It’s an innocent question but whenever people ask me why I left the US for the UAE, I often wonder how much I should admit.
On Monday, rocker Ozzy Osbourne told The Guardian that he and his wife Sharon would be leaving America to move back to the UK for good, saying gun violence was a major factor.
“I’m fed up with people getting killed every day,” the singer told the British newspaper.
“God knows how many people have been shot in school shootings. And there was that mass shooting in Vegas at that concert.”
Sharon said: “America has changed so drastically. It isn’t the United States of America at all. Nothing’s united about it. It’s a very weird place to live right now.”
Even though I haven’t lived in the US since 2014, I can empathise with those feelings because I can see just how much things have changed.
When I moved from Boston to Abu Dhabi eight years ago, it was on a whim. Even though I didn’t know much about the Middle East, it felt like the right move.
Over the years, I’ve come to truly enjoy life abroad — and one of the reasons for that is how safe it is in comparison to many other countries.
A 2021 survey by Georgetown University has the UAE ranked first in terms of community safety, with 98.5 per cent of women saying they felt safe walking alone in their neighbourhoods at night — something I couldn't always say in America.
So, when I’m asked why I decided to leave the US, responding with, “Well, because I don’t want to be killed in a mass shooting” doesn’t seem like such an unreasonable answer. It might not be what they want to hear, but it is the truth.
The US has recorded 448 mass shootings so far in 2022, data from the Gun Violence Archive shows.
Of those, 19 are classified as mass murders that have killed at least four people. That's a disturbing statistic for a single year, more so considering there are still four months to go.
I was 11 when Columbine occurred in 1999, when 15 people died and 24 were injured in a mass shooting at a high school in a small town in America.
Back then, it seemed like an outlier, like something that would never happen again.
But then there was Virginia Tech in 2007, when I just had left home to attend university, and then Sandy Hook in 2012, which occurred a couple of weeks before Christmas in a town that was just under a 2.5-hour drive away from where I was.
More recently there’s been Uvalde, Buffalo, Parkland and so on, in the years I’ve lived in Abu Dhabi.
Scroll through the gallery below to see Meghan, Duchess of Sussex paying respects at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
Every time I get a news alert or a text message about a new mass shooting my heart sinks because in a way, by this point, it feels so American.
Other countries that have enacted strict gun control legislation or have banned guns to the general public do not suffer such incidents.
Watching these things continually take place makes me wonder how anyone can truly feel safe in the US any more.
I don't know exactly how many mass shootings have occurred in America since Columbine but I know in the two decades since, every single one of them should have been prevented.
And that's why I won't be leaving Abu Dhabi any time soon.
Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
The biog
DOB: March 13, 1987
Place of birth: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia but lived in Virginia in the US and raised in Lebanon
School: ACS in Lebanon
University: BSA in Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut
MSA in Design Entrepreneurship at the School of Visual Arts in New York City
Nationality: Lebanese
Status: Single
Favourite thing to do: I really enjoy cycling, I was a participant in Cycling for Gaza for the second time this year
SNAPSHOT
While Huawei did launch the first smartphone with a 50MP image sensor in its P40 series in 2020, Oppo in 2014 introduced the Find 7, which was capable of taking 50MP images: this was done using a combination of a 13MP sensor and software that resulted in shots seemingly taken from a 50MP camera.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
The Beach Bum
Director: Harmony Korine
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg
Two stars
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
'Project Power'
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback
Director: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
Rating: 3.5/5
SHOW COURTS ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court (4pm UAE/12pm GMT)
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) v Heather Watson (GBR)
Rafael Nadal (ESP x4) v Karen Khachanov (RUS x30)
Andy Murray (GBR x1) v Fabio Fognini (ITA x28)
Court 1 (4pm UAE)
Steve Johnson (USA x26) v Marin Cilic (CRO x7)
Johanna Konta (GBR x6) v Maria Sakkari (GRE)
Naomi Osaka (JPN) v Venus Williams (USA x10)
Court 2 (2.30pm UAE)
Aljaz Bedene (GBR) v Gilles Muller (LUX x16)
Peng Shuai (CHN) v Simona Halep (ROM x2)
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT x13) v Camila Giorgi (ITA)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x12) v Sam Querrey (USA x24)
Court 3 (2.30pm UAE)
Kei Nishikori (JPN x9) v Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP x18)
Carina Witthoeft (GER) v Elina Svitolina (UKR x4)
Court 12 (2.30pm UAE)
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK x8) v Ana Konjuh (CRO x27)
Kevin Anderson (RSA) v Ruben Bemelmans (BEL)
Court 18 (2.30pm UAE)
Caroline Garcia (FRA x21) v Madison Brengle (USA)
Benoit Paire (FRA) v Jerzy Janowicz (POL)
