DUBAI// After five miscarriages and a divorce, Amal Shehab Ahmed thought she might never hear a child call her "mama".
Then she met Sheikha, a four-month-old girl living in a Sharjah home for abandoned children. The connection was instant.
"When I saw this girl, she loved me and I loved her," says Amal, 38, from Dubai.
Four years later, Sheikha - a bright, black-haired girl who starts school this autumn - is part of her family. "Not part," Amal corrects. "All my family."
Twelve to 14 children such as Sheikha pass through Sharjah Social Services each year. The babies are found in mosques or outside villas. Sometimes they are found dead. Sharjah takes in abandoned children from the Northern Emirates. Others go to an orphanage in Al Ain called Dar Zayed.
Then they wait for families, sometimes for years. "It depends on the media," said Afaf Al Marri, who chairs Sharjah Social Services. "If there is a story, we will receive a lot of applications. If there is no story, nobody will come to apply."
Sharjah has long had a system to care for the children, who receive UAE nationality. Other emirates deal with abandoned children, laqeet in Arabic, with a patchwork of procedures. A new federal law signed last month will create uniform process.
"It will be good. I don't want them to be individual initiatives," Ms Al Marri said. "It's better to have a system for all the emirates."
Under sharia, laqeet cannot be adopted; they cannot assume another family's name. But they can be cared for through permanent fostering relationships that grow just as deep as adoptions.
Amal, for example, thrills when Sheikha says "mama". "This word is very big for me," she says. "I am very happy with this word. I thank God."
Only Emiratis can sign up to foster laqeet. In Sharjah, their applications are reviewed by a committee that includes representatives from social services, police and other agencies. A social worker visits the potential home. Then the committee makes a decision. Applicants must be able to financially support a child and must have a clean record with police.
"We are looking for a family - a husband and a wife - but sometimes we will go for a single woman," Ms Al Marri said.
Priority is given to applicants who do not or cannot have children.
Amal, who married while in college, miscarried five times. In 2006, she divorced.
Still wishing to become a mother, she visited Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, which once had a ward for abandoned children. She was told they accepted only couples as potential foster parents.
"Then I went to Sharjah, just to ask," she says. The application process took a few months, then they told her to come and choose a child.
Amal does not know how or where Sheikha was found. She guessed that the girl's father was Emirati and her mother Indonesian. It does not matter to her.
"Now she is with me," she says. "I am father and mother and everything."
Amal, who works for Dubai Civil Defence, has rebuilt her life around Sheikha. "I am not thinking to marry again, khalas," she says. "This is better for me."
How long an applicant waits for a child depends, Ms Al Marri said. If the family wants a girl it can take longer; girls are more sought after than boys.
Other times it is the child who waits. At the moment, there are eight children in Sharjah awaiting foster families.
There are two boys with disabilities whom Ms Al Marri worries will never find families. One is about 4, the other younger.
"I am always thinking about them," she said.
In 10 years Ms Al Marri has seen one match fail: the child was returned to the care home. But most are successful, she said. The families stay in touch, sending photographs or copies of report cards.
"When we check the oldest files, we see success stories," Ms Al Marri said. "Now they are married, they have their own families. This makes me happy."
vneriem@thenational.ae
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
'Shakuntala Devi'
Starring: Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra
Director: Anu Menon
Rating: Three out of five stars
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Results
3pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,400m, Winner: Lancienegaboulevard, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Fawzi Nass (trainer).
3.35pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Turf) 1,600m, Winner: Al Mukhtar Star, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
4.10pm: Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: Gundogdu, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.45pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Speedy Move, Sean Kirrane, Satish Seemar.
5.20pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Moqarrar, Dane O’Neill, Erwan Charpy.
5.55pm: Handicap Dh175,000 (T) 1,800m, Winner: Dolman, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
SERIES INFO
Cricket World Cup League Two
Nepal, Oman, United States tri-series
Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Fixtures
Wednesday February 5, Oman v Nepal
Thursday, February 6, Oman v United States
Saturday, February 8, United States v Nepal
Sunday, February 9, Oman v Nepal
Tuesday, February 11, Oman v United States
Wednesday, February 12, United States v Nepal
Table
The top three sides advance to the 2022 World Cup Qualifier.
The bottom four sides are relegated to the 2022 World Cup playoff
1 United States 8 6 2 0 0 12 0.412
2 Scotland 8 4 3 0 1 9 0.139
3 Namibia 7 4 3 0 0 8 0.008
4 Oman 6 4 2 0 0 8 -0.139
5 UAE 7 3 3 0 1 7 -0.004
6 Nepal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 PNG 8 0 8 0 0 0 -0.458
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.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The bio
Favourite vegetable: Broccoli
Favourite food: Seafood
Favourite thing to cook: Duck l'orange
Favourite book: Give and Take by Adam Grant, one of his professors at University of Pennsylvania
Favourite place to travel: Home in Kuwait.
Favourite place in the UAE: Al Qudra lakes
Results
Stage 4
1. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Jumbo-Visma 04:16:13
2. Gaviria (COL) UAE Team Emirates
3. Pascal Ackermann (GER) Bora-Hansgrohe
4. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal
General Classification:
1. Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 16:46:15
2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:07
3. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 0:01:35
4. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:40
5. Rafal Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2
Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')
Barcelona 0
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last-16 second leg
Paris Saint-Germain (1) v Borussia Dortmund (2)
Kick-off: Midnight, Thursday, March 12
Stadium: Parc des Princes
Live: On beIN Sports HD
India cancels school-leaving examinations
Newcastle United 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2
Tottenham (Alli 61'), Davies (70')
Red card Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle)
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: ten-speed
Power: 420bhp
Torque: 624Nm
Price: Dh325,125
On sale: Now
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Company%20profile
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
UAE squad
Ali Kashief, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdelrahman, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Mohmmed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammad Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Eisa, Mohammed Shakir, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Adel Al Hosani, Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah), Waleed Abbas, Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai) Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Mahrami (Baniyas)
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
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
