Charged with the Spirit of the Union and marking the 46th national day of the UAE, 20 Zayed University students printed a book filled with UAE’s Pre-Union Era, during a ceremony, which was held at the Dubai Women's Museum.

Students from the College of Communication and Media Sciences (CCMS), showcased a variety of aged photographs and story-telling’s by elderly members of their families, merging and gathering facts and figures dating to times prior to the oil discovery in the UAE.

Titled ‘Cultural Reflections from the UAE’, the book screens past living conditions and transformations amongst the Emirati society, it highpoints family traditions during house gatherings, displays clothing patterns, social ceremonies, and so forth.

"I admire how the project reconnected young Emiratis with family members to educate them about their heritage," said Pam Creedon, Acting Dean, College of Communication and Media Sciences. "It features interviews with parents, grandparents and close relatives and photographs from family and personal albums," she said.

"The project was initiated in Dr. Filareti Kotsi’s Tourism and Cultural Communication class," Creedon added. "She and a professional colleague, Melodena Stephens Balakrishnan, deserve special thanks for the dedication to producing a such a valuable historical resource."

Student Amna Khamis, said during the ceremony, "This was an interesting experience because I have never asked my grandparents about their life experiences in the past. I enjoyed seeing them recall a life that was very real to them but felt very distant to me."

Moreover, Aysha Mohammed, said, "This assignment helped me acquire more about the history of my family and their life in the past and gave me a chance to preserve some of the stories my grandparents told, stories that I would not find in history books or museums."

"It also made me think about the benefits and difficulties of life in the past and compare it to our lives today. I think my grandparents enjoyed the interviews because it made them recall fond memories and reflect on the way they lived in the past."

Source: Wam