In many parts of the world, tranquillity, healing and relaxation are considered vital ingredients for a balanced life, but for the children of Gaza, these three things are as foreign as a world without the memory of air strikes, gunfire and mass destruction.
The youngsters in Gaza and the West Bank are the innocent victims of the conflict that has plagued the region in recent years and they’ve become the face of the crisis internationally – some have lost their homes, others their families and some have been maimed or forced to battle illness in harsh conditions.
For these children, every day is a personal battle to stay healthy. Thousands of them are working to repair the psychological damage caused by the devastating conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Fortunately, organisations like the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund dedicate themselves to healing the wounds of war, occupation and poverty for children in the Middle East.
This year, Elaine Kelly, the founder of this weekend’s Yogafest Middle East, and her team have taken a particular interest in the plight of those children caught up in the conflict and have joined forces with PCRF to raise Dh100,000 to assist in the healing efforts.
“I was really moved by what happened in Gaza this past year, and I wanted to do something to help the children who are the real victims of this ongoing struggle,” Kelly says.
“PCRF is such an amazing organisation and so well organised that it makes it really easy to help them. I have set up a donation page on their website where anyone who attends can donate Yogafest.”
For Kelly, Yogafest is an event that she’s proud of and one that lays claim to being the largest and only free mind-and-body event in the Middle East. In addition to raising much-needed funds, it brings together thousands of yoga enthusiasts, families and new visitors for two days of meditation, yoga, wellness sessions and healthy eating, all in a beautiful outdoor setting.
“It’s amazing and makes me so proud,” she said. “It’s my gift to the city where I have spent the last 20 years of my life ... as a committed yogi, my life purpose is to help people share my passion for yoga and health with others. Yoga has changed my life and I want to share that with everyone.”
The Yogafest concept was born in 2010 to encourage busy office workers in Dubai’s Media City to venture outside. Participants can enjoy everything from a yoga class to tai chi or massage and postural assessments. They can even try blindfold yoga or a traditional Pilates class.
Five years on, the festival attracts thousands of interested participants each year. It’s a sustainable community event that brings teachers and students together in Dubai Internet City and focuses on healing and raising funds for children in need.
“In just the past five years ... yoga has grown from three studios in Dubai to more than 20 and is now a mainstream practice that corporates are bringing into the office to help employees deal with stress and pressure. We need it so much.”
Figures from the United Nations show that as many as 500 children were killed in Israel’s war on Gaza last year – the third conflict in less than five years. About 18,000 homes were destroyed and up to 500,000 residents were displaced.
Of those who survived, their biggest hope for rehabilitation is the generosity provided by global charities and foundations focused on helping them heal.
The PCRF organises and brings in hundreds of medical volunteer missions from all over the world to Palestine and Lebanon’s refugee camps, providing children with free medical care and local medical personnel with free training.
It also arranges medical care all over the world for sick and injured children from the Middle East who cannot be adequately treated in their homeland.
In addition, the PCRF sponsors humanitarian projects in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon to provide relief for poor and needy children, including supplying wheelchairs, summer camps and a child sponsorship programme.
The co-founder and chief executive of PCRF, Steve Sosebee, says that while the organisation is focused on the physical healing of children in the Middle East, they’re just as focused on healing their spirits and souls by giving them “love, support and kindness”.
“Yogafest is a natural partner with the PCRF … we are honoured to have so many people participate in the UAE to help support our work.
“Elaine Kelly’s support for children in Palestine demonstrates that individuals can have a positive impact on the lives of poor and needy children a world away.”
He adds that the money raised by Yogafest will help build a paediatric cancer department in Gaza, which is urgently needed.
“It will also provide yoga for children during their treatment, as a way to help their spirits and bodies to fight this disease and to heal,” Sosebee says.
One of the children whose homes was destroyed is Eman. The 11-year-old from Gaza suffers from lung cancer and is one of those who will benefit from the fundraising efforts by Yogafest.
Children like Eman are the reason Kelly has chosen the PCRF as the recipient of this year’s event donations.
“I want to help children who are not so fortunate. I believe we can change the world by educating children, especially young girls, who in turn become mothers who influence their sons,” the mother of two boys says.
“Currently, there is no cancer ward for children in Gaza and the cases of children with cancer is rising as the conflict escalates. There is a ward in the West Bank, but given the difficulties getting in and out of Gaza, a ward is really needed to serve the children who live there.”
On top of raising money for needy children, Kelly is also planning to see first-hand how the funds are being used to help them.
“I am planning a trip at the end of March. I have been corresponding with Robyn Long, who teaches yoga at the children’s cancer ward in the West Bank and is writing her PhD in Canada on using yoga as a way to help child cancer patients. I am planning to take some Arabic-speaking yoga teachers from here with me and we will spend time with the children doing yoga and getting to know them and their families better,” she says. “To me, this is most precious moment of Yogafest.”
Thanks to the generosity of the people of the Middle East, Yogafest has already raised 20 per cent of this year’s Dh100,000 target.
“I hope we will raise Dh50,000 at Yogafest and the rest through our moon events [a series of yoga classes based on the new and full moons], which run until May,” Kelly says.
“I believe the more we have, the more we need to give. I have been given so much and I have so much to give in return.”
mhealy@thenational.ae
More than 4,000 people are expected to attend this year's Yogafest Middle East, which continues today and tomorrow at Dubai Internet City. For more information or to make a donation, visit www.yogafest.me or www.pcrf.net.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The specs: 2019 Subaru Forester
Price, base: Dh105,900 (Premium); Dh115,900 (Sport)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 182hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 239Nm @ 4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.1L / 100km (estimated)
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
Honeymoonish
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
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
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.”
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
SPECS
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What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
