The city that cares

As the sun rises on another brilliant and beautiful day in the UAE with its clear azure skies and occasional snow-white cloud puffs, residents and visitors alike stretch and get out of bed to speed through another day in this 21st century destination country. Alive, vital, dynamic, fascinating and surreal are adjectives that are often used to describe the UAE.

The UAE has justifiably managed to carve a very special place for itself in the sun - whether it be in the field of tourism, academia, ICT, media, retail, entertainment, sport or charity, the country has made impressive strides in all areas. One of the most significant achievements for a country this young has been its humanitarian initiatives. The roll-call of charitable initiatives pioneered in recent times is strong enough to make even many large developed countries feel a twinge of envy. In a remarkably short span of less than a decade, the UAE has managed to reachout with awesome generosity to the less privileged in a world still rocked by inequality and violence.

Friday offers a bouquet of stories that highlight people and organisations in the UAE who have taken on this humane responsibility. These stories are a testimony to the power the UAE is harnessing so admirably - the human ability to transform lives.

Dubai puts giving first

When His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the establishment of the Dubai Cares initiative in September 2007, it marked a milestone in the country's development.

Today, just three years later, Dubai Cares has established its reputation the world over. "The goal set for Dubai Cares was to provide primary education to one million children but we are proud to announce that today, Dubai Cares is reaching over five million beneficiaries in 24 countries," says Tarek Al Gurg, the CEO of Dubai Cares, speaking exclusively to Friday.

The WASH Programme

He says that one of the key initiatives of Dubai Cares that has positively impacted local communities include the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Programme in Mali and Sierra Leone, to which Dubai Cares has allocated $18 million (more than Dh66 million) to provide better access and improve the quality of education to over 1.7 million children in these countries.

Dubai Cares also supports a de-worming programme in Gaza and the West Bank. In Bangladesh, Dubai Cares is working with its partners, Save the Children, in implementing a comprehensive education programme that will include the renovation and construction of 1,500 national field primary schools, the training of 4,500 teachers to conduct development-oriented activities, that promote participatory learning and educating 150,000 parents on child development issues, through media campaigns - the entire programme aims to provide cost-effective, quality education to 75,000 out-of-school children, per year.

Dubai Cares is currently involved in establishing 53 primary schools in Yemen that will benefit about 10,000 boys and girls.

Dubai Cares is also working in five selected districts of the southern Punjab province of Pakistan to improve girls' access to education, increase enrolment, reduce dropout rates and improve learning conditions. "This programme is an ongoing three-year initiative and will eventually benefit 8,000 children, 300 teachers and 150,000 community members," says Al Gurg. "As a strategic coordinator actively engaged with international aid, development agencies and private corporations, Dubai Cares is contributing to shaping the global education agenda and to contribute in a meaningful way to achieve, by 2015, United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2 and 3 (to guarantee universal primary education and to promote gender equality respectively). We are also contributing to UN MDG 8, which entails developing a global partnership for development that can better coordinate and make assistance more effective."

Mercy mission

In a world of conflict and uncertainties, it is perhaps a panacea for those in distress to simply know they have somewhere to turn when all other hope fades.

The Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (PCRF) is one such not-for-profit organisation that carries out relief work in the troubled Palestinian/Israeli conflict zone.

The main objective of the PCRF, first established internationally in 1991 as a non-political, not-for-profit organisation by a group of concerned people in the United States, is to address the medical and humanitarian crises facing Palestinian youth in the Middle East.

Speaking to Friday, Rama Chakaki, the national coordinator of the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund, working closely with the UAE chapter of the PCRF, says the main objectives of the PCRF UAE Chapter are to raise awareness on the humanitarian situation and its impact on the children in Palestine and other Arab countries where children have little or no access to much-needed medical care.

"We have provided significant medical care to 48 patients in the UAE, and served hundreds more through UAE supported medical missions." Using a modest yearly budget, the PCRF has been able to provide millions of dollars worth of specialised treatment and care for thousands of sick and injured children in need each year.

Special skills for special people

As we meander through our daily lives, ranting and raving about some petty irritation that has spoilt our day, we perhaps forget to take a moment and consider the lives of those differently abled, whose daily lives might just be a quest for answers to more real issues.

