DUBAI // Eleven-year-old Meera Al Qassab has three wishes: to go to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower, move her family to a farm full of animals, and meet the Ruler of Dubai.
Two students from Zayed University, Hend bin Tamim and Nada Ali Ibrahim, aim to make at least one of those wishes come true by securing Meera an audience with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
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"I want to say Salam A'likum [peace be upon you] to him," says Meera, who has cerebral palsy - a disorder caused by a temporary disruption of oxygen to the brain that affects basic movement and speech. "I want to tell him that I love him."
Ms Tamim, 21, and Ms Ibrahim, 20, have made it their mission to realise the wishes of chronically-ill children through the I Wish campaign.
"In Dubai, we have lots of charities in hospitals where they give them toys," says Ms Tamim. "But no one ever asks them: 'What do you want to do? What is your wish?'
"I wanted to make their wishes come true and not just give them a gift."
Their first project was to make a dream come true for a 12-year-old boy with a genetic disorder, who the students asked be identified as only 'Sultan'.
Sultan's wishes were simple: to visit Ferrari World and own a camera.
By using the social media networking site, Twitter, the girls rounded up donors and sponsors to make his wish come true last month.
"We got enough donations to book a two-night weekend stay for him and his family at Yas Island," said Ms Tamim. "We put his gift, a camera set, in the Hummer limousine that took them there."
Ms Tamim said it was important to her that their campaign focus on children with non-life threatening medical problems, as they are often forgotten.
"Our main goal is to motivate the child because sick children might get a little depressed every now and then and ask: 'Why me?'" said Ms Tamim. "But if we give them the advantage of having a dream come true, it will give them hope and faith."
The I Wish campaign was first conceptualised as a theoretical project for Ms Tamim and Ms Ibrahim's final year public relations project.
"I did not think we would go forward with this project," says Ms Ibrahim. "What motivated me to continue is Hend's belief and inspiration for really wanting to make this happen."
Making Meera's wishes come true is next on the cards.
The animal farm was not something they could realistically accomplish and, while the students did approach sponsors to fly Meera and her family to Paris, it was too costly for one company to sponsor flights for the family of eight.
So they moved on to her wish to meet Sheikh Mohammed. Meera says she considers him like a father and wants to show her appreciation.
Meera's father, Ali Mohammed Al Qassab, says he hopes her dream comes true.
"We told her to choose whatever she desires," said Mr Al Qassab, who works in the army. "It would be something good for her."
Explaining his daughter's condition, Mr Al Qassab said her situation was tough when she was a child.
"Since she was born, they told us she has water inside her head and this has affected her sight and hearing," he said. "Later on she had a problem with walking and started standing on her toes."
Meera has since undergone several surgeries in Germany, and her condition has greatly improved.
"The 'things' we're trying to get for Meera and Sultan, that is not the big picture," said Ms Tamim. "It's the fact that we made Sultan feel happy when his wish came true. That's what we're trying to reach."
aalhaddad@thenational.ae
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
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Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Test
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Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
Rock in a Hard Place: Music and Mayhem in the Middle East
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Zed Books
