AJMAN // Little Halla El Hassan Bakar is celebrating her second birthday without her brothers, Suhail and Ali, more than a year after the triplets were poisoned in a pesticide accident in Ajman.
Halla inhaled some of the dangerous chemicals that killed her brothers that day in March last year and spent two days recovering in hospital. Halla and her parents, El Hassan Bakar and his wife Jameela Ihsan, have since moved to Abu Dhabi.
Yesterday, she celebrated her birthday in a restaurant in the capital, apparently unaffected by the tragic events.
"Halla is growing up so fast," said her father. "She is very smart and likes to play with pens and pencils. Sometimes she paints something and calls me to see. I wish she could grow up to be an architect."
Mr Bakar said although Halla was too young to have any concrete memories of her brothers, he could see her react when he showed her their photographs.
"If you leave her with an album, you will find she has opened a page with pictures of her brothers, looking in contemplation like an adult person," he said. "But what we are trying to do is to help her not feel like she lost her two brothers, not to make her sad."
The company responsible for spraying the pesticide in the house next to the Bakars' home, Al Fawaz Pest Control, has been shut down.
Ajman Court of First Instance found the company's manager and two assistants guilty of killing Suhail and Ali. Judge Hamadi Al Shaali handed down four-year sentences and ordered them to pay blood money of Dh400,000. The verdict was later appealed and reduced to six months in prison.
A spokesman for the Ajman courts said the men were still in prison because they had not yet paid the blood money.
Tariq Al Rashid, the director of Ajman Public Prosecution, said in an investigative report that the deaths were caused by the using concentrated pesticides instead of at the recommended strength.
"The fumigant used by the workers was among those prohibited as it contained aluminium and zinc phosphides," Mr Al Rashid's reportsaid.
Izziddin Khader, the managing partner at Technical Agriculture Establishment in Al Ain, said untrained people should avoid handling chemicals as they can be dangerous even if there are no immediate effects.
"Most of these pesticides are accumulated in the liver and other internal parts of the body," Mr Khader said. "After some time - it could be days, it could be years - they will start creating problems and no one realises where this comes from."
In November 2009, the Ministry of Environment and Water banned 167 chemicals because they were deemed to be too dangerous for people and the environment, and had harmful long-term effects. Another 32 substances can only be used under the supervision of qualified people.
But the regulations are not often enforced, leaving people and the environment at risk, industry experts have said.
They say violations such as selling substances banned in the UAE or selling highly specialised chemicals to unqualified people are common.
Mr Bakar said he had spent long hours considering how he would tell Halla about Suhail and Ali when she was old enough.
Keeping it a secret would hurt her when she finally learnt the truth, he said, but he was unsure of the appropriate age to explain it to her.
Ms Ihsan said the tragedy would never leave her, but she was thankful to see Halla every day.
"I don't even know what to say but I am really happy to see Halla growing up," Ms Ihsan said.
Mr Bakar said the death of his sons completely changed his life, making even everyday work difficult.
"The more I try to forget it and move on, the more I remember it," he said. "It is something I would not like any other family to go through."
He said he wanted authorities to ensure the calamity that befell his family did not happen to thers.
"I have myself met several officials from the Ministry of Environment and urged them to do their best not to allow harmful pesticide entering into the country," Mr Bakar said.
"Many have assured me it won't happen again and promised they were still investigating how exactly those pesticides that killed my two sons entered the UAE."
ykakande@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Vesela Todorova
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying or online bullying could take many forms such as sending unkind or rude messages to someone, socially isolating people from groups, sharing embarrassing pictures of them, or spreading rumors about them.
Cyberbullying can take place on various platforms such as messages, on social media, on group chats, or games.
Parents should watch out for behavioural changes in their children.
When children are being bullied they they may be feel embarrassed and isolated, so parents should watch out for signs of signs of depression and anxiety
How to get exposure to gold
Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.
A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.
Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.
Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.
London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long
However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Stage 2
1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) Alpecin-Fenix 4:18:30
2. Tadej Pogacar (SLV) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:06
3. Primoz Roglic (SLV) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:06
4. Wilco Kelderman (NED) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:06
5. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:08
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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.”
Muslim Council of Elders condemns terrorism on religious sites
The Muslim Council of Elders has strongly condemned the criminal attacks on religious sites in Britain.
It firmly rejected “acts of terrorism, which constitute a flagrant violation of the sanctity of houses of worship”.
“Attacking places of worship is a form of terrorism and extremism that threatens peace and stability within societies,” it said.
The council also warned against the rise of hate speech, racism, extremism and Islamophobia. It urged the international community to join efforts to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
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
