Abu Dhabi // Young people are proving age is no barrier to giving back to society – and are putting a smile on children’s faces in the process.
Volunteers between the ages of 13 and 25 are joining a student network launched by Operation Smile UAE, a children’s charity that recruits medical volunteers and funds surgery for those affected by cleft lips and palates.
“The student network is a platform for students to develop fund-raising and awareness events, obviously under the watchful eye of Operation Smile UAE,” said Kyla Cromey-Hawke, 23, volunteer coordinator at the charity.
The network was set up this month in response to demand from students who were finding limited opportunities to volunteer because of their age, she said.
“Originally, a version of the student network was developed because I was getting a lot of student volunteers wanting to volunteer their time with Operation Smile and I wasn’t able to cope with that amount of students,” Ms Cromey-Hawke said.
“What a lot of the students were finding was that there are a few different volunteering organisations now in the UAE that weren’t there before – I certainly didn’t have them when I was growing up here.
“But they were all putting age restrictions of 16 or 18 and above, and you had younger students who were desperate to get community action and service hours or Duke of Edinburgh hours.”
Sixteen students are members of the network and make up the organising body. They plan events and get other young people involved in helping out. This could mean spreading awareness through talking to visitors at the charity’s stands or running children’s activities, such as face painting, to raise money.
The charity’s UAE office is in Abu Dhabi but the volunteers can come from across the country.
Haneen Al Noman, 17, the president of the student network, seized the opportunity to get involved.
“I heard about it and I was very surprised that such an organisation was actually in Abu Dhabi,” said Haneen, who is from Yemen and has lived in Abu Dhabi for six years. “We don’t really get organisations, or things like that, that allow students to actually get involved.
“I have always been interested in volunteering, ever since I was in grade 9. It’s something to fill my time and actually give back and help people and do something for others.”
Her role comes with responsibilities, such as coordinating volunteers, supervising, planning events with others and communicating with people from external organisations, such as venue managers, to help make those events happen.
“I feel like it helps both the young people and the community that we live in,” she said of the network.
One successful student-led fundraiser was a Battle of the Bands in April at Zayed Sports City.
Organised by three secondary school students, it raised enough money for nine operations, which cost nearly Dh900 each.
“Students are more than willing to donate. Obviously you need to find the right event for them, and students are the best ones to know what the right event is,” said Ms Cromey-Hawke, a Briton who grew up in the UAE.
She believes young people have a lot to offer, especially given their high energy levels, and will find the work fun as well as a good opportunity to meet others.
Volunteering is good for their CVs, and ultimately careers, because they develop a range of skills and enjoy different experiences, she said. Their efforts also show creativity, people skills and teamwork.
“It’s always quite refreshing to see a student, or a younger person at least, telling you about a charity and being so proactive and enthusiastic about a charity. It’s quite infectious,” Ms Cromey-Hawke said.
The number of volunteering opportunities for young people in the UAE is growing but this is not well-known, she said.
“You do have to search for it, especially if you are a student. With those age restrictions being put on, there are not very many volunteering opportunities for younger students to get involved with and quite often volunteer organisations will prefer to take on adult volunteers, rather than student volunteers,” she said.
To find out more about the student network, email volunteer@operationsmileuae.ae
ecleland@thenational.ae
Buy farm-fresh food
The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.
In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others.
In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food.
In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Alaan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Parthi%20Duraisamy%20and%20Karun%20Kurien%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%247%20million%20raised%20in%20total%20%E2%80%94%20%242.5%20million%20in%20a%20seed%20round%20and%20%244.5%20million%20in%20a%20pre-series%20A%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Veil (Object Lessons)
Rafia Zakaria
Bloomsbury Academic
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Grubtech
Founders: Mohamed Al Fayed and Mohammed Hammedi
Launched: October 2019
Employees: 50
Financing stage: Seed round (raised $2 million)
Results
Light Flyweight (49kg): Mirzakhmedov Nodirjon (UZB) beat Daniyal Sabit (KAZ) by points 5-0.
Flyweight (52kg): Zoirov Shakhobidin (UZB) beat Amit Panghol (IND) 3-2.
Bantamweight (56kg): Kharkhuu Enkh-Amar (MGL) beat Mirazizbek Mirzahalilov (UZB) 3-2.
Lightweight (60kg): Erdenebat Tsendbaatar (MGL) beat Daniyal Shahbakhsh (IRI) 5-0.
Light Welterweight (64kg): Baatarsukh Chinzorig (MGL) beat Shiva Thapa (IND) 3-2.
Welterweight (69kg): Bobo-Usmon Baturov (UZB) beat Ablaikhan Zhussupov (KAZ) RSC round-1.
Middleweight (75kg): Jafarov Saidjamshid (UZB) beat Abilkhan Amankul (KAZ) 4-1.
Light Heavyweight (81kg): Ruzmetov Dilshodbek (UZB) beat Meysam Gheshlaghi (IRI) 3-2.
Heavyweight (91kg): Sanjeet (IND) beat Vassiliy Levit (KAZ) 4-1.
Super Heavyweight ( 91kg): Jalolov Bakhodir (UZB) beat Kamshibek Kunkabayev (KAZ) 5-0.
