‘Shaikh Zayed treated me like one of his own children’
EMIRATIS RECALL MEMORIES OF UAE’S FOUNDING FATHER AT GCC HERITAGE FESTIVAL
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Al Mansouri also shared some lighthearted moments he had with Shaikh Zayed, such as when the leader taught him how to swim.
“There was a pool in Al Ain and he was teaching me how to swim but I was a poor learner.”
Hiab Bin Hatha Al Kutbi, another Emirati, shared his memories of visiting the palace of Shaikh Zayed when he was a young child.
“I saw Shaikh Zayed for the first time when I was six years old, and he treated me like one of his own children. I remember one time we were at his palace in Al Ain and we were sitting a little away from him and he came to us and brought us closer to him,” Al Kutbi recalled.
Father figure
“All of us felt like he was our own father because of how good he treated us. He truly raised this nation as if it were his own children,” he added.
Al Kutbi also recalled the importance Shaikh Zayed put towards education in the late 1960s for both boys and girls, laying the foundation for the
Yousuf Ahmad Al Hammadi, another Emirati who had the privilege of meeting Shaikh Zayed, spoke about witnessing the modesty of Zayed.
“When we used to go the desert he acted like our elder brother. He would cut the food into pieces and distribute it to everyone before helping himself. There were other times when we were having lunch and someone would come to the table and not find a place; Shaikh Zayed would make space for them and ask them to join in. I saw this with my own eyes, this is the modesty of Shaikh Zayed,” Al Hammadi said.