Clean up UAE 2009

Last Saturday I volunteered with several co-workers for the 8th Annual Clean up UAE campaign for the Emirates Environmental Group. It was more of an awareness drive than an actual "clean up" but thousands volunteers came out so in that regard, it was a success (assuming they each take the message to heart.)

The UAE is not a particularly dirty country although, when you leave the city, there is quite a bit of litter on the road side which is a pity. There is a propensity in this part of the world for people to leave their rubbish around for someone else to pick up, usually a low paid SE Asian worker. I am still in the habit of locating the nearest trash bin for my garbage and clearing my own tray at the food court. The concept of recycling is in its infancy here but gaining momentum so programs and facilities are slowly becoming main stream. It still feels very wrong to throw a piece of paper in a garbage can.

For the clean up campaign, I took my video camera and created a mini-movie of our activities:

Iraqi Fish and My New Little Friend(s)

If you happened to read my blog back in October, you may remember a rather worrisome situation for my colleague who was visiting his family in Iraq. His father had gone missing.

Fortunately, after more than 2 weeks, he was located in a hospital, alive, somewhat disoriented but recovering. The exact circumstances of his hiatus are not clear but at least they have him back in one piece ... hamdula!

My colleague is now back in Dubai and back at work. Several weeks ago, he invited me for dinner at his home for some "Iraqi fish". Every Wednesday they have it (it is imported from Iraq) and his wife had prepared several other dishes which were very tasty (which I can't remember what they all were!) followed by some Iraqi sweets. We had a nice visit and I got to dote over his little son, Omar.



Omar is just over one year old now, cute as a button but a little wary of blonde-haired people (hasn't seen them often in his young little life).

Later in the evening, he warmed up a little. Plunked himself down next to me on the couch and proceeded to liberate the Patchi chocolates from their box.

Lucky for me, they invited me to stop by and visit again if I am in the neighborhood (which I may just do if only for the yummy food!) Ironically they live near the intersection of Baghdad Street and Beiruit Street. My colleague is Iraqi and his wife is Lebanese.

And still on the subject of other people's kids, another colleague here also sends pictures of his little girl, Lilly (but he never brings her to the office ... now how'm I s'posed to spoil her???)

View from the Balcony

Post-movie Footnote: K, I made this video in the morning before that first cup of coffee and baileys. For some reason, I thought it was Wednesday (it’s not, it is Thursday!). Not such a big deal for the mini-movie, much more of a problem for my deadline next week … one less day to complete things! Doh!

UAE National Day Part 2 - The Flag

The UAE Flag

The National, an English-language daily here ran a nice article last week about the man who is credited with creating the UAE national flag:

When Abdulla al Maainah saw details of a competition in a newspaper 38 years ago, he knew he had to participate. The advertisement came out of Sheikh Zayed’s royal diwan, and it solicited entries from artists to submit flag designs. The unification of the emirates was to be announced three months later, and the grand occasion was still missing an official flag.

He recalls the time leading up to the birth of his nation when, aged 19, he submitted his designs for the country’s flag.

“There was a day or two left for the deadline in the ad, and I didn’t have the right equipment. So I rushed out to get what I needed, and in one night I stayed up and drew my designs, and put them in an album and worried about not making the deadline.”

He entered six designs in the competition, which, according to him, drew a total of 1,030 designs. The committee in charge of choosing the winning design narrowed down the entries to six; among them was one of al Maainah’s flags.

“The papers ran the six nominated designs, but back then, all papers were in black and white. So I wasn’t certain that one of the flags was mine. It looked like mine, but there were no colours, so I couldn’t know for certain.”

But back then, al Maainah says, there was no real fanfare to commemorate the occasion. No one contacted him to inform him his design was one of six being considered, and when his design was finally chosen for the country’s flag, no one threw the usual high-honour festivities that we might expect today. He did not even know for sure that it was his design until he travelled down to the Mushrif Palace, where the flag was raised at the announcement of the unification.

“One day after announcing the unification, I was still unsure that it was my design,” he reveals. “None of the announcements were in colour. So I went down to the Mushrif Palace to see for myself. I recognised it right away when I saw it. It was my design. I was so happy. People were excited about the unification, but I was the happiest of all.”

