Arriving at the Meskel celebration in Sharjah was much easier last year. I followed some Ethiopian friends in my car as they picked up people along the way and eventually we ended up on the beach where the annual festivities are held without me having to know the way. This year I woke up late.
Now it's 4pm and we're bouncing back and forth across traffic on Sheikh Zayed Road like a cannonball ricocheting through a canyon. My Ethiopian friends have left ahead of me. The directions I have from them are of the over-the-river-and-through-the-woods variety. One of my two non-Ethiopian companions in the car is in the passenger seat trying to translate this half-cocked course into roads on the map. The ceremony culminates at dusk and we're racing against the sun.
According to traditions in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church the holiday owes its origin to the fourth century when the whereabouts of the cross of Jesus' crucifixion were revealed to the Byzantine Queen Eleni in a dream. In the vision she was instructed to make a bonfire. When the search party did so the following day a great plume of smoke rose from the pyre and travelled across the sky to the hill where the relic was buried.
These days, every year in Ethiopia's capital of Addis Ababa tens of thousands of people gather in the main plaza on the eve of September 27 to re-enact the event. For more than a decade, a similar rite has taken place in Sharjah on the preceding Friday.
The problem is I don't know where. My general plan is to drive along the waterfront and look for 4,000 or so Ethiopians standing around a towering flame.
By 5.30pm, with the sky washed in orange, we turn off of Emirates Road near Al Mamzer Beach, which is our best guess of where to go. Alas, no smoke; no Ethiopians. Now, it's scramble time.
We whirl around a series of roundabouts and keep the Arabian Gulf to our left with an eye to the sky. Somewhere near the Chamber of Commerce we spot three cars stalled on the road with their hazard lights blinking. The African families piled inside look almost as lost as we do. I jump out and extend my right arm with my left hand gripping my right biceps to shake hands in an Ethiopian gesture of respect.
"Meskel?" I ask.
A few phone calls later we all zoom off together like a fleeing caravan. We make up for lost time until a wrong turn lands us gridlocked in traffic on the Al Arouba Street bridge.
I've done a fair bit of travelling in what used to be called the Third World. I always admire the way people in many places can drive with disregard for vehicle, passenger or pedestrian - like the flow of rushing water filling in empty space. I adopt the mania of this mad, mad motor world and take over as vanguard of the group, U-turning and then employing manoeuvres I have seen from Cairo to Cambodia.
Just as the sun prepares to dip into the water, the spectacle that our search party has been seeking comes into view: Ethiopians wearing white veils crowding a beach beside a pyramid of wood not long for this world.
We weave through the masses to get close to the action. I can't see much and so pile up two little mounds of sand to stand on. Beyond the white-gowned spectators there's a cadre of participants clad in satiny red, yellow and green - the colours of the Ethiopian flag. Women are singing sacred songs. Men are beating cowhide drums and using picks and spades to dig into the sand in commemoration of events centuries old. Soon the sun extinguishes in the sea and everyone in attendance erupts into hollers and ululations.
Our heads all turn to what looks like a five-metre-high tepee with no skin, and torchbearers set it ablaze in a whoosh. Twists of black smoke trail across the sky. Hundreds of cellphones and cameras are reached above the sea of white veils; their LCD screens twinkle in the gloaming. The singing and drumming has started again, but faster, more jubilant. The crowd claps and sways and people up front circle the flames in rhythmic stomps, the red glow behind them creating undulating, flailing silhouettes.
As the fire grows the circle widens around it. When a portion of the heap collapses there is a burst of flames, and red embers fill the air and land on our skin, singeing it during a momentary chaos before the anticlockwise dance resumes.
When the fire dies down, families and friends take group pictures on the beach. They queue up for plates of injera, spongy bread made from tef grain, piled with misto wot, a peppery orange concoction of legumes.
For Ethiopians, Meskel is one of the biggest events of the year. For those of them living in the UAE, it is a time for the expatriate community to come together and remember home through a familiar ritual.
For me and my companions it is an opportunity to be reminded of the many cultures present in the UAE, each with their own occasions, each with their own way of marking them.
We are pleased with ourselves that we raced against time and won, but I am also reminded, for pedestrians' sake, at least, to invest in a functioning alarm clock.
lkummer@thenational.ae
The permutations for UAE going to the 2018 World Cup finals
To qualify automatically
UAE must beat Iraq.
Australia must lose in Japan and at home to Thailand, with their losing margins and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
Saudi Arabia must lose to Japan, with their losing margin and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
To finish third and go into a play-off with the other third-placed AFC side for a chance to reach the inter-confederation play-off match
UAE must beat Iraq.
Saudi Arabia must lose to Japan, with their losing margin and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Super Rugby play-offs
Quarter-finals
- Hurricanes 35, ACT 16
- Crusaders 17, Highlanders 0
- Lions 23, Sharks 21
- Chiefs 17, Stormers 11
Semi-finals
Saturday, July 29
- Crusaders v Chiefs, 12.35pm (UAE)
- Lions v Hurricanes, 4.30pm
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
RESULT
Wolves 1 (Traore 67')
Tottenham 2 (Moura 8', Vertonghen 90 1')
Man of the Match: Adama Traore (Wolves)
Cheeseburger%20ingredients
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Opening Premier League fixtures, August 14
- Brentford v Arsenal
- Burnley v Brighton
- Chelsea v Crystal Palace
- Everton v Southampton
- Leicester City v Wolves
- Manchester United v Leeds United
- Newcastle United v West Ham United
- Norwich City v Liverpool
- Tottenham v Manchester City
- Watford v Aston Villa
SANCTIONED
- Kirill Shamalov, Russia's youngest billionaire and previously married to Putin's daughter Katarina
- Petr Fradkov, head of recently sanctioned Promsvyazbank and son of former head of Russian Foreign Intelligence, the FSB.
- Denis Bortnikov, Deputy President of Russia's largest bank VTB. He is the son of Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB which was responsible for the poisoning of political activist Alexey Navalny in August 2020 with banned chemical agent novichok.
- Yury Slyusar, director of United Aircraft Corporation, a major aircraft manufacturer for the Russian military.
- Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva, chair of the board of Novikombank, a state-owned defence conglomerate.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Anna and the Apocalypse
Director: John McPhail
Starring: Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Mark Benton
Three stars
'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness'
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg and Rachel McAdams
Rating: 3/5
RESULTS
Mumbai Indians 181-4 (20 ovs)
Kolkata Knight Riders 168-6 (20ovs)
Mumbai won by 13 runs
Rajasthan Royals 152-9 (20 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab 155-4 (18.4 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wickets
