An Asthma Outburst in Dubai

Here is the link to listen to my radio story about the widespread of bronchial asthma in Dubai. Hope you all enjoy it!
http://youtu.be/cRj0QNKDfHs

An Outbreak in the Number of Asthmatic Patients in Dubai

Between the 17^th and the 26^th of February, a massive sandstorm rushed to Dubai directly from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait causing an enormous outbreak in the cases of bronchial asthma.

Strong winds picked up dust and covered Dubai with heaps of sand everywhere. This reduced the visibility in the city to less than 500 meters and caused major accidents on Sheikh Zayed road, Al Ettihad, and many others. Since about 25 percent of children across the UAE suffer from bronchial asthma. Thus, doctors at Al Rashidiya Medical Centre advised asthmatic children to stay indoors as the raging dust could trigger wheezing- a continuous whistling sound produced in the airways- while breathing.

Not only do children undergo asthmatic attacks, many adults do too. The recent raging sandstorm was many citizens’ subject of complaint. It reduced the level of visibility everywhere in Dubai and caused the quick spread of viruses and illnesses.

Doctor Sami Abu Naib, General Practitioner in Primary Health Care at Al Rashidiya Health Centre, emphasized, "In the past few months, the number of asthmatic patients increased. That is due to the crowded places, the cars, the streets, the pollution, the dust, and the industries. Especially, the industries! During the end of February while the wind was blowing everywhere in Dubai, we noticed more patients in the emergency section complaining from bronchial asthma." He added, "Strangely so many people do not complain from bronchial asthma in their home countries. But as soon as they come here, they start suffering from bronchial asthma. Even though they have no family history or any genetic factors, I consider the climate a major factor."

In general, an asthmatic patient suffers when he or she walks or runs a lot, and feels exhausted after carrying anything heavy, then starts requiring more oxygen etc. Essam Al Misri, a civil engineer working at Saleh Bin Lahej Constructions in Dubai, only experiences these symptoms when the weather changes. While sipping a cup of coffee early morning, he explained, "In the past few months and even these days, there is less rain and more dust, which brought me to the first step in the direction of suffering from bronchial asthma. First, I got an allergy and then, I began coughing every time I took a deep breath.” Being in the construction field and having to work outdoors whilst getting affected by the bad weather, he expressed his frustration when he said, "So although I don’t consider myself an asthmatic patient, I'm forced to keep an inhaler with me at home."

Samira Ahmad, a Somali housewife living in Dubai for more than ten years said, "If I smell strong perfume like Arabian Oud, or any dust at home, or sometimes even while cooking traditional food, I get the attack. But recently when there was too much dust, I was suffering a lot. Although I have a nebulizer at home that I use whenever I get this asthma attack, this time I had to visit the doctors because it was quite severe." After a few moments of deep thought, she confirmed, "I feel much better when I go back to Somalia, because even though there is humidity there and other factors., the climate is not as unstable as here."

Many of the residents of Dubai are immigrants and therefore, this was their first experience in a sandstorm. Most people in Dubai have a weak immunity system, and that is why as soon as the forceful winds struck Dubai, many were strongly affected. This was what Dr. Abu Naib concluded were the reasons behind the increase in asthma patients over the past few months.

Al Misri showed how concerned he was about the climate when he exclaimed, “I hope the weather does not continue at this rate. Otherwise, I might think of moving to any other country with a more stable weather carrying less diseases.”

Health Warnings Concerning Medwakh

This is the link to our radio piece about the various unknown health issues related to smoking medwakh. I hope you all enjoy it! Done by Marina Makary and Sylvia Sarkies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkBS5RLgVYU&feature=youtu.be

Sudden flames at AUD lead to the loss of two.

Sudden flames at AUD lead to the loss of two.
By Marina Makary
The 21^st of February 2012 began miserably at the American University in Dubai after fire broke out at the Tennis Court due to absence of security guards and late arrival of firefighters.

During a press conference held by Sabah Haider, a representative of AUD security, and Meedo Taha, Dubai Media City Police Chief Constable, Haider described the accident as a "fatal tragedy" that happened between 6 am and 6:30 am and 2 were found dead. After Constable Taha's sudden phone call and hesitation to reveal the information, he confirmed that one of the victims is a 25 year old, male smoker, and an engineering student at AUD, while the second victim remains anonymous till the DNA test results.

"No rackets or any clear indication that whoever was on the tennis court was there to play tennis, however there was a big bag of pipes under the tree of the tennis court and we have reasons to believe that the tennis court was being used as the scene of exchange of counter banned goods." Chief Taha continued, "Three students were admitted to campus prior to 6:30 and one other student was from the dorms; however they have not been spotted outside the tennis court"

Although the security guard on duty was on his cigarette break during the fire, according to Constable Taha's inspection, he did notice a smoke cloud above the tennis court around 6:15. Nevertheless, he stated that he saw no evidence of foreplay. Besides Chief Taha added, "We found evidence of 3 cigarette butts however we were not able to identify whether the cigarette butts were there prior to the fire or even from the previous night."
Chief Taha confidently expressed, "Cost is not our biggest concern right now; our biggest concern is the loss in lives."

As 21^st was a holiday, no eyewitnesses were found. But that itself is strange especially due to th  close location of the girls' dorms next to the tennis court.

Mrs. Haider ended the press conference by announcing that all flags will be up for the next two weeks as a remembrance of the AUD student who tragically died today morning.

The question remains as to where those three students went after being admitted on campus on a holiday. According to Chief Taha, "Whether or not we will qualify that as a crime scene depends on whether the incident itself is identified as a crime".

