As the mother of a teenage boy, I know first-hand how intensely worrying this stage of parenting can be. We carry so many fears at once – afraid something might happen to them, that they’re spending too much time online, or that they’ll fall in with the wrong crowd.
When they’re home, we worry they’re not active enough; when they go out, we worry about where they are and who they’re with. That tightness in the chest every time they step out of the door is something only a parent truly understands.
Every mother of a teenage boy fears that her son could become dependent on something, whether it be excessive gaming, smoking, substance use, or simply the adrenalin rush teenagers so often seek.
It is one of the many parts of motherhood no one warns you about. We know teenagers need to fill their time – what keeps us awake at night is how they fill it.
Al Mubarakah Foundation was established to ensure those hours are filled with purpose – and not by chance. It offers a place where boys are not only safe, but actively learning resilience, discipline and values.
For a parent, that is an immeasurable relief.
In this edition, we speak to Sheikha Shamma bint Khalifa bin Hamdan, granddaughter of the late Sheikh Mubarak bin Mohammed, the UAE’s first Minister of Interior – a man who believed that the role of the police was not to intimidate, but to stand alongside the community.
Today, she continues his legacy not through enforcement, but through empowerment.
It is a philosophy that mirrors her grandfather’s. Sheikh Mubarak helped build the foundation of the UAE’s security system on trust and community cohesion rather than intimidation – and that legacy lives on in the way Al Mubarakah works with adolescents today.
Al Mubarakah Foundation does not make a lot of noise. It works steadily and intentionally, which may be why it has endured.
The foundation was established in 2016 by Dr Sheikha Mouza bint Mubarak, daughter of Sheikh Mubarak.
Today, that legacy continues through Sheikha Shamma, who oversees programmes designed to keep young people anchored during the years when they are most likely to drift.
“We don’t work through authority. We work through identity, dignity and purpose,” Sheikha Shamma tells The National. Her approach stems from how she was raised.
“I am also a proud daughter of parents who shaped my outlook in very distinct ways. My father modelled integrity, discretion and an unwavering sense of duty. My mother instilled in me a love for community and learning. Their influence is present in every element of our work.”
Sheikha Shamma speaks quietly and with intention. She is not loud, not overly active and never forceful. There is a pensiveness to her, a way of taking in what is being said before she responds – thoughtful rather than animated.
Did you know?
The name “Al Mubarakah” is both a personal tribute and a public message. It honours the legacy of Sheikh Mubarak – whose life was rooted in service, wisdom and nation-building.
The name also draws from the Quranic image of “a blessed tree that gives its fruit in every season”.
New rules around fostering will widen opportunities for children in need of families. Getty Images
The UAE has rolled out significant reforms of its law on fostering to offer greater support to children in need of a loving home.
Non-Emirati couples and single women are now allowed to foster children in the UAE for the first time.
Fostering children was previously limited to Emirati Muslim married couples and Emirati Muslim women between the ages of 30 and 50.
The amendment to the law means any married couple who are both over the age of 25 can apply to foster a child, regardless of nationality or religion. Women over the age of 30 can also apply to become foster parents, with no upper age limit.
President Sheikh Mohamed with Dr Frauke Heard-Bey, who received an Abu Dhabi Award on behalf of her late husband, David Heard, at Qasr Al Hosn. Photo: UAE Presidential Court
The wife of David Heard, who received a posthumous Abu Dhabi Award on his behalf from President Sheikh Mohamed, paid tribute to her late husband for his lasting legacy.
It is 20 years since the launch of one of the UAE’s most meaningful national honours, the Abu Dhabi Awards, created to credit quiet heroes whose work has strengthened the country and its communities.
Over two decades, the programme has recognised 110 people whose service has left a measurable imprint on the nation. Some of them are no longer alive, yet their contributions continue to be felt.
This month, The National spoke to two families who accepted the award on behalf of loved ones, each of whose life's work still resonates long after their passing.
Dr Frauke Heard-Bey, who herself received the Abu Dhabi Award in 2007, accepted the honour on behalf of her late husband, David Heard, a respected historian, author and photographer whose work documented the country’s early development.
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Favourite breed of dog: All of them. I can’t possibly pick a favourite.
Favourite place in the UAE: The Stray Dogs Centre in Umm Al Quwain. It sounds predictable, but it honestly is my favourite place to spend time. Surrounded by hundreds of dogs that love you - what could possibly be better than that?
Favourite colour: All the colours that dogs come in
Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
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From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases
A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.
One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.
In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.
The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.
And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.
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.
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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Born November 11, 1948 Education: BA, English Language and Literature, Cairo University Family: Four brothers, seven sisters, two daughters, 42 and 39, two sons, 43 and 35, and 15 grandchildren Hobbies: Reading and traveling
