Designs by students and pupils with disabilities that shine a special light on Eid Al Fitr celebrations have been selected to feature on Amazon’s online gift cards for the festival.
A glowing lantern with an Eid Mubarak message has been painted by a student from Dubai’s Rashid Centre for People of Determination in Dubai.
The second work capturing the UAE custom of families celebrating Eid in a park was created by a group of eight pupils from the centre working together.
Makes me proud
Cara Swanepoel,
student with special needs about her art work
The National met the artists whose work is available online at Amazon.ae/giftcards
Zainab Chaudry Naveed, a young artist with developmental delays, is thrilled her individual work featuring a bright lantern was picked.
Ms Naveed, 20, said yellow is her favourite colour and the “shining light” drew her to paint the orange lantern.
“I like to paint. For Eid we celebrate with family. I like colours — to put on henna — and I love the colour yellow,” said Ms Naveed.
Those attending the art class have a range of conditions, including cerebral palsy, autism and sensory, learning and physical disabilities.
Drawing inspiration from festivities
More than 200 pupils and students at the Dubai centre took part in the Amazon initiative, with their designs displayed across a vibrant art studio filled with pink and red hearts.
“Makes me proud,” is how Cara Swanepoel, 10, described adding a coffee-coloured backdrop to the card she worked on with other pupils. It shows families exchanging Eid gifts in a park.
Speech software loaded on to a tablet attached to their wheelchair helps Cara and others with conditions such as cerebral palsy communicate.
An assistive technology device tracks Cara’s eye movements as she looks at emoticons to select a reply and respond to questions.
To develop the group artwork, teachers spent time talking to the pupils, aged between nine and 13, to understand what Eid meant to them.
They said it was about celebration, light, giving and being with family.
Caregivers help some pupils grasp pencils as they mark an outline or guide them as they wield brushes to complete their paintings.
Celebrating inclusivity at Eid
Hind Rasheed, Amazon’s head of public relations and communications for the Middle East and North Africa, said collaborating with the Rashid Centre helped the Eid collection embody values of inclusivity.
“We were very excited to see their unique perspective and artistic interpretation of Eid come to life,” she said.
“The design created by Zainab Chaudry Naveed immediately caught our attention, with its vibrant colours and bold shapes.”
She described the second card created by an entire class as “not only a beautiful representation of their creativity and talent, but also a testament to the power of coming together to create something meaningful”.
Sandra Ugalde, head teacher at the Rashid Centre, said everyone was excited to be part of the Eid effort.
“The enthusiasm is amazing to watch,” she said, seated in an office filled with colourful paper butterflies created by pupils.
“It helps build their self-esteem when they see their work displayed.
“It’s difficult for these children, they may need support with hand movements, they need to understand what is needed and why.”
But Ms Ugalde said each child contributed, “as it was an opportunity for everyone to participate”.
“By doing this campaign with Amazon, we are able to showcase the skills of our children," she said.
“It’s an opportunity for our children to show what they can do. For the wider community, it encourages a greater awareness of the abilities the students have and not their disability.”
The Eid cards are a regional initiative by Amazon that will also feature work done by artists from the Aleradah Organisation for people with disabilities in Saudi Arabia.
Cards designed using the distinctive black and white art of Abdulla Lutfi, an Emirati artist on the autism spectrum, were released last year and continue to be available on the Amazon e-gift card collection.
His designs showing people in the UAE greeting each other for Eid can be viewed alongside the two new works from the Rashid Centre students and pupils.
“This is the true purpose of our Eid eGift card initiative, to help raise awareness around the homegrown, diverse, incredible and inspiring talent that resides in the UAE,” Ms Rasheed said.
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The five pillars of Islam
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Neil Thomson – THE BIO
Family: I am happily married to my wife Liz and we have two children together.
Favourite music: Rock music. I started at a young age due to my father’s influence. He played in an Indian rock band The Flintstones who were once asked by Apple Records to fly over to England to perform there.
Favourite book: I constantly find myself reading The Bible.
Favourite film: The Greatest Showman.
Favourite holiday destination: I love visiting Melbourne as I have family there and it’s a wonderful place. New York at Christmas is also magical.
Favourite food: I went to boarding school so I like any cuisine really.
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
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh359,000
On sale: now
Thor: Ragnarok
Dir: Taika Waititi
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson
Four stars
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Top 5 concerns globally:
1. Unemployment
2. Spread of infectious diseases
3. Fiscal crises
4. Cyber attacks
5. Profound social instability
Top 5 concerns in the Mena region
1. Energy price shock
2. Fiscal crises
3. Spread of infectious diseases
4. Unmanageable inflation
5. Cyber attacks
Source: World Economic Foundation
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
UAE Premiership
Results
Dubai Exiles 24-28 Jebel Ali Dragons
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 43-27 Dubai Hurricanes
Final
Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons, Friday, March 29, 5pm at The Sevens, Dubai
