The biog
Favourite Emirati dish: Fish machboos
Favourite spice: Cumin
Family: mother, three sisters, three brothers and a two-year-old daughter
For nearly 20 years, Asayel King of Juices has been the place to go in Ras Al Khaimah for khanfaroosh.
But few people know that the woman who helped to popularise the Emirati saffron cakes is a former domestic worker from the Philippines, Charlene Alfonzo.
Her khanfaroosh recipe made Asayel one of the most popular Old RAK Corniche eateries and brought the Emirati snack into the public domain long before Emirati cafeterias became ubiquitous.
“I am very famous for khanfaroosh,” says Ms Alfonzo, 44, who now works in the craft shop next door to Asayel. “We have a secret recipe and a lot of our customers ask for it but our boss told me not tell. That recipe is just for my me and my sister.”
Ms Alfonzo came to the UAE in 1993 as a teenager from a village on Mindanoa island to support her mother, three sisters and three brothers.
“I was young, maybe 14 or 16 but the agency changed my age,” she says. “I wanted to work. We were poor. We don’t have a father. That’s why I came here to work in the UAE. It was my idea because I saw a lot of people come, make a lot of money and they said abroad was a nice place.”
She had heard of violence experienced by domestic workers but wanted to travel nonetheless.
Her experience with her first family in Al Rams, Ras Al Khaimah was positive. When she changed employers and moved to a different emirate, life got more difficult. “I had one year without salary, without food.”
Her employer did not pay her wages. She often felt hungry. Instead of being given a private room with a door, she slept on a mattress in a hall with the family’s cat. “If I [kneeled] in prayer, there was so much cat hair.”
She fled twice. The first time she took a taxi to her agency. They returned her to the employer. The second time, she told her employer that if they tried to stop her, she would seek help from the Filipino embassy. They agreed to let her leave.
She stayed with a friend in Ras Al Khaimah and walked door to door in the local market, asking for work. There, she met her current employer. He gave her work as a sales clerk in a shop before they opened the Asayel King of Juices cafeteria about 18 years ago.
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Business did not initially go well. Other employees slept on the job and they often would make only Dh50 a day. But they moved location to the Old Corniche and Ms Alfonzo's sponsor taught her how to make luqaimat dumplings, thin regag and khameer bread, chebab pancakes, balaleet noodles and khanfaroosh cakes.
Ms Alfonzo perfected the recipes and was the first to sell the Emirati snacks the Old Town became famous for. Asayel now employs a staff of about 10. Three of her sisters, her brother and a cousin have all followed her to the UAE.
“I’ve been here since I was young,” says Alfonzo. “It changed my life. Now I have a house in the Philipines, I took my mother to Saudi to do the Hajj and we eat well.”
Her siblings cannot imagine what would have happened if their eldest sister had not left the Philippines. “Maybe we would have nothing,” says her sister, Darwaiza Dialawe, 35, a school bus warden in Ras Al Khaimah. “Mashallah, she’s very strong.”
However, creating a life outside the country has held other challenges. Ms Alfonzo’s daughter was born with omphalocele, a condition where her liver was exposed outside the body because of a hole in the belly button.
The 2-year-old has had four operations and her medical bills total Dh110,000. The hospital will not issue a birth certificate until the bill is paid.
“Until now she doesn’t have a passport, she doesn’t have a visa,” says Ms Alfonzo.
Prospective workers must have courage, she says. “I would advise them first to trust God and second, they should be brave. They must be strong persons who are not afraid of anything.
“I work hard, hard, hard but I’ve had so many bad experiences. Nobody has helped me. That’s why my faith is very strong.”
Brave CF 27 fight card
Welterweight:
Abdoul Abdouraguimov (champion, FRA) v Jarrah Al Selawe (JOR)
Lightweight:
Anas Siraj Mounir (TUN) v Alex Martinez (CAN)
Welterweight:
Mzwandile Hlongwa (RSA) v Khamzat Chimaev (SWE)
Middleweight:
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Rustam Chsiev (RUS)
Mohammad Fakhreddine (LEB) v Christofer Silva (BRA)
Super lightweight:
Alex Nacfur (BRA) v Dwight Brooks (USA)
Bantamweight:
Jalal Al Daaja (JOR) v Tariq Ismail (CAN)
Chris Corton (PHI) v Zia Mashwani (PAK)
Featherweight:
Sulaiman (KUW) v Abdullatip (RUS)
Super lightweight:
Flavio Serafin (BRA) v Mohammad Al Katib (JOR)
Neymar's bio
Total club appearances 411
Total goals scored 241
Appearances for Barca 186
Goals scored for Barca 105
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2)
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
PROFILE BOX
Company name: Overwrite.ai
Founder: Ayman Alashkar
Started: Established in 2020
Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Sector: PropTech
Initial investment: Self-funded by founder
Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors
Hales' batting career
Tests 11; Runs 573; 100s 0; 50s 5; Avg 27.38; Best 94
ODIs 58; Runs 1,957; 100s 5; 50s 11; Avg 36.24; Best 171
T20s 52; Runs 1,456; 100s 1; 50s 7; Avg 31.65; Best 116 not out
Ain Issa camp:
- Established in 2016
- Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
- Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
- Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
- 950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
- NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
- One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region
SHALASH%20THE%20IRAQI
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20Shalash%3Cbr%3ETranslator%3A%20Luke%20Leafgren%3Cbr%3EPages%3A%20352%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20And%20Other%20Stories%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
'Nope'
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
The 12 Syrian entities delisted by UK
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Defence
General Intelligence Directorate
Air Force Intelligence Agency
Political Security Directorate
Syrian National Security Bureau
Military Intelligence Directorate
Army Supply Bureau
General Organisation of Radio and TV
Al Watan newspaper
Cham Press TV
Sama TV
RESULTS
Bantamweight:
Zia Mashwani (PAK) bt Chris Corton (PHI)
Super lightweight:
Flavio Serafin (BRA) bt Mohammad Al Khatib (JOR)
Super lightweight:
Dwight Brooks (USA) bt Alex Nacfur (BRA)
Bantamweight:
Tariq Ismail (CAN) bt Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)
Featherweight:
Abdullatip Magomedov (RUS) bt Sulaiman Al Modhyan (KUW)
Middleweight:
Mohammad Fakhreddine (LEB) bt Christofer Silva (BRA)
Middleweight:
Rustam Chsiev (RUS) bt Tarek Suleiman (SYR)
Welterweight:
Khamzat Chimaev (SWE) bt Mzwandile Hlongwa (RSA)
Lightweight:
Alex Martinez (CAN) bt Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR)
Welterweight:
Jarrah Al Selawi (JOR) bt Abdoul Abdouraguimov (FRA)
The specs: 2018 Opel Mokka X
Price, as tested: Dh84,000
Engine: 1.4L, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: Six-speed auto
Power: 142hp at 4,900rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 1,850rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L / 100km
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
MATCH INFO
Champions League last 16, first leg
Tottenham v RB Leipzig, Wednesday, midnight (UAE)
The biog
Favourite Emirati dish: Fish machboos
Favourite spice: Cumin
Family: mother, three sisters, three brothers and a two-year-old daughter
