Helping others

 
Since we started our Facebook page for charity, I have been getting so much interest in the concept and people were wondering why on earth they didn't think of that concept before. Basically the page is called "kill poverty by education" and that is exactly what the charity is supposed to do, we will eradicate poverty by educating people.  

Education is not just in terms of receiving qualification whether it being high school or university, it could be vocational, special skills, micro finance and so on.  We were supposed to establish a charity that will have members that can pay nominal amounts, members who can teach, and members who will run the management and promotion of the charity itself.  Think about it, if we have 1000,000 people who will pay 10 dollars, that is ten million dollars, think of how much we will achieve with this amount; phenomenal result.  

We are not going to take the place of the governments, as they are doing what they can, but we will be in the midst of the villages, talking to parents of low socio economic background, finding out what is missing in their lives, what speciality that village has in terms of handicraft and skills, and we will exploit those specialities. We will impose a home learning arenas so the kids and the parents do not have excuses that prevents them from learning. For example I heard that in some families the girls do not go to schools due to shortage of Abayas, we will have an abundance Abayas so the girls will not excuses either. Also we heard that some families do not send their boys to school as they need them to make money from jobs like washing cars, carrying the bags of shoppers and other menial jobs that kids should be prevented from doing as it is child labour.  

The problem! Well of course we will face problems, firstly we must register the charity organisation, something that will take forever. Secondly the trust and ethics, are we all going to be trusted by others that we will practice what we preach? Not sure really, as money turns the person upside down, and changes the hearts from a loving organ to an evil.  Governance is a huge issue to me, and that is the reason for being so agitated with charity organisations, especially when I heard that 70% of the funds goes towards organisational matters, and only 30% is actually provided to the cause.  So how do we turn this around? This is the question of the century. 

Of course on a small scale I am involved now in finding funds to send some high ranking students abroad, and this too have been a tiring experience, as no one have so far came forward easily with funds that will be sufficient to help those students finish their studies.  Well, I am not giving up, one day we will work it out and prove that what we are trying to do is an essential part of this organisation. 

Spa experience

If there is anything that I really enjoy on this earth, it's my kids company, their vibrancy, intelligence and creativity.  Of course, I enjoy my husband's silence!!!!! However there is always the enjoyment of Spas, wherever they are located, whether in Europe, Fareast of next to my house. Once you enter them, it's a different world born just to ensure your ultimate comfort and relaxation. I wonder who invented the idea of the spas, but if I see him or her i will give them a hug and a kiss.  

Of course don't take me wrong, I am not the type who frequents these joints, my busy schedule prevents me from it, I would love to go everyday surely, however time is of the essence, as one would need at least a day or two to taste the variety of treatments on offer.  

Today's experience is wonderful, my son insisted that I try the Moroccan bath,  which I thought it would give me a slimy feeling, however it didn't. I went to my son in laws spa called Elaf, in an area of bahrain that is full of doctors, hostpitals and of course an unlimited number of cafes that Bahrain is k own for.  the whole bath took at least 2 hours, and the various creams, soups. Henna, chocolate and mystic essence of the Arab world was applied to my body, and then came the scrubbing, which I thought I would hate or will be ticklish, on the contrary, it was marvellous.  I am not going to mention the amount of dead skin that came off after the strenuous scrubbing by the 52 years old lady, I think I lost few kilos after that (oh, I must weigh myself) and the colour of that dead skin was black. My colour is fair, and I shower twice a day some times more when the hot flush strikes! So I am wondering where on earth did that dark dirty skin have come from? It must have been buried under my skin, I felt light and jumpy, I could roam the cities of the world barefoot would out feeling tired.  

Thanks Jihad and Zainab for the treat, you must do it often!

面館 Miàn guǎn

I am sure you will say now that I have become a real Chinese person. Not really I have used good old Google-translate to find the Chinese name for Noodle House.

Well, you have certainly dined once or twice at least in this delicious restaurant, the first one is located in Emrates Towers, and since it's huge success, it has been copied by @jumeirah in many locations. My kids love it, and off late we do not go to a Chinese authentic place, we would rather have our favourite dishes from NH? Also many have frequented the restaurant because Sheikh Mo has his lunch there, so if someone wanted to meet him for any reason, they would hang around the place and talk to him, if I were Sheikh Mo I will have indigestion seeing all of these people who want something or the other from me, and would be stressed out thinking where will I go if I need something??

Anyway, the success of this joint didn't stop in Dubai. Guess where next its going? Ok, we all know that chow mien is the Chinese territory, along with copying everything on planet earth, and making a list of the items they want to shop for when they travel?? (I never did that by the way), so we shouldn't be surprised when I tell you that Dubai's famous Noodle House is going to open it's doors to the authentic Chinese people. Will they frequent it? Maybe we will have a similar strategy there and invite Moe tse tong or whoever is their ruler and give him free lunches so the chinoi will go there to see and ask for their problems to be solved.

