ABU DHABI // Hamda Al Mansoori will always remember Monday – it was the day she met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.
Hamda, 33, a student at the Abu Dhabi Centre for Special Needs, and seven friends were received by Sheikh Mohammed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
He asked them what they wish-ed for and when it came to her turn, Hamda, who has cerebral palsy and has to use a wheelchair, started to cry.
“Sheikh Mohammed actually got a tissue, bent down and wiped my tears away,” she said. “I have never encountered such humbleness. He asked me not to cry and said ‘Ameri’ [order me].”
Hamda has a husband and young son, and asked the Crown Prince for a house. “He told me, ‘Consider it done’. He called someone and instructed him to take all our requests.
“I have struggled my whole life, to get married, to get an education, to raise my son. But at this moment I felt like I was so lucky and everything was worth it.
“Sheikh Mohammed was proud of me and he listened to all of my struggles. I keep repeating this moment in my mind. I still can’t believe it. I feel like I’m above the clouds.”
The meeting came after her fellow student, Humaid Al Mehri, wrote a letter to The National telling of his dream to meet Sheikh Mohammed.
The school was contacted immediately after Humaid’s story was published, and the Crown Prince was only too happy to set aside time in his busy schedule.
His guests called the visit the happiest moment in their lives.
“I knew he would come to see me once he found out,” said Humaid, who has mental disabilities. “Every time he visited the centre I would miss seeing him but I finally got my chance.
“My heart was beating so fast and I didn’t know what to say. My friends started crying.”
The students had various requests, including houses, jobs, and cars fitted out for the disabled.
Yousef Al Kithiri, 23, said Sheikh Mohammed told them, “I’ve freed myself for you, tell me how I can help you all.”
Mr Al Kithiri’s mother said her son asked for a job in the media and a modified car.
He had knitted a scarf for the Crown Prince more than two years ago and had been carrying it around, hoping he would some day be able to give it to Sheikh Mohammed.
“I’ve never seen him so happy in his life,” she said. “He came through the doors yelling ‘I met the Sheikh, I met Sheikh Mohammed and I put the scarf around his shoulders’.”
The students posted photos of their encounter almost immediately on social media.
“They have never been so happy,” said Nawal Al Ameri, a teacher at the centre. “Something like this will remain in their memories forever and will have such a huge impact on their lives.
“This is what most people don’t understand. It’s more special for a person with special needs because they will never forget it.
“The memory will always give them immense joy and they will constantly talk about it. It is a boost to their morale and confidence.”
salnuwais@thenational.ae
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
