December 2009

The Sheikh of Al-Fujairah, UAE
3rd December 2009

We have welcomed students from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for many years.  As long ago as 1969, Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Sharqi spent nine months at our school learning English and preparing for military training in Belgium.

We were very surprised in November when we had a call from Abu Dhabi TV.  They were making a television documentary about Sheikh Hamad, leader of Al-Fujairah, one of the United Arab Emirates. 

The television crew filmed students in the school and interviewed us about Sheikh Hamad’s experiences in Eastbourne.  We even found a photo of Sheikh Hamad taken in the school garden in the summer of 1970 (below).

The Sheikh is pictured above at the graduation of his son Sheikh Rashid bin Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Sharqi from university  in June 2009.(Picture courtesy of the Kurdish community in the UAE)