The colours and stripes of the current flag have specific meaning, and nothing in the design came about by accident. The observant eye might notice the colour theme of the flag is also present in most Arab flags, and there is historical reason for this.

“The colours represent the colours of the Arab revolution,” al Maainah explains. He is referring to the Arab Revolt of 1916, initiated by Sherif Hussein ibn Ali, who worked closely with Lawrence of Arabia, against the Ottoman Empire, with the aim of establishing an Arab state that would have spanned from Turkey’s current southern border to Yemen.

The four colours in the flag are known as the pan-Arab colours, and are present in six other flags that represent Arab nations: Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Sudan and Palestine. Other Arab flags incorporate some combination of these colours.

Rooted in the flag of the Arab Revolt, the four colours each represent an era in the region since the inception of Islam.

Black is for the early years of Islam, which includes the time of the Prophet and the first two caliphates: the Umayyads based in Damascus followed by the Abbasids based in Baghdad. The latter’s rule continued from 750AD to 1258AD, and reached as far west as modern day Algeria to as far east as India.

Green represents the Fatimids Caliphate, which ruled out of Egypt from 909AD to 1171AD over an area that spanned all of north Africa, the west coast of the Arabian Penninsula, the Levant, as well as Malta and Sicily.

Red was the colour of the Ottoman flag. Before unification, the emirates had a red and white flag. White represents both a concept and a historic period.

“White is for philanthropy,” says al Maainah. “It’s for charity and good deeds. The white flag also has its own sacredness. It represents the sovereignty of the state, and gives one a sense of pride.”

Flag graphics from WorldAtlas.com

Happy (Belated) UAE National Day (Part 1)

The 38th National Day for the United Arab Emirates was on December 2 (I was away on vacation on that day so I missed the festivities). In honour of the occasion, a little background on how the UAE came to be ...

History of the UAE from the beginning until now ... executive summary:

I have been reading a book on the history of this region for the past 2 years and frankly, have yet to finish it. But I'll distill it down for your benefit to 60 seconds or less:

5500 BCE, the Neolithic period: Earliest known human habitation. Trade on land and sea: copper from the Hajar Mountains, agriculture, pearls and domestication of the camel.

630 AD(?): The arrival of the prophet Muhammad, non-Muslims are defeated and Islam triumphs in the Arabian Peninsula.

637 AD: Conquest of Iran.

Early 16th Century: Conquered and controlled by the Portugese looking for a trade route to the spices of Asia.

Late 16th Century: Conquered and controlled by the Ottomans (also known as the Turks).

17th to 19th Centuries: The region becomes known as "Pirate Coast". To combat the rampant harassment of their fleets, the British form an agreement with the Trucial Sheikhdoms for perpetual maritime peace in exchange for British naval protection.

19th and 20th Centuries: Pearls are a major export. WWI, the great depression, the Japanese invention of the cultured pearl and heavy taxation in foreign markets destroys the pearl industry. UAE falls on hard times.

1958: The discovery of bubblin' crude. Oil that is. Black gold. Texas tea. Exports begin from Abu Dhabi in 1962 and several years later from Dubai. The Emirates start building infrastructure to improve the quality of life of its people. The sheikhs of the emirates along with Bahrain and Qatar get together and decide to coordinate matters themselves, taking over control from the British (in hind sight, a pretty shrewd move!)

December 1971: The Brits pull out. Bahrain and Qatar go their own separate ways. Abu Dhabi and Dubai hook up with 4 other Emirates and the UAE is born. The 7th and last Emirate (Ras al Khaimah) signs on the dotted line several months later.

1950's to present: Unsettled land claims with Oman and Saudi Arabia. In the latter, the two counties are separated by Rub' al Khali, "the empty quarter", a virtually uninhabitable desert but contains several oases with significant ground water. There is also dispute over the 19km deliniation with Qatar and the ownership of numerous islands in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz are the most contensious of all (most notably Abu Musa with Iran ... as 5 British sailors recently found out.)

May 1981: UAE is a founding member of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) along with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman.

September 11, 2001: Two of the 9/11 hijackers on the jet that crashes WTC South Tower are UAE citizens (I did not know that until today). There are were no other Emirati casualties.

November 2009: Dubai is broke. Err, well, maybe not exactly broke per say ... its just that the cashflow is flowing in an unfavourable direction if the rumours are true. But hey, let's not let that ruin a good National Day celebration!