A visually impaired school pupil in Ajman who scored 99.14 per cent in her final exams will major in the Arabic language after Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, Ruler of Ajman, pledged to cover her university tuition fees.
Dina Fayez, 18, was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative disease where cells in the retina break down slowly, resulting loss of vision.
Despite visual impairment, the Jordanian studies for a minimum of five hours every day.
I love Arabic language and dream to design Arabic school books that will help make the language more popular among younger generations
Dina Fayez
“I studied between five and six hours every day and used a magnifying device that help me to see the text in the books clearly,” said Dina, who attends Al Dahra School in Dubai’s Hatta area because it is the closest to her residence in Muzairah, Ajman, close to the Oman border.
Thanks to her dedication to studying and mother’s constant help, Dina was offered a full university scholarship by Sheikh Humaid.
Her family have also been also offered a home closer to Ajman city.
“For some reason, I expected the scholarship because generosity and fostering talents is not strange to UAE Rulers, but the house grant was a surprise for me,” Dina told The National.
Love for Arabic language
Maths was her favourite subject in school and Dina would often explain problems to her classmates.
When she was named among UAE's top performers, she said her classmates celebrated.
Despite her love for maths, her dream is to study Arabic.
“I love Arabic language and dream to design Arabic schoolbooks that will help make the language more popular among younger generations,” Dina said.
Her father, an assistant engineer at a private company in Dubai who has been living and working in the UAE for more than 25 years, said Dina is a fighter.
“She always wanted to prove herself and despite her complete loss of sight in one eye and seeing only 10 per cent in the other, she did it,” her father Ahmed told The National.
He said his daughter plans to attend the University of Sharjah.
“His Highness said he will cover the costs at whichever university she decides to join and asked me how will Dina commute to and from the university of her choosing before he ordered a new house for us that is closer to the city,” he said.
Mr Ahmed said no words were sufficient to describe the family’s happiness and Sheikh Humaid's generosity.
Memorised questions
Dina, who was born in the UAE in 2004, was less than a year old when her family noticed she had a problem with her eyes. They visited several doctors over a number of years and medical reports piled up.
“We noticed she reacted to the sounds we make not to our movements,” said her mother, Khloud.
“We took her to many doctors here and in Jordan but then stopped because it was affecting her emotionally.”
It was a tough journey for Dina’s mother, who devoted herself to their only daughter and gave up her job as a physics teacher.
She said she used to read textbooks out loud to help Dina memorise mathematical equations.
“By the time she graduated from Grade 11, she had also memorised the whole Quran,” Dina's mother said
Being surrounded with love and support from her family, friends and school, Dina was able to live a happy childhood, her mother said.
“I devoted my life to her because she is my life.”
Community Shield info
Where, when and at what time Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday at 5pm (UAE time)
Arsenal line up (3-4-2-1) Petr Cech; Rob Holding, Per Mertesacker, Nacho Monreal; Hector Bellerin, Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain; Alex Iwobi, Danny Welbeck; Alexandre Lacazette
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger
Chelsea line up (3-4-2-1) Thibaut Courtois; Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Gary Cahill; Victor Moses, Cesc Fabregas, N'Golo Kante, Marcos Alonso; Willian, Pedro; Michy Batshuayi
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte
Referee Bobby Madley
You Were Never Really Here
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: Joaquim Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov
Four stars
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
NBA FINALS SO FAR
(Toronto lead 3-2 in best-of-seven series)
Game 1 Raptors 118 Warriors 109
Game 2 Raptors 104 Warriors 109
Game 3 Warriors 109 Raptors 123
Game 4 Warriors 92 Raptors 105
Game 5 Raptors 105 Warriors 106
Game 6 Thursday, at Oakland
Game 7 Sunday, at Toronto (if needed)
Take Me Apart
Kelela
(Warp)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Regional Qualifier
Saturday results
Qatar beat Kuwait by 26 runs
Bahrain beat Maldives by six wickets
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by seven wickets
Monday fixtures
Maldives v Qatar
Saudi Arabia v Kuwait
Bahrain v UAE
* The top three teams progress to the Asia Qualifier
Andor
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tony%20Gilroy%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDiego%20Luna%2C%20Genevieve%20O'Reilly%2C%20Alex%20Ferns%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%205%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Profile
Co-founders of the company: Vilhelm Hedberg and Ravi Bhusari
Launch year: In 2016 ekar launched and signed an agreement with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. In January 2017 ekar launched in Dubai in a partnership with the RTA.
Number of employees: Over 50
Financing stage: Series B currently being finalised
Investors: Series A - Audacia Capital
Sector of operation: Transport
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
