ABU DHABI // Figures from the Ministry of Social Affairs have revealed the extent of divorce in the emirate.
A recent study shows more than 3,100 divorced women have registered for assistance from the ministry, with more than half of them in Al Ain.
They receive a monthly allowance but the assistance does not end there. The ministry also provides advice and training to “help them find their way”.
It spends more than Dh2 billion a year on 16 categories of citizens in need, including a monthly allowance of between Dh4,400 and Dh5,280 for divorced women.
The women also receive training to help them find jobs or to return to education, to help them establish themselves after the upheaval of divorce.
Osha Juma, 44, a mother of two who was divorced nine years ago after three years of marriage, had no idea of the assistance she would receive from the ministry, apart from the needed monthly allowance.
Her ex-husband provided for their children financially, but Ms Juma received nothing.
“The ministry has helped me find my way after I was lost and had nowhere and no one to go to for assistance,” she said.
“I came to them for financial help. I had nothing offered by the court. Initially I didn’t have a clue about what the ministry offers.
“When a woman is divorced, she gets weak and we need guidance to help us build ourselves again. We don’t have the knowledge of what we will lose and benefit from at the end of the day.”
Ms Juma was one of more than 3,147 divorcees registered with the ministry, a recent study shows.
The study revealed there were 1,581 divorcees who had applied for benefits in Al Ain, 678 in Baniyas and 569 in Abu Dhabi city.
In Al Shahama there were 247 registered with the ministry, 56 in Madinat Zayed and 16 on Delma Island.
“These are only the numbers registered at the ministry and include only those in the emirate of Abu Dhabi to receive social welfare,” said Jameela Hareb, director of the ministry’s cooperation department.
In 2007, the ministry shifted its focus from merely providing welfare to also helping recipients develop through programmes including job training.
“I didn’t only come for financial support, I wanted a job too,” Ms Juma said.
Before her marriage she worked as a model and cabin crew member for a UAE airline. She did not work while married and was unemployed for seven years.
The ministry offered her training in customer service and body language, then gave her a job as a receptionist.
“You lose confidence when you get divorced – they gave me confidence,” Ms Juma said. “They offered me a chance to start from the beginning again.
“They took me in and I started learning again. I want to help women who are in my situation.”
Ms Hareb said: “We collaborate with universities and institutions to send these women for training, and after training we offer them a job through Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council, all which have been successful attempts.
“We try to develop and train these women instead of just paying them. We also provide them with discounts for services such as taxi rides as well as a voucher of Dh500 for electricity and water bills.”
The ministry also looks after those struggling with the trauma of moving from married life back to that of a single woman and mother.
The Family Development Centre in Abu Dhabi works closely with the ministry and focuses on the psychological well-being of divorced women.
The centre will host workshops across the emirate on caring for children of divorce as part of their parenting programme Bidaya-Nihaya, or Beginning to End.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
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What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
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Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
A Bad Moms Christmas
Dir: John Lucas and Scott Moore
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines
Two stars
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
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In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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.”
Keep it fun and engaging
Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.
“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.
His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.
He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The biog
Age: 19
Profession: medical student at UAE university
Favourite book: The Ocean at The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
Role model: Parents, followed by Fazza (Shiekh Hamdan bin Mohammed)
Favourite poet: Edger Allen Poe
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Company%20Profile
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