.
On Saturday, the Emirati businesswoman died of smoke inhalation after a fire broke out at her villa. Her mother and sister also died while her brother was rescued and moved to Al Qasimi Hospital. His condition is stated to be serious.
The news of her death came as a shock to those who worked with her, including those who knew her for the active roles she had taken in society.
Bin Karam was the chairperson of Sharjah Business Women Council since 2010 and the founding member and president of Friends of Cancer Patients (FOCP), a cancer society established in 1999. She was also the vice-chairperson of NAMA Women Advancement Establishment.
Bin Karam took up the role as director of the Pink Caravan, a pan-UAE breast cancer awareness initiative of the society, which has offered free breast cancer screenings to over 34,400 Emiratis and expatriates, including 7,873 men, over the past five years.
The 38-year-old entrepreneur was one of the founding members of the Sharjah Tatweer Forum, a forum that aims to contribute to the progress and the sustainable development of the emirate of Sharjah through enabling young leaders.
She was also elected a member of a number of committees, including the UAE Genetic Disease Association. She was also part of the Supreme Committee and the Assessment Jury of the Emirates Women Award.
Bin Karam was very focused on Arab women’s empowerment and leadership in the region and was a true ambassador for progressive values, focusing on a broad range of human, animal and environmental issues.
She supported a mission that would enable girls and young women to develop their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world.
She had also worked for Bin Karam group, a manufacturing-based group which she joined in 1997 as the human resources manager and was responsible for more than 2,000 employees.
Awards
Bin Karam had won Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH) and Shaikha Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum Excellence Award for her tremendous contribution to the fight against cancer in the UAE. She was honoured UAE’s ‘Humanitarian of the Year’ by the Arab Women Award.
Last post on Twitter
Bin Karam’s last post on social media was a retweet of a post Shaikha Jawaher Bint Mohammad Al Qasimi, wife of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, had posted announcing the Women Economic Empowerment Global Summit in Fall 2017.
Shaikha Jawaher had mourned the loss of Amerah Bin Karam on Saturday after the tragedy and expressed sadness in her official Twitter account.
Tributes poured in from around the country for Bin Karam. Many people paid condolences to the Bin Karam family.
