Huda Abbas is a third-year applied media student at the Higher Colleges of Technoloy (HCT) in Abu Dhabi. She recently participated in the Young Press Leaders programme, an initiative run by the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation to get young Emiratis involved in the media.
I wrote a piece about divorce and how it affects children. My teacher approached me, along with a couple of other students, and said, "You're a great writer and you know how to write articles - would you like to take part?"
This was the programme's first year and about 16 girls participated from HCT and Zayed University. It was open to both male and female students, but the girls showed a lot more interest than the boys; they were more interested in the picture side. The organisers brought various prominent people in journalism in the Middle East to come and talk to us, including TV presenters and newspaper editors. The programme gave us career advice on how to become a journalist, as well as tuition for our writing skills, and culminated in the production of a magazine of our work.
I think women are much better at seeing things through; the men probably thought it sounded too much like hard work.
I love writing, but I am interested in TV as well. My teacher approached me and said, "Huda, you should be a presenter!" and I am like, "inshallah". We will see what the future holds. At the moment, I am focusing my energies on writing. I love it and have been writing short stories and diaries since I was a kid.
I like to approach people and hear stories about them. To be a journalist would make me feel close to the people. I can tell them what I think and hear what they think. It's my life. I also have dreams to be a film director, though.
I'm interested in social problems. I wrote a piece about fatwa in Islam and another one about marriage; it was about local women marrying non-local men and how this could affect them and their families. I wanted to give people the choice to say, "Yes, this is right" or "No, this is wrong". I wanted to write it from both the men's and women's points of view.
It is still a young country and the media is improving all the time, with movies, TV and newspapers. I think that newspapers have a very bright future here, but it will take a long time for the UAE to open up.
To be a good listener. If you listen to people, you know how to ask good questions and you can write good articles about them. You won't lose the details, which are the most important thing.
I would like to work for a year after university and then come back to do my bachelor's. I'm part of a sponsorship programme with National Bank of Abu Dhabi and I'm contracted to work for them for a year after I graduate.
They asked me the same question in the interview. I told them that just because I'm a media student, it doesn't mean I can't work in any other areas. I said, "I'm really good at writing as well as maths and computers, so why don't you take me?" Also, I would love to have my own business one day and working in a bank will teach me about money.
Yes, I am fortunate they have a very liberal outlook and encourage me to follow my dreams.
I inspire myself. In writing, I really don't know, but in presenting, I like Oprah. She tackles issues that are interesting and controversial. She's happy to talk about anything.
@email:kboucher@thenational.ae