The impact on businesses from the record storms that hit the UAE last week is still largely being assessed, but one small company has said it is already fighting to get back on its feet.
The owners of Bookends, a second-hand bookshop in Dubai Silicon Oasis, is still reeling after the loss of at least 20,000 books.
Somia Anwar, who drove from her home in Sharjah to Dubai during the storm after receiving a call about the flooding in the shop, told The National it was like a scene from a film.
It felt like a scene from a movie. I could see my books floating, hear the water coming in
Somia Anwar,
Bookends founder
As the shop is on the lower ground floor of a building in Digital Park, the water level was quickly rising when she arrived.
“It was pitch dark, I was trying to see what I could save, what books I can put higher, but most shelves are wooden,” she said.
“After about two hours, me, my son and husband realised there was nothing we could do.
“It felt like a scene from a movie. I could see my books floating, hear the water coming in. I knew I shouldn’t have been there, as it’s a safety issue, but it’s a start-up, it’s our baby, so I wasn’t thinking straight.”
Ms Anwar said it took authorities about three days to pump the water from the basement, by which time at least a third of their stock had been drenched.
“Three days immersed in water, all the shelves had to be thrown out. The books were piled on top of each other, so even if water didn’t reach a certain level, it soaked the top books as well.”
It was home to about 30,000 books, 10,000 of which they’ve had to throw away, with thousands more they’re trying to save. A nearby storage centre, which was also flooded, was home to 20,000 and Ms Anwar estimates they’ve lost about 10,000 to 15,000 of those.
“The books we lost, they don’t belong to us,” said Ms Anwar. “These books belong to the sellers.”
It's a community-driven online marketplace whereby anyone who wants to sell old books can list their items and use the credit from sales to buy new ones. Bookends adds a service fee.
She and Grace Karim started Bookends four years ago, during the pandemic.
“Grace and I are both mums and books are expensive," Ms Anwar said. "What do you do with books your kids have outgrown? We wondered why we don’t see more used bookstores. There was an opportunity at that time as everyone went into lockdown, because they either became a chef or a reader.”
Soon after launching, the duo were getting plenty of calls for a physical store, which they opened during Ramadan last year.
“The online store is great, but here we are saying less screen time and more reading time for kids, but they had to go online to purchase,” Ms Anwar said.
“The store also allowed us to host events for book lovers and kids. A lot of those things that give you more of a sense of community happened once the store opened.”
Ms Anwar and Ms Karim have been working 12-hour days on their premises trying to fix the damage.
“Some of the books are damp, so we’re putting some in the sun, but the entire place smells damp,” Ms Anwar said.
“We’re trying to take the books out and give them a bit of air. We’re sorting out dehumidifiers so at least some books are dry are safe and don’t start smelling. Our big concern is that no mould grows on them.”
For the moment, both the physical and online stores are closed as they assess the stock. They’ve also put a call-out for volunteers to help clear everything out and a campaign for used books that people don’t want any more.
“We’ve had an amazing response,” said Ms Anwar. “People are coming in from all over to give us a helping hand and sort out whatever is left of the books
"We have a lot of book lovers, including many people who didn’t know about us. There have been families and young kids about eight or nine years old. One kid came in yesterday and we gave him a scanner to scan some barcodes – he loved it and said he wanted to be a cashier when he grows up.
“We’re trying to find joy in everything we’re doing here, but we’re very heartbroken.”
Ms Anwar believes it will take up to 10 days before they can partially reopen the store.
They also need to repair damage done to the site – including to decorations created using books that were missing pages – and they will be replacing all the shelves and furniture with waterproof alternatives.
The online store will take longer to relaunch, as about 30,000 books were listed. “Until we do a proper recount, we don’t know what is damaged and thrown away,” she said.
She’s determined that they will reopen, however.
“With the amount of support we’re getting from the community, we will surely come back,” Ms Anwar said.
“We are amazed at the love and support we’re getting. We cannot let those people down.”
Dubai flooding: the aftermath - in pictures
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
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.
LAST 16 DRAW
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F1 The Movie
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T20 World Cup Qualifier A, Muscat
Friday, February 18: 10am - Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm - Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am - Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm - UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am - Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm - Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm – semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm – final
UAE squad: Ahmed Raza (captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
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Top tips
Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
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MATCH INFO
What: Brazil v South Korea
When: Tonight, 5.30pm
Where: Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
