Monday in Dubai: exploring the city

Boats unloading goods on Dubai Creek

Monday, January 12, 2010

We started the day with a class discussion, where we reflected on our trip to Accra and gave our immediate reactions to coming to Dubai.

We all admitted that our immediate reaction to coming to a nice hotel in Dubai from the university dorms at the University of Ghana was relief to have many of the amenities that we are accustomed to. First, we were coming from a country where a large majority of the population live in poverty to a country that, while in recession, is stillan economic powerhouse of the world. To compound that contrast, we were also going from a university dormatory to a world class full service hotel.

We also reviewed our impressions of Ghana services and attitudes of people with disabilities with what we expect to encounter in the UAE. Michael has visited Dubai on several occasions, therefore, he was able to give us a little history of the country and the muslim culture. He also brieflly discussed how my Association, AUCD, had helped to develop some of the service for people with disabilities that we would be visiting. It was several years ago (maybe 5?) When our executive director, George Jesien, Michael, and several other leaders in our association came to Dubai after beingasked to provide some technical assistance in the area of building a disability service system.

After class we went to a small Lebanese sandwich shop for lamb and rice, salad with yogurt dressing, and fruit shakes. It was a nice change from rice, plantains, and chicken - our staple in Accra.

After lunch, we met with Dr. Hussain Maseeh, who works for the Ministry of Health, who worked with Michael, George and the other AUCD consultants to set up an early intervention service that we would be touring on Thursday (George, he sends his regards and wished you were here!) .

Michael and I then set out to investigate the new Metro system to see how feasible it would be to use it for transporting our group to our weekly activities. The metro is brand new, very clean, accessible, easy to use and fairly priced. However, it was not yet extensive enough to get to some of our destinations.

However, we enjoyed walking around the financial district and ended up at the Burj Dubai (see previous post). We learned that it would cost 100 Dirhams (Dh) or $ 36.00 if we ordered tickets online (400 Dh if we bought tickets in line there). I'm not sure i'll have time to come back but, either way, it was fun to see it up close.

Burj Dubai

Burj at the base. Workers are still finishing the building and surrounding gardens.

The students went to various attractions in the city during their free afternoon. Several went skiing indoors - i can't wait to see the pictures!

After dinner, Michael, Laura, Eric and I explored our immediate area by the hotel: Dubai Creek. Dubai's more-recent history has been founded on its pearl diving, gold trading and trading in all goods due to its strategic geographical location, situated between the mediterraneon Sea and the Indian Ocean. Because our hotel lies right on Dubai Creek where some of the goods are unloaded, our immediate environs seem to be an especially vibrant market place with stores filled with various goods. We wondered back to the Gold section where everyone said they wanted to give me - Kim - a "special price" if I showed even the slightest interest. Indeed, it made me realize that the best way to shop is when you really don 't intend to buy anything - because then you get the best prices. Alas, Gold is expensive even with the "special" prices they were willing to give only to Me - Kim.

Tomorrow, we will visit the Jumeirah Mosque and later in the afternoon, Dr. Hussain agreed to come and have coffee and open discussionwith the students.

Later in the week, we will meet with three different organizations here in the UAE-the Ministry of Health where we will vist Dr. Hussain's Center, the Sharjah Center for Humanitarian Services (a comprehensive disability focused agency), And the Inspire Children's Nursery-to be opened next week.