Just before we went to press this week, we heard that Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation was donating the proceeds from ticket sales at this year’s Abu Dhabi Festival to the Ewa’a Shelters for Women and Children.
Written by: Dennis Jarrett
Each year a charity is nominated to receive the gift, which in this case was a very respectable AED 556,000. ADMAF says its donation is in line with the spirit of “Bilad Al Khayr”, a central value of the Festival that seeks to celebrate unity, respect and tolerance as part of its celebration of the arts across the seven Emirates.
The Ewa’a Shelters provide temporary succour and psychological, medical and legal assistance for up to 30 women and children who are victims of human trafficking.
Somehow ADMAF’s gift doesn’t seem too unusual for Abu Dhabi, and especially for the institutions and organisations that are becoming central to the developing culture of Abu Dhabi. It’s true that supporting victims of human trafficking is a responsibility we should all share; but somehow it’s true that organisations like ADMAF have a significantly deeper understanding of their duties and their social obligations.
That’s true of many other organisations here. Some are quite formal; earlier this year, for example, the UAE's Red Crescent Authority provided AED 1.3 million in medical assistance to 148 needy people of limited income in Abu Dhabi, Bani Yas and the Western Region to cover costs of surgical operations overseas, medicines, wheelchairs and other treatment not covered by medical insurance.
The influential Zayed Foundation dedicates itself exclusively to charitable and humanitarian works with a broad remit – “the Foundation aims to undertake all possible works of welfare, charity and beneficence for the general good, of all kinds, both within and outside the country” says the website. The Foundation is not formally part of government – it has its own independent legal identity – but it is identified with the Abu Dhabi establishment and its trustees include several notable members of the Al Nahyan family. To that extent charity is enshrined in the very heart of Abu Dhabi.
Obviously an event organiser like ADMAF also has opportunities to generate funds that are not available to many other bodies in the UAE, and indeed to most of us in the country. Equally, we acknowledge that Zakat, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is deeply entrenched in Muslim culture; the concept of charity, of helping the poor and needy, is a given.
ADMAF’s donation is still a heart-warming gift, the kind of socially-aware and life-affirming gesture that we all need to respect, endorse and – if possible – emulate. It doesn’t have to be a financial contribution, though somehow it’s an especial pleasure to pay for a particularly welcome concert or an inspiring artistic event knowing that the surplus will go to a good cause.
But there are other ways we can do our bit. There are many active charities and volunteer organisations based in Abu Dhabi that can always use supporters and participants; we list the activities of many of them on our Bulletin Board page, and the website has a fuller list if you’re interested in voluntary work. And the good news is that there’s something for everyone – from the environment and wildlife to rehoming stray and abandoned cats and dogs; from Médecins Sans Frontières and the Red Crescent Society to the all-purpose activities catered for by Volunteer in Abu Dhabi, a classic networking venture for our times that operates through a Facebook page.
If you think we ought to work together, there’s enough opportunity here ...
