DUBAI// Benazeer Khanam faced an agonising decision last year. She could stay in the UAE and struggle to provide for her son, Noamaan, who has severe autism. Or she could return to India to find affordable care - saying goodbye to her home and leaving behind her husband, an engineer in Sharjah. She prayed every day for a solution.
Her deliverance came via a scholarship from START, a non-profit organisation that works with underprivileged children.
The scholarship - awarded last year and renewed this month - pays for Noamaan's educational, occupational and speech therapy sessions at the Dubai Autism Centre. The aid allowed his parents to increase his sessions from three to nine hours a week. It also ended thoughts of splitting the family.
"I don't have words to explain that feeling," said Ms Khanam, 32. "Because we were about to get separated, our family. And because of START, we are together now."
Noamaan, now 7, is one of three recipients of this year's START scholarship, which provides educational or vocational support depending on need.
For Safiea Ahmed Khalfan, 25, who grew up in an orphanage in Al Ain, the scholarship will fund 18 months of internships, mentoring and training.
"I was very, very happy and excited - and proud of myself," said Ms Khalfan, an HR management major at Emirates College of Technology. Scheduled to graduate in May, she hopes the scholarship experience will help her to find a full-time job.
"I want to get the knowledge and skills that will make me independent and successful," she said.
The third scholarship recipient is Dana Saleh, a young woman in Jordan who wants to study interior design. The scholarship will fund her college tuition, housing and living expenses.
START was founded in 2007 to provide art education to refugees, children with special needs and other vulnerable young people. The organisation offers regular art workshops in the UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, India and the Palestinian territories. This is the third year that START has also offered extended scholarships, which do not have to involve art.
"It's really to give the candidate themselves a shot to do something, change their situation, use their talent," said Tanaz Dizadji, START's director.
Ms Khalfan impressed START with her ambition and optimism.
"We interviewed quite a few candidates, but Safiea, she shines," Ms Dizadji said.
Dar Zayed for Family Care, where Ms Khalfan was brought up, is the UAE's largest orphanage. Dar Zayed children receive UAE nationality, and girls can remain with the orphanage until they marry.
"There are advantages and disadvantages, but mostly you feel that you are growing up alone," Ms Khalfan said. "But you have to be strong for yourself. I don't have anybody to stay with me. I have to be strong."
She lived in the orphanage's main branch in Al Ain until she was a teenager, then moved to Abu Dhabi, where she lives in a villa with other young women from Dar Zayed.
For 2011 scholarship winner James Casaki, the experience was a stepping stone to finding a job. Mr Casaki, now 25, loves to draw and paint but has a rare congenital condition called Kabuki syndrome. The scholarship enabled him to leave Dubai Centre for Special Needs and pursue his passion.
"It was an amazing experience for me, just to get out there and to do my art," said Mr Casaki, who was born in England and moved to the UAE when he was 17.
During his scholarship year, he interned with arts organisations around Dubai. He now works at the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre. The scholarship was not easy for Mr Casaki, but it opened a new world.
"It was a lot of hard work," he said. "But I got through it."
vnereim@thenational.ae
THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS
AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas
DevisionX – manufacturing
Event Gates – security and manufacturing
Farmdar – agriculture
Farmin – smart cities
Greener Crop – agriculture
Ipera.ai – space digitisation
Lune Technologies – fibre-optics
Monak – delivery
NutzenTech – environment
Nybl – machine learning
Occicor – shelf management
Olymon Solutions – smart automation
Pivony – user-generated data
PowerDev – energy big data
Sav – finance
Searover – renewables
Swftbox – delivery
Trade Capital Partners – FinTech
Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment
Workfam – employee engagement
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEjari%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EYazeed%20Al%20Shamsi%2C%20Fahad%20Albedah%2C%20Mohammed%20Alkhelewy%20and%20Khalid%20Almunif%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPropTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%241%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESanabil%20500%20Mena%2C%20Hambro%20Perks'%20Oryx%20Fund%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
India squad
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, K.L. Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.
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Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
A Long Way Home by Peter Carey
Faber & Faber
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Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions