DUBAI // For the poorest of the poor in Syria and Kenya, Soroya Janmohamed is the best hope in sight.
Mrs Janmohamed, a Dubai-based optometrist and the owner of Capital Opticians, has run annual eye camps in both countries for 15 years, testing vision and handing out free prescriptions to those who need them.
She recently returned from a successful tour of Syria, where she visited Salamiya, Hama and Masyaf, diagnosed 3,000 patients, and fitted 2,000 with prescription lenses.
Her team relies on donations from UAE residents of unwanted glasses and frames, both new and old. They were short by 1,000 frames this year, but hope to be able to ship to locally based specialists within the next two weeks.
“The eye care situation in parts of Syria is very underdeveloped and the places that I went to were very poor villages,” Mrs Janmohamed said. “We’ve seen an increase in patients and there are so many more that need attention. Unfortunately, we cannot see everybody, so we started with the most needy. The Syrian Red Crescent has also been very helpful.”
Devakhni Sureshkumar, a part-time optometrist in Dubai, collects glasses and frames to help Mrs Janmohamed. She transports donations herself to Chennai, India, and then travels on to poor villages to distribute them.
“We see anywhere between 500 and 1,000 patients. Some are unaware they even need glasses,” Mrs Sureshkumar said.
Despite her good work, she said she faces recurring problems with customs in India. “Many times we face difficulties in India and pay fees, even though the donations are not used for commercial reasons and we have the necessary papers to identify the goods as charity,” she said.
Mrs Sureshkumar often has to dip into cash donations initially put aside to buy lenses. Fees can cost anywhere up to the equivalent of Dh800. “We hope this issue will be resolved quickly,” she said. “In the meantime, we are also appealing to companies to donate lenses.”
The camps in India are usually conducted at a school over three days, They include a team of at least 10 locally based optometrists.
Juha Karjalainan, a Dubai resident from Finland, donated his old frames as soon as he heard about the eye camps and the need. “My wife and I donated a bunch of sunglasses and eyeglasses that we no longer need,” Mr Karjalainan said. “I really hope they are beneficial to people who need them and we will continue to donate in the future.”
Mrs Janmohamed said the reactions they receive from patients are priceless. “When someone cannot see and you give them glasses, they suddenly have a clear vision of the world and are left speechless. These are the best reactions I’ve seen,” she said.
Mrs Janmohamed hopes to team up with a local charity to offer free eye camps to Dubai labourers beginning next year.
“Labourers do need help. I don’t think they have eye tests, because it is not part of the medical for the visa. We could be preventing accidents from happening,” she said.
For more information, or to donate your old frames, visit Capital Opticians at Al Fattan Shopping Mall on JBR Walk in Dubai Marina, or call 04 399 5222.
melshoush@thenational.ae
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
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.”
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
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
