Recognition by the UAE President is a medal on my chest: Sinan Al Awsi
- Last updated: June 14, 2023 | 23:05
Abdul Rahman Saeed, Staff Reporter
“Nothing goes unrewarded in the UAE,” said the Iraqi engineer Sinan Al Awsi after President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan received him at the Qasr Al Bahr in Abu Dhabi, on Tuesday.
“Sheikh Mohamed’s reception is a medal on my chest and a great honour that cannot be summed up in a few lines. I felt overwhelming joy and was very impressed by Sheikh Mohamed’s keenness on encouraging personal societal initiatives that promote the culture of preserving and sustaining resources and the spirit of responsibility towards society,” he said.
He pointed out that his initiative to plant trees and take care of them is the least that he could do to return the favour to the UAE, his second homeland, which hosted him and his family members for 24 years so far.
He explained that his initiative included planting 239 trees along a distance of 500 metres in the vicinity of his house on Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Street, known as Airport Street.
These included 105 coconut trees and 104 disease-resistant Plumeria plants with stunning colours and fragrant smell, not to mention 30 trees of different types in front of his building including Cestrum and Thai Jasmine, he said.
Caring for trees took two hours a day, the first in the morning before going to work and the second in the afternoon after finishing work, he added, noting that the main work that required nervous effort was usually done on Friday, he added.
The initiative continued in two phases, the first started in 2005 but had to stop in 2012, for reasons related to housing and workplace and the second started in 2017 and continued until now, he said.
Talking about his choice of the coconut tree in particular, he said: “A coconut tree does not require much effort to care for it, as it cleans itself naturally without the need for any intervention except for irrigation and removal of fallen leaves. In contrast, date palms need to be cleaned four times a year, not to mention pollination and harvesting work.”
He said that he is 62 years old and graduated from the University of Baghdad, Department of Surveying Engineering in 1983 class. He took agriculture as a hobby since he was a child, a habit that he inherited from his late father, he added.
He lives in Abu Dhabi with his family consisting of his wife, son and three daughters, one of whom obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, the second a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and the third is a dentistry graduate, while his son is studying dentistry in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, he said.
He pointed out that he came to Abu Dhabi in 1999 and since then he worked for a number of private sector companies as a road and bridge consulting engineer.
He worked on large projects including the Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi, the Sweihan Bridge and Al Mirfa Bridge, not to mention the maintenance work for many of bridges within Abu Dhabi Island.