Labour of love: Emirati grandmother hand stitches UAE flags to show her patriotism
SHARJAH // For the past three years, 88-year-old grandmother Maryam Juma Mohammed has shown her love for her country by stitching together a large UAE flag.
In 2013, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, announced that November 3 would be national Flag Day and appealed for Emiratis and expatriates to proudly fly their flags.
Ms Mohammed, an Emirati, decided to make her own to show her patriotism.
This year, the Emirati is working on two flags – one for the roof of her house and one to send to Sheikh Mohammed.
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"My daughter brings me the cloth, and I sew it by hand using a needle and thread," Ms Mohammed said. "Then, I use the sewing machine to make it stronger so it is not torn by the wind. I usually spend two days making the flag.
"This is the third year I have sewn my own flag to raise it on my house, because Sheikh Mohammed called on us to do that."
Ms Mohammed can remember watching a television broadcast of when the nation’s Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed, first raised the UAE flag in 1971.
"Before the union, each emirate had its own flag consisting of two colours," she said. "The flag of Sharjah was red and white, and we used to raise it at our houses only when pilgrims come home from Haj, to express our happiness. But when the union occurred we all removed it and put up the unified flag," she said.
The grandmother said she also participates in Flag Day celebrations by making dresses in the colours of the UAE flag for her granddaughters.
"Also, I go to the places where national celebrations are and I have always encouraged my sons and daughters since they were young to also participate to show their patriotism and love for their homeland," she said.
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