A book of inspiring good deeds performed by UAE residents will be published by the end of the year and distributed among the country’s schools.
The Good Deeds book, which will be launched by the Abu Dhabi social responsibility organisation Nahtam, aims to show children and the general public the many acts of goodness that can be performed towards society.
For Saima Khan, a 19-year-old Dubai-born Indian citizen, tackling global poverty is at the heart of her efforts. “It is the first goal of the United Nations and it’s much more than just hunger,” said the first youth delegate of the UN from the UAE.
“If you see the UN Sustainable Development Goals, they have global poverty as number one and zero hunger too. It’s a vast term and everyone should have a basic standard of living.”
Miss Khan, who is also the brand ambassador of the Thirst Relief Foundation and Protect Your Mom campaign, started her humanitarian work at only 13.
“In India, you walk out and see children starving and dying of hunger almost every day,” she said. “It’s a very casual sight. The amount of food wasted there is also very high so I wanted to help solve a problem between that link.”
Through the company she founded Step Up Dubai and has so far managed to set up water wells in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan with plans for another 50 over the next year in 30 poverty-stricken countries. “I kept visiting labour camps and realised they’ve been deprived of basic sanitation items and food so I became very attached to this goal,” she said. “There was a need to pay attention to this.”
Aaditya and Aditi Gandhi, 11 and 9 respectively, chose to share their passion of reading after being inspired by the UAE’s “Year of Reading” campaign last year.
They turned their living room into a free neighbourhood library for children living in Bur Dubai. “They had 300 books from their own collection,” said Puja Gandhi, their mother. “They would invite children in our living room and now we have about 500 books in the library in Arabic, French, Hindi and English. They also initiate different events through this library for recycling, breast cancer awareness, collecting clothes for the Red Crescent over summer and creative writing for children.”
She said the public library did not seem good enough. “They had a huge collection of books and we were wondering how others could make use of it,” Mrs Gandhi said. “My son came up with the idea as they started reading from an early age and it is their passion to collect books.”
For Essa Al Ansari, fitness is the way forward. After the 25-year-old Emirati from Dubai was diagnosed as obese four years ago, he decided to change his life and become active.
“So far, I’ve lost 70 kgs in four years with no operation, only by eating healthy and working out,” said the Nike Athlete, who also works at Barry’s Bootcamp.
“After that, I started my campaign Fitness With Essa on social media and through a website. Living in Europe for four years made me realise how much more active people are there while here, it’s all about getting in cabs and getting from A to B so this is targeted to inspire the young generation and the youth of the UAE.”
He hopes to become an international motivational speaker to promote health and fitness after participating in a Ted talk in Dubai. “I am glad to be part of "Beacon Of Hope UAE" founded by Sheikha Shamma bin Sultan which aims to make a positive impact on youth living,” he said. “It is all about helping young generations to live healthier lives. As one of the board members, I’m sure it will be a great cause to push children in schools to become healthy and active.”
The book is expected to be published by the end of September. It will be free across schools in the UAE. “We have 35 stories in English and Arabic,” said George Itty, chief executive of Nahtam. “We did one book called 67 Inspiring Stories in the name of Nelson Mandela a few years ago and the feedback from the general public was very successful. That’s what motivated us to create this one.”
He received more than 700 applications for Good Deeds. “I feel very happy when the writers talk to us,” he said. “It’s just a matter that there are people who are doing good. If you give them an opportunity, everybody will participate because they like to do community work and they all have humanity in them so it’s just a matter of polishing it and giving them a push.”
School counsellors on mental well-being
Schools counsellors in Abu Dhabi have put a number of provisions in place to help support pupils returning to the classroom next week.
Many children will resume in-person lessons for the first time in 10 months and parents previously raised concerns about the long-term effects of distance learning.
Schools leaders and counsellors said extra support will be offered to anyone that needs it. Additionally, heads of years will be on hand to offer advice or coping mechanisms to ease any concerns.
“Anxiety this time round has really spiralled, more so than from the first lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic,” said Priya Mitchell, counsellor at The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi.
“Some have got used to being at home don’t want to go back, while others are desperate to get back.
“We have seen an increase in depressive symptoms, especially with older pupils, and self-harm is starting younger.
“It is worrying and has taught us how important it is that we prioritise mental well-being.”
Ms Mitchell said she was liaising more with heads of year so they can support and offer advice to pupils if the demand is there.
The school will also carry out mental well-being checks so they can pick up on any behavioural patterns and put interventions in place to help pupils.
At Raha International School, the well-being team has provided parents with assessment surveys to see how they can support students at home to transition back to school.
“They have created a Well-being Resource Bank that parents have access to on information on various domains of mental health for students and families,” a team member said.
“Our pastoral team have been working with students to help ease the transition and reduce anxiety that [pupils] may experience after some have been nearly a year off campus.
"Special secondary tutorial classes have also focused on preparing students for their return; going over new guidelines, expectations and daily schedules.”
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
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