UAE’s path from rags to riches retold

In his memoir, Rags to Riches: A story of Abu Dhabi, Muhammed Al Fahim Al Fahim describes a Bedouin society a world apart to the dynamic one of today.

“For us who were born here … this is a dream come true,” says Mr Al Fahim. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

ABU DHABI // A dozen or so children flash a toothy grin for the first school photograph taken in the capital.

Some of them became the ministers, ambassadors and government undersecretaries who have helped to shape Abu Dhabi and turned the UAE into what it is today.

In his memoir, Rags to Riches: A Story of Abu Dhabi, Muhammed Al Fahim, who was among those students standing in the sand in the grainy black-and-white photo taken in Abu Dhabi in 1959, describes a Bedouin society comprising just 1,800 people.

In his lecture at Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, Mr Al Fahim took the audience back to a time when every child ran barefoot on the sand.

“For a lot of you who have come to the country in the last five, 10, 15 years, you came, you saw the country and its roots, its gardens, its buildings, its modern infrastructure,” said Mr Al Fahim, who led the family-held Al Fahim Group before writing a historical account of Abu Dhabi’s development in his retirement. “It has not always been like this.

“For us who were born here and lived here this is a dream come true. In fact, we could not have dreamt something like this – to see in Abu Dhabi what you see today.”

In the days when oil was yet to be found, fishing and pearl diving were the only occupations available to a man who had to provide for his family.

It was a society that had no streets, cars, running water, electricity, schools, hospitals, or infrastructure.

In 1959 when the first teacher asked the children what they wanted to be when they grew up, the question dumbfounded the class, said Mr Al Fahim.

“Most of us wanted to become drivers because we thought that driving a car was just a big thing,” he said.

“None of us wanted to become doctors. We did not even know we could become doctors, teachers, ambassadors or ministers.”

That all changed when Sheikh Zayed, the founding President of the UAE, became the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, said Mr Al Fahim.

Sheikh Zayed’s robust and dynamic vision helped to develop the emirate beyond everyone’s wildest dreams, he said.

Education was the late President’s greatest passion, and he made sure that the first batch of schoolchildren had access to international teachers, while he worked to build schools and universities.

Sheikh Zayed, who woke up at 4am daily, was known for working 18-hour days with an architect whose ambitious blueprints shaped Abu Dhabi’s transformation over the years.

Mr Al Fahim also spoke about the hurdles that Sheikh Zayed had to overcome in persuading the Rulers of the other emirates to form a federation.

Sheikh Zayed’s legendary generosity in providing every Abu Dhabi resident with housing, electricity, education and entertainment like they were part of his family inspired a generation to serve the country, said Mr Al Fahim.

His father, a close friend of Sheikh Zayed, was among those who helped to lay the foundation of Abu Dhabi’s symbolic birthplace – Qasr Al Hosn, which eponymous annual festival celebrates the UAE’s r2ich culture and history.