Top Sharjah official among three killed in villa blaze
SHARJAH — Three women from a prominent Emirati family in Sharjah died after their villa caught fire on Saturday. Among the deceased was Ameera BinKaram (38), a pioneer for Arab women’s empowerment in the region.
The other deceased are her mother Badriya Abdul Rahman and sister Sama. Her brother Khalid was rescued and rushed to Al Qassimi Hospital, where he is recuperating. The women died of suffocation.
According to the Sharjah Civil Defence, the fire in Villa No 20 at Al Qadisiya area broke out at 4.30pm. Emergency personnel rushed to the site, and rescued Khalid, two drivers and a maid.
Colonel Sami Al Naqbi, Director-General of Sharjah Civil Defence, said firefighters reached the site within four minutes after the fire was reported. The fire was doused in 10 minutes, he said.
The fire started in the majlis and gutted all its furniture. Heavy smoke engulfed the villa. Ameera, Badriya and Sama, who were on the first floor of the villa, suffocated to death.
DUBAI — Ameera BinKaram was a huge pioneer for Arab women’s empowerment and leadership in the region.
With a passion for human, animal and environmental issues, she was the Chairperson of Sharjah Business Women’s Council since 2010.
As Deputy Chairperson of ‘Nama’, a Women Advancement Establishment, launched under the directives of Shaikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and the Ruler of Sharjah, she also passionately supported the ‘Badiri’ initiative — a free of cost programme for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs in Sharjah and the UAE.
On October 20, Ameera attended the second ‘Investing in the Future’ conference in Sharjah.
Addressing the audience she said: “With the theme of the second edition of the conference ‘Building the Resilience of Women and Girls in the Arab Region’, we want our recommendations to become a reality on the ground. This has an obvious message of justice for women and an end to their suffering and the discrimination shown against them, but it is also vital that we nurture young women’s minds and champion their rights in order to develop societies, nations and civilisations.”
President of the Board of Trustees and a founding member of Friends of Cancer Patients Society (FoCP) that was established in 1999, Ameera was awarded the UAE’s ‘Humanitarian of the Year’ by the Arab Women Award in 2012. She spearheaded the organisation’s major initiative Pink Caravan since it was launched in 2011.
She was also elected to head the Women’s Chapter for the world’s oldest and largest international non-profit business association for CEOs: the CEO Clubs.
A huge ambassador of education and youth empowerment, she also served on the board of Education for Employment (EFE), a non-profit organisation dedicated to youth employment.
And in 2015, non-profit think tank, Global Thinkers Forum (GTF) announced that it selected Ameera as a member of the forum.
Speaking about the appointment, Elizabeth Filippouli, founder and CEO of the GTF, said that Ameera was selected for the role in recognition of her “outstanding efforts in strengthening the participation of Emirati women, in particular, and women in the Arab region”.
She was also a member of the Olave Baden-Powell Society, which supports the mission of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), and she dedicated much of her time towards enabling girls and young women to develop their fullest potential as citizens of the world.