HOPE IN HUMANITY
In this chapter, Sheikh Mohammed talks about hope, and how there is goodness in every person. He says giving to others “blesses us in return with happiness, peace of mind and tranquility”
Ienjoy hunting trips as they allow me to get out of my office, break my routine and recharge my thoughts. On a trip to a country in Africa a few years ago, we came to a small city, where they had built a school for the local people. I found only a few dozen students occupying the large building that could hold many hundreds.
I asked why this was the case, and was told that the main reason the children did not come to school was that they were starving. I was shocked by this justification. It took me a few seconds to comprehend. We build schools in order to eliminate hunger.
They told me that the students went to farms to look for food every day, or stayed home if they were extremely malnourished and almost too weak to move. I ordered a huge kitchen and canteen be built in the school, providing them with the best equipment, provisions and a full team to serve them.
A year later, I went back and was pleased to find that the school had thousands of students attending in two shifts, morning and evening. I felt so happy. Giving to others blesses us in return with happiness, peace of mind and tranquility.
A few years ago, I established Dubai Cares, a philanthropic foundation focusing on education in poor countries. It has benefitted more than 18 million students to date.
Our initiatives also include a charitable organisation that has served two million families and the International Humanitarian City, which organises and supports rescue operations during natural and human disasters to a quarter of the world’s countries. Various projects operate under the umbrella of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, comprised of over 30 organisations and serving more than 130 million people.
Everyone is capable of giving something. There is goodness in every person, and there is a merciful and generous soul inside each of us. In what he is calling his “incomplete biography”, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has broken his latest book, Qissati (My Story), into 50 chapters, narrating 50 stories in his 50 years of serving the nation. Khaleej Times got a signed copy of the book from the Dubai Ruler and everyday, we will be featuring excerpts from each of the 50 chapters.