Citizens of Dubai Obligated to Marriage Tests

To know all about pre-marital consultation tests in Dubai, view this photo/audio slideshow by clicking here http://vimeo.com/37046177

Photo Journallism: Thalassaemia

Thalassaemia is a genetically-inherited disease that has been increasing rapidly in the UAE due to intra-family marriages.
Hope you all like my slideshow :)
http://www.slideshare.net/MarinaMakary

The photo that caught my attention

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/even-in-egypt-a-long-way-to-go/
This photo slideshow caught my attention as it had a variety of photos conveyeing different messages. The photo that really made me think was photo number 5. It shows a lot about the Egyptian culture, how the food is served on the dining table, but one can also see a picture of one of the family members in jail. It conveys the message that even though he's in jail, he isn't forgotten even while the family is having a simple daily meal.

Feature article: Is dokha a phenomenon in Dubai, or is it just a phase? by Marina Makary

A long thin pipe with a tiny transparent bottle of tobacco, kept in colorful cases, has been seen with the majority of Dubai's residents nowadays, both young teenagers and adults. Dokha, not only gives a stronger effect than cigarettes or shisha, but also explains its Arabic name and makes one feel dizzy from just one intake.

Bola Shokry, a twelfth grader in Al Noor private school said, “I smoke dokha almost everyday in school mainly because I like its strong effect, and what encourages me is that my friends go with me. We go between classes and during break without the fear of getting caught, as one of us is always standing outside the bathroom to make sure no teachers are around.”

Dokha has been famous in most outdoor areas like parks and cafes. However, it has increased rapidly in several schools in Dubai. Bola added joyfully, “There are many different types of dokhas, and each person chooses it according to what he wishes. Which one you buy depends on your mood, and also how much dizziness you can withstand.”

Smoking centers have increased at a very quick pace in the past two to three years. To add to that, it’s clear that smoking itself has increased in the desert country, not only between locals, but also among various other cultures. According to Mehdi Rezaye, a medwakh seller at the Yousuf Reda chain for medwakhs and shisha, “We sell around 70 to 80 dokhas per day. This number has increased a lot in the past few years and I’m positive that it will continue to rise because teenagers are finding it a trend now, and enjoy it.”

Mehdi then added while arranging the different medwakhs in order of sizes, “We mainly get local Emiratis, Indians, and Iranians; and although the majority of our customers are males, we do get females buying medwakhs every once in a while."

While smoking behind one of the buildings at the university, Mohamed Youssef, a freshmen at the American University in Dubai, said “I’ve been smoking dokha for around seven months. I personally prefer it over cigarettes because just one puff gives you a much better effect than many puffs from a cigarette.”

Mohamed seemed to know a lot about smoking. He did not like cigarettes, but enjoyed shisha, and added, "After trying shisha, and loving it like most teenage boys, I saw a friend of mine smoke medwakh and I was motivated to give it a try. It gave me self-satisfaction. I tend to smoke during my happiest moments, and also during my moments of depression."

Ali, an old  shopkeeper at Ashkanani supermarket says, "The municipality rarely visits us and so we are not afraid to sell medwakhs here to anyone. Moreover, medwakh is not illegal in Dubai." He confidently pulled one off the shelf and complained, "We will not stop selling medwakhs! Life in Dubai is expensive; we cannot afford to lose a whole lot of customers."

Egyptian revolution's first anniversary

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/01/25/world/middleeast/100000001310958/reflections-on-an-unfinished-revolution.html?scp=3&sq=egypt&st=cse
Today being the first anniversary for the Egyptian revolution, I thought it would be interesting to see different views on what the Egyptians think of today. Whether its victory, or like most of the revolutionists, continuing the unfinished revolution.

Linking Gaza to the Outside World and Barber's Tales videos.

The two videos, Linking Gaza to the Outside World and Barber's Tales are different in numerous aspects of how they are portrayed. In Linking Gaza's video, there was no background music throughout the narration and the reporter's tone does not change throughout, although he speaks in an understandable pace that isn’t quite fast. None of the information he provides is highlighted, even the important ones. In addition, he concentrates mainly on the perspective of the tunnel smugglers but not much on the people outside and what they think, or their opinion regarding these tunnels. He presents quotes after each new idea portrayed. There are close ups in parts of the video which are effective because they give an idea about life in Gaza and makes the report more realistic and clear. The video was too long and had a great amount of information. Moreover, no music was included which lead to it being too informative and quite boring for the audience.
On the other hand, the Barber's Tales video had background music which changed according to the city choice. The reporter's pace also changed throughout the video as it wasn’t the same voice off, so the pace and the tone both differed in several parts of the video. The video was designed to show more than one aspect of the same issue, it was structured in a way to portray barber's shops in different places, and how they all have one thing in common which is their job. Bringing in more than one city gives the audience a wider view of the report. In addition, different barber's viewpoints give the audience an idea about the different perspectives that they have towards their job, which builds an interesting picture. The shots of the barbers' days at work and their working place build an interesting picture for the audience, and although the music was entertaining, it came to a boring end. Therefore, the music being boring at the end and the video being too long would lose the audience's attention.

A little bit about me.

To begin with, Im a 17 year old Egyptian who has lived her entire life in a foreign city, Dubai. I graduated from St. Mary's Catholic High School, then joined the American University in Dubai at the age of 16, and I'm now a sophomore.
I wasn't interested in any activity other than writing, which was the main reason I chose to study journalism.