Abu Dhabi mothers offer money-saving tips for children in new book

ABU DHABI // A book written by two Abu Dhabi mothers is helping children as young as five learn money-saving skills.

Children’s author and filmmaker Khadijah Kudsi and Dr Sarah Mavrinac, a social entrepreneur and academic, wrote the children’s story in response to growing concerns about debt problems among young people in the UAE.

According to research for the Emirates Foundation for Youth Development, 70 per cent of Emiratis under 30 are struggling with debt.

In response, the Foundation set up the Esref Sah programme (meaning “to spend wisely”) to help young adults get to grips with budgeting, saving, spending and debt.

But Kudsi and Dr Mavrinac’s book, UAE Old And New Money, with its wise Emirati grandmother, magical talking horse, Abu Dhabi family setting and illustrations by Sharjah-based artist Layan Attari, is aimed at much younger children.

“There is a big problem with financial literacy and there is a lot of work going on to tackle this problem in the high schools. But we’re starting right from the beginning, with children aged four to five, so that when they grow up they can avoid debt and credit problems,” said Saudi-born Kudsi, who is married to an Emirati and has four children.

Bringing potentially dry financial lessons to life for five to 11-year-olds was the big challenge for the authors, who use a mix of fantasy, adventure, financial advice and Emirati culture to drive home the key messages.

In UAE Old And New Money, Emirati sisters Shamma and Mariam and their brothers Sultan and Khalifa set out to find an old Marie Therese silver dollar – once one of the region’s most prized coins – for their grandmother Ausha.

During their adventures the children learn how people in Abu Dhabi earned a living before the founding of the UAE, about the real value of money and the importance of earning a living.

Grandmother Ausha inspires the children with her tales of the old days before the dirham, when people traded goods or sometimes used Indian and Gulf rupees – and the Marie Therese dollar.

“It was very important that the story related to the children and to the community in which they live,” Kudsi said. “Our coins show what has been achieved in the UAE and we want the children to be proud of that.”

In conjunction with the book, the authors are running workshops with eight to 11-year-olds in Abu Dhabi schools. “The reaction so far has been great,” said Kudsi after the first sessions at the American Community School on Sunday last week. “The children learned how to create stories of their own and how to prepare for job interviews. They were surprised at how much preparation is involved.”

Kudsi, author of the Noura’s World book series, tried out the story first on her family. “They were quick to tell me what did and didn’t work, for example the horse character. Now that part of the book gets the biggest laughs from the children,” she said.

The book is the first of a series of titles from Alkheir, a not-for-profit social enterprise project that helps children throughout the Arab world to develop life skills. The next book will focus on the history of pearl trading in the UAE.

UAE Old And New Money was published by UK-based Medina Publishing and supported by the University Bookshop. Copies are on sale for Dh55 in its Airport Road store. Schools wishing to find out more about the book or to sign up for the free-of-charge workshops should contact djkudsi.mac.com@mac.com.

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