What I am trying to say here is that Dubai had always been a pioneer in adapting an already existing idea and building on it to make it a successful venture. There are only a few countries in the world that can do this, Dubai is certainly the best in doing this, so I am warning you Chinese people, keep the secrets of those dumsums and smoked ducks as Dubai is invading your territory.

Of course I had only found out the reason for many of the top hotels, brands, shops, restaurants open in China, apparently the Chinese people are tourists in their own countries, and always buy the best, spend the most and know what they want. Talk about lowly Arabs who run with their Tolllies in Primark and fill it with all the junks that is there without thinking whether they need those things or not, unfortunately though in London you cannot have a noodle soup from Noodle House after a a long day of shopping, hehe, just kidding.

Dubai Art Scene

Not sure if you guys know the area in Dubai called Al Quoz, it was one of the areas that was infected with cockroaches, rats, cheaply paid labourers and dirty factories. Over the years we have avoided going there unless we really need to repair our cars in one of its hundreds of car repair shops; also in those days, if you are coming from Abu Dhabi side first you would pass the racecourse, then a complete nothing then you will see the scattered shacks that were considered warehouses and factories.


In the past few years that area started to have a new face, it is now a scene to art galleries, museums, expensive artifacts in the country. Courtyard, Jamjar and many others have their exclusive art galleries in Al Quoz area, but suddenly I get invited to a place called the Shelter, not easy to find in the beginning as it is hidden inside a huge warehouse-like building called Serkal Avenue. What is really weird is that once you are inside this huge warehouse looking building you will find rows and rows of art galleries as if you are in the midst of New york, Barcelona or Paris, and the people that own these galleries are not really known to me, except one of the oldest gallery in Dubai that used to be near our old house in Jumeirah, now it had moved there too and had the opening of the art show of a Syrian artist called Ziad Dalloul, really stunning pieces but really gloomy too, in actual fact it resembled the situation in Syria as we speak. One of the owners is my friend Amna, who recognized the opportunity 25 years ago, when she established the first gallery in Dubai (there was another one in Abu Dhabi too). here are some photos of the art pieces:

Anyway, when I talked to the co-owner of the gallery about my brother and his wife (who are both great artists but not known) and the possibility of having their art at the gallery, signed my name and wondered around to see the other galleries. The scene was astonishing, it was as if every who and who in the country was there, every magazine, every photographer, shaikhs, ambassadors,artists, us the unknown, and buyers of art where there. Even the food and drink on display and distribution was amazing (apart from the fact that they were even serving champagne which I almost took but knowing me I asked the waiter if it is was sparkling juice or alcoholic drink and she nodded, so I asked her to get me watermelon juice). After wondering around the place I spotted a person that I knew, started to chat with her about art, and why we all love it, then she introduced me to her french friends who were artist and we decided to meet to discuss how to make these artists and my brother and his wife known too.


Sorry if I am digressing here, but the whole thing is fascinating to me as I used to travel abroad just to get a culture injection, now one doesn't need to do that, as you can find all sorts of things that you need to make your mind wonder few meters away from your house, or your place of work. I do feel however that there should be a directory of artists same as we would have a directory of doctors, dentists, accountants, inventors and so on. Art is as important as other forms science, the expressions of all artists is as important as the creation of new gadgets, why wouldn't we encourage all of them to step forward and register themselves? Who knows, maybe soon we will have a Salvador Dally or a Picasso amongst us.

The following images are for my nephews and nieces learning to drew and the teacher is my sister in law:

And this too is art, but drawn on faces, these two boys are my nephews who are living in Bahrain, who were portraying the Arab spring over there in a Halloween fashion:

Significance of Dates

Today is 11-11-11, my birthday this year was 11-1-11, some more recurrences like this happened this year, last year and will happen next year too. Why are we all happy about this, and why are all my BB contacts, facebook contacts, linkedin contacts, twitter contacts, whatapp contacts and the umpteen number of contacts celebrating these dates and mentioning them all the time? Why are numbers make huge differences and provide happiness or sadness in people's lives? Why are we happy to celebrate our birthdays when we were young, and sad that we are getting older when we are old. Why do we celebrate anniversaries in the opposite ways? why do we link what is happening in our lives to numbers and always have associations with numbers? my car number, number of cars I had during my life, bank account number, phone number or numbers, number of bank notes I spent on a certain item, number of bags I have, number of shoes I have, or would love to have (that is my daughter's line), number of wives I want to have (that would be my husband's line hehe), number of certificates I want, number of houses that generate me too many numbers of bank notes. This can go on and on. so you see, we are always linked with numbers?

What is the significance? Can someone tell me?

I picked for you some links: World set to celebrate 11.11.11