Many times we may find they lead far more meaningful lives, trying to overcome their disabilities and reach beyond their grasp, with a smile and quiet resolve, which can be at once stunning and humbling.

Dubai, with its tall spires and man-made marvels, and its race to be the best, has always remembered to take along rather than leave behind its special needs children and young adults.

One such initiative, Al Noor Training Centre For Children With Special Needs (ANTCCSN) opened its doors in Dubai on November 21 1981, starting with just eight children. Today the school's new, purpose-built facility in Al Barsha can accommodate and cater to 260 children, with the capacity to accommodate up to 300 children. ANTCCSN's students are of 24 nationalities. According to Al Noor's Director, Isphana Al Khateeb, the centre serves children with autism, Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, and multiple other challenges including physical and cognitive disabilities.

"Being based in Dubai has had many advantages. The city has grown radically and provides a dynamic culture placing demands on all sectors to rise to its ever expanding needs. So also we have grown organically along with the city rising to its growing need for professional services to the special needs population.".

Tender loving care where needed most

It is not every day that one hears a story of a child abandoned or dumped over the wall into a compound, and abandoned. No, it is not every day, and it is certainly not everywhere that such terrible things happen to those so young, they are barely even aware of the world they live in.

But far removed from our cognisance and realisation, at the heart of Africa's Sierra Leone, children are battling the scourge of poverty, illiteracy, disease and deprivation at unimaginable levels. Ravaged by drought and natural disasters, as much as by human conflict, the plight of the people in this land, and especially its smallest inhabitants got to Deanna Wallace, today All As One (AAO's) executive director, and a young mother, who started AAO as an initiative to respond to the critical dilemma of young adults and children who are orphaned, abandoned, abused, disabled or destitute, and who have an urgent need for food, housing, education and medical support. AAO operates the All As One Children's Centre, medical clinic and school in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Dubai branch helps garner funds and relief supplies for the Children's Centre.

Geraldine Mitchell, director of operations at AAO Dubai says, "Funds come mainly from supporters who have known All As One for a long time and continue to be involved in its work." All praise for the altruism of the people of Dubai, Mitchell says "We have been able to literally save the lives of many children thanks to our supporters in Dubai."

Relief potential

In Dubai, one is used to hearing about the biggest man-made waterfall, the largest mall, the tallest tower, and a myriad other attractions that establish records of different kinds, most of which have gained for it the response of an envious world that the city is just so progressive.

So when Shaikh Mohammad decreed the establishment of the Dubai Aid and Humanitarian City, which later became the International Humanitarian City (IHC), the response was palpable.

Within a short time, the IHC has more than fulfilled its promise, helping to take aid and relief to those most in need at the time of natural calamities or conflict, its geographical position at the centre of the world being a strategic advantage.

According to IHC's CEO, Makiya Al Hajiri, the International Humanitarian City (IHC) is an independent free zone authority mandated by the Government of Dubai, established under the directives of Shaikh Mohammad in March 2007.

His wife and the UN's Messenger of Peace, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussain, is the IHC's Chairperson.

Leveraging the proven Dubai free zone model, IHC brings together United Nations agencies, local, regional and international non-profit organisations, commercial companies and other stakeholders to serve as a unique humanitarian hub.

Charity begins at home

The Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation (MBRCF) was set up in February 1997 by decree. Its main objective is to carry out charitable and humanitarian work and to help the poor, the sick, widows, orphans and the needy in the UAE as well as in any part of the world, says Saleh Zaher Al Mazroui, acting director of the Foundation, who has just returned after disbursing relief supplies to the victims of the Haitian earthquake.

He said the activities within the UAE were aimed at both national and expatriate residents. With Emiratis it focused on garnering aid for those not eligible for the Marriage Fund aid or housing subsidies, helping with rental and living costs, for those unable to afford it, as well as treatment in hospitals, while for expatriates the aid was mainly to pay tuition fees to those expats who could not finance these due to financial difficulties, as per the School Fees Project, and also facilitating treatment in hospitals.

Al Mazroui says that internationally, the Foundation helps Palestinians with a family aid programme, providing cash assistance to some 2,500 families in Gaza and Hebron.