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Emiratis to manage public school canteens in Dubai
Emiratis to manage public school canteens in Dubai Olivia Olarte-Ulherr / 15 October 2013 Under Khalifa Foundation initiative, 80 Emirati families will manage canteens in 40 schools in Dubai and Northern Emirates All school canteens across the country may soon be managed by UAE nationals following an initiative that aims not only to provide healthy and affordable meals but also to create jobs and provide sustainable income for needy Emiratis. The plan is to make healthy and quality meals available at school canteens in the price range of Dh3 to Dh7. — KT file photo used for illustrative purpose The initiative, launched by the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation (KBZF) this academic year, has tasked 80 Emirati families to manage 40 public school canteens in Dubai and the Northern Emirates in the first phase. “As part of our annual assessment of the aid we provide students, we realised that the pocket money we give them is not enough to buy food at school canteens. So we thought it best that instead of money, we provide them healthy meals that are affordable while supporting our citizens with limited income through the management of the school canteens,” KBZF director-general Mohamed Hajji Al Khoori told Khaleej Times. The plan is for the meals to be sold at prices of Dh3, Dh5 and Dh7, containing healthy ingredients and of a different variety every day. The foundation has partnered with the Ministry of Education to identify the schools. These include five schools each in Dubai, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah and 20 in Fujairah. “In the first phase, we will implement the project in select public schools. The plan is to include all public schools across the UAE and extend this to private schools at a later stage,” said Al Khoori. Three schools in Abu Dhabi have already expressed an interest in joining the programme, according to Al Khoori, who said the foundation was currently in talks with the Abu Dhabi Education Council. Several food companies are also supporting the initiative, providing sandwiches, juices and fresh milk for the school canteens. The Emirates Co-operative Society, which provides the sandwiches, is at the same time carrying out training for the families in catering processes, service and canteen management. While learning the trade, families are given a monthly allowance by the foundation. “At the start, the local families don’t need a capital as much as they need support from all quarters, to train them till they are ready,” Al Khoori said. For the pilot, two families were tasked to manage each school canteen. But for the long term, the plan is to either increase or decrease this depending on the number of students in each school. The number of families employed will also increase in the future as more schools join the initiative. “The Khalifa Foundation initiative of supporting these families goes hand in hand with the strategy of the UAE to privatise the education sector and create business opportunities for UAE nationals,” Al Khoori said. He added the families were selected from those who had worked with the foundation’s Iftar meals project in the past three years, who have enough experience in providing quality foods, underwent food hygiene and safety training, and who received an eligibility certificate from the Civil Defence. The Iftar meals initiative during Ramadan, which started in 2010, provides food for millions of fasting Muslims throughout the holy month while creating jobs for low-income Emiratis. Established in 2007, the foundation provides aid and assistance to people — both locally and internationally — regardless of race, sex or religion. The foundation is looking for ways to help low-income families by sourcing creative and sustainable projects that would provide them long-term financial support. – olivia@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Shaikh Khalifa, GCC leaders exchange greetings on Eid Al Adha
Shaikh Khalifa, GCC leaders exchange greetings on Eid Al Adha (Wam) / 15 October 2013 They exchanged, over the phone, best wishes for the people of their countries as well as all Arab and Muslim nations. The President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has exchanged greetings with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia; His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain; the Amir of Qatar, His Highness Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani; and the Amir of Kuwait, His Highness Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, on the occasion of Eid Al Adha. Shaikh Khalifa and King Abdullah, King Hamad, Shaikh Tamim and Shaikh Sabah exchanged greetings over the phone on Monday. They exchanged best wishes for the peoples of these countries as well as all Arab and Muslim nations. Continue reading
20 dead as 7.1 magnitude earthquake hits Philippines
73 dead as quake hits Philippine tourist islands (AFP) / 15 October 2013 Authorities said the death toll could still climb, with authorities struggling to assess the extent of the damage in the worst-hit areas of Bohol where roads were impassable and power was cut. A powerful earthquake killed at least 73 people on Tuesday as it tore down modern buildings, destroyed historic churches and triggered terrified stampedes across popular tourist islands in the Philippines. Fifteen of the confirmed fatalities were in Cebu, the country’s second most important city and a gateway to some of its most beautiful beaches, the national disaster agency reported. The 7.1-magnitude quake killed another 57 people in the neighbouring island of Bohol, famed for its rolling “Chocolate Hills”, while one other person died on nearby Siquijor, which attracts tourists with its pristine white sands. “I was thrown to the ground by the strength of the quake. Broken glass rained on me,” Elmo Alinsunorin, a guard for a government tax office in Cebu, told AFP. “I thought I was going to die.” Authorities said the death toll could still climb, with authorities struggling to assess the extent of the damage in the worst-hit areas of Bohol where roads were impassable and power was cut. Nevertheless, they expressed relief the earthquake occurred on a public holiday, meaning there were fewer people than normal in many of the major buildings that suffered damage. The quake struck at 08:12 (0012 GMT) near Balilihan, a town of about 18,000 people on Bohol, at a depth of 20 kilometres (12 miles), the USGS reported. The town lies across a strait about 60 kilometres from Cebu. Cebu, with a population of 2.5 million people, is the political, economic, educational and cultural centre of the central Philippines. It hosts the country’s busiest port and the largest airport outside of the capital Manila. It also has a major ship building industry. A university, a school and two shopping malls, public markets and many small buildings sustained damage in the quake. Three of the people who died in Cebu were crushed to death in a stampede at a sports complex, where poor people had gathered to collect regular government cash handouts, according to the provincial disaster council chief, Neil Sanchez. “There was panic when the quake happened and there was a rush toward the exit,” Sanchez told AFP. He said two other people were killed when part of a school collapsed on a car they had parked in, while four others died at a fish market that crumbled. The Philippines’ oldest church, Cebu’s Basilica Minore del Santo Nino, was badly damaged, according to Balido, the civil defence spokesman. It was first built in the 1500s by Spanish colonisers, although its current stone structure dates back to the 1700s. A church on Bohol that was first built in the early 1600s also collapsed, according to Robert Michael Poole, a British tourist who was visiting the area. “It’s absolutely devastated… the entire front of the church has collapsed onto the street,” Poole told AFP by telephone. However he said there was nobody in the church at the time of the quake. Aside from its beaches, Bohol is famous for its more than 1,000 small limestone “Chocolate Hills” that turn brown during the dry season. One of the main tourist venues there, the Chocolate Hills Complex, was severely damaged and may be beyond repair, according to Delapan Ingleterra, head of a local tourist police unit. “There are huge cracks in the hotel and there was a collapse of the view deck on the second floor,” Ingleterra told AFP, adding that no-one was injured at the complex. There were no reports of foreign tourists being killed anywhere in the disaster zone. Tuesday’s quake was followed by at least four aftershocks measuring more than 5.0 in magnitude. The epicentre was 629 kilometres from Manila. The Philippines lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many of Earth’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. More than 100 people were left dead or missing in February last year after an earthquake struck on Negros island, about 100 kilometres from the epicentre of Tuesday’s quake. The deadliest recorded natural disaster in the Philippines occurred in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake devastated the Moro Gulf on the southern island of Mindanao. Between 5,000 and 8,000 people were killed, according to official estimates. Continue reading
