Juma al Qubaisi stands next to his fishing boats with his daughter, Ayesha. Mr al Qubaisi hopes that tourism projects will provide more jobs for the young residents of Dalma.
Juma al Qubaisi stands next to his fishing boats with his daughter, Ayesha. Mr al Qubaisi hopes that tourism projects will provide more jobs for the young residents of Dalma.
Juma al Qubaisi stands next to his fishing boats with his daughter, Ayesha. Mr al Qubaisi hopes that tourism projects will provide more jobs for the young residents of Dalma.
Juma al Qubaisi stands next to his fishing boats with his daughter, Ayesha. Mr al Qubaisi hopes that tourism projects will provide more jobs for the young residents of Dalma.

As old trades fade, Dalma has a plan


  • English
  • Arabic

In 2008, TDIC opened the Desert Islands Education Centre, a work training facility geared toward preparing Dalma's youth for jobs in the public and private sector. "We started by providing the locals with vocational training courses in English, soft skills, computer skills," said Waseem Manla, the head of the centre. Officials at TDIC hope a new government-owned luxury resort run by the Anantara group on a neighbouring island will open up opportunities for the residents of this small island off the south-west coast of the UAE.

"Really TDIC believes that the best people to tell the story of the culture are the people of the culture - the Emiratis," said a spokesman for the Western Region at TDIC. It is the hope of TDIC that residents of Dalma will work as guides at the Desert Islands Resort and Spa on Sir Bani Yas Island. The island was made into a wildlife sanctuary in 1971 by Sheikh Zayed, the late President of the UAE.

TDIC hopes Dalma residents will want to work at the resort due to its close proximity to home. A century ago, Dalma was a hub for pearl divers and its elderly residents still wax lyrical about the days when their grandfathers scoured the murky green waters in search of pearls. More recently, Dalma's residents have fished and grown hay for the animals that were brought to Sir Bani Yas Island by Sheikh Zayed.

But today, young people on the island are turning away from traditional trades in favour of government work. They are also leaving the island for jobs on the mainland. Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed, a 67-year-old fisherman, has seen two children move for jobs on the mainland. Juma al Qubaisi, another fisherman, whose daughter, Ayesha, works at the centre, said that young people wanted jobs where they can earn a better living.

"This job is not enough anymore and the money you make from it is not enough," he said. "This kind of profession does not provide enough profit. The young Emiratis now study abroad, have a degree, want comfortable government jobs." Mr al Qubaisi is hopeful that tourism projects such as the Desert Islands Resort and Spa will provide more jobs for the young residents of Dalma. Mrs Read's class is the first of seven courses required for the diploma. Most graduates from public schools finish high school weak in English and students had to take language courses before starting the diploma programme.

"The names of the places we know in Arabic - but in English it's a little hard," said Wafa al Mehairbi, a 20-year-old student at UAE University (UAEU), who joined the course this summer to see if tourism might be a good career path for her. "It's an easy class." Mariam Mohamed, a 23-year-old graduate of UAEU, signed up for the course because she could not find a job after completing her degree in January. Ms Mohamed said jobs on the island were scarce and though she is willing to move to the mainland, she has not found a job there either.

"Many companies want students to have at least two years' experience," Ms Mohamed said. "But how do you get experience if no one will hire you?" She hopes the TDIC diploma in tourism will help her to secure a job. The centre has given Ms al Ali the chance to do something outside of her parents' home. "Before I didn't do a lot, I just took special lessons at home," she said. Ms al Ali, who started the programme in the spring and will be its first graduate, has already interned at the resort.

As a lifetime resident of the island, Ms al Ali has limited experience with people from outside the Gulf and Asia. Not many Europeans or Americans came to Dalma Island, she said. "It gave me more confidence in dealing with people," she said of her time at the resort. "I worked with different people, with expats. I learned a lot. It was my first time in a real workplace." @Email:klewis@thenational.ae

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

PETER%20PAN%20%26%20WENDY
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MATCH INFO

Chelsea 0

Liverpool 2 (Mane 50', 54')

Red card: Andreas Christensen (Chelsea)

Man of the match: Sadio Mane (Liverpool)

England-South Africa Test series

1st Test England win by 211 runs at Lord's, London

2nd Test South Africa win by 340 runs at Trent Bridge, Nottingham

3rd Test July 27-31 at The Oval, London

4th Test August 4-8 at Old Trafford, Manchester

ENGLAND SQUAD

Joe Root (captain), Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Dan Lawrence, Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes (wicketkeeper), Moeen Ali, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad

The Africa Institute 101

Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction. 

BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Friday (All UAE kick-off times)

Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (11.30pm)

Saturday

Union Berlin v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)

FA Augsburg v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)

RB Leipzig v Werder Bremen (6.30pm)

SC Paderborn v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)

Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg (6.30pm)

Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Monchengladbach (9.30pm)

Sunday

Cologne v Bayern Munich (6.30pm)

Mainz v FC Schalke (9pm)

The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make

When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.

“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.

This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).

Age

$250 a month

$500 a month

$1,000 a month

25

$640,829

$1,281,657

$2,563,315

35

$303,219

$606,439

$1,212,877

45

$131,596

$263,191

$526,382

55

$44,351

$88,702

$177,403

 

SPECS

Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now

Tonight's Chat on The National

Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.

Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.

Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.

Facebook | Our website | Instagram

 

Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters

The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.

 Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.

A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.

The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.

The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.

Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.

Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment

But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.

Sheikh Zayed's poem

When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.

Your love is ruling over my heart

Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it

Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home

You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness

Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins

You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge

You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm

Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you

You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it

Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by. 

MATCH INFO

Syria v Australia
2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
Venue: Hang Jebat Stadium, Malayisa
Kick-off: Thursday, 4.30pm (UAE)
Watch: beIN Sports HD

* Second leg in Australia on October 10

TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%209
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?

It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. 

Results

Stage 7:

1. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal - 3:18:29

2. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - same time

3. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious

4. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep

5. Cees Bol (NED) Team DSM

General Classification:

1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 24:00:28

2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:35

3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:02

4. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:42

5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45

HIV on the rise in the region

A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.

New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.

Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.

Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.  

Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.

'Worse than a prison sentence'

Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.

“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.

“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.

“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.

“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.

“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”

Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt

Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure

Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers

Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised

Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The details

Heard It in a Past Life

Maggie Rogers

(Capital Records)

3/5

England World Cup squad

Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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