A new culture

In a city as diverse and cosmopolitan as Dubai, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding provides an opportunity to visitors and residents to experience the blend of cultural heritage and modernism that exists in Dubai today. Abdullah bin Eisa Al Serkal, the director of the Centre, is a man with a mission. His aim is to bridge the gap that exists between the expats and the locals. He hopes to improve the understanding of other nationalities by helping them understand the local culture.

"We are in a unique situation where more than 70 per cent of the people in our country are expats and it is our duty and their right to know about this culture and if we are not able to provide them with the information they need in a relaxed and simple manner then they will never have an opportunity to know about this life," says Serkal.

Many expats in Dubai are curious to understand the local culture and meet the locals, an opportunity that is provided by the Centre. "There are many misconceptions about the life of the locals and the Centre offers a place to make friends and to generate respect for each other's cultures and religions," says Serkal.

Serkal, a business administration graduate from the U.S., said he had a broad-minded upbringing. Serkal's father loved travelling, while attending exhibitions and conferences around the world, he took his son with him and thus encouraged a way of life which generated an open-minded and responsive thought process in the mind of young Serkal.

During his stay in the U.S., Serkal was always asked about the Islamic culture and the Arabic way of life by his student friends and later by people whom he did business with. He had perfected the art of explaining the Arabic way of life to expats and in his heart he was seeking an outlet of reaching out to the assorted mix of nationalities in Dubai.

He received an opportunity at the Centre and it all started with the Dubai Shopping Festival, where it was felt that there should be some kind of a programme in Dubai which would give cultural information to the visitors.

The first programme of the Centre started in 1995 and in 1999 Channel 33 gave them the opportunity to showcase their thoughts and the talk show programme Open Doors, Open Minds was started on a weekly basis.

The talk show provides a platform for different nationalities to share their problems. Social problems are the same all over the world and if they are addressed properly it leads to a harmonious and balanced society.

"I have observed that there are many expats who have spent more than 20 years in Dubai, thus a generation has been born and brought up in the UAE. When a teenager is raised here as an English or American expat his situation is very different from his peer group back in his homeland. His problems are unique and we all feel a need to talk about it," says Serkal.

This whole concept of bringing together national and expatriate families has been a new one for the people of Dubai. It has been a struggle for the coordinators. "People fear others in general and mankind looks at people of different races and colour as a threat, but with self-confidence and a level head, these fears can be overcome. We have to see what we have in common and take that and use it to our benefit," says Serkal.

His struggles have been many and the most difficult being to find the best way to go about the work. "Our programme works in two ways – educating the locals about how important this programme is and educating the expats about it," explains Serkal.

"We feel the need for such programmes here and I believe this should be supported very strongly by the government," says Serkal.

He has many plans for the future. A proper building structure is under consideration where they can hold structured lectures, house a museum, a library, a resource centre, an auditorium and a cultural centre. He hopes to realise his dreams within the next year. Help from the government and private sector is well desired. So far the Centre has been sustaining itself on sponsorships from different companies.

Talking about the inputs from the residents of Dubai, Serkal says, "We find it difficult to find people who are willing to give their time to join the programme and be part of our Centre. We want local volunteers who will talk about our culture and ways of life. We would like participation from expat volunteers who will come forward and put aside their inhibitions and discuss their problems here."

Currently the Centre is holding free Arabic lessons three times a day at the Beach Centre in Jumeirah for the duration of the Dubai Shopping Festival. Cultural lectures are also on at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 7.30pm.

The corporate courses organised by the Centre are also popular. "These courses cover different aspects of the local life and what an expat needs to know when he wants to deal with a local businessman," says Michelle Sabti, development manger at the Centre. During Ramadan, Iftar visits for expat families are also organised to help them experience breaking the fast with a local family.

One of the Centre's hugely successful endeavours has been the visit to the Jumeirah Grand Mosque. "To help clear the misconceptions some people have about our culture, we began inviting people to visit the mosque to learn and ask questions about everything related to our religion, culture and society," says Serkal.

Having started with only 15 visitors, today the mosque finds 150 to 200 people at its doorstep waiting to be taken on a tour by Serkal and Sabti. So what are the frequently asked questions? "There is undoubtedly a curiosity about the different dressing style of the men and women, the different praying hours. Some people are curious about religion and there is a fascination about our lifestyle, weddings and other cultural customs," explains Serkal.

Serkal hopes the programmes put forward by the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding will bring together people from different backgrounds so that they all can call Dubai home and live together without felling threatened.