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Humanitarian Mission Report.
By: Howard Damien.
Course: International Business, English track.
Year of graduation: 2018.
NGO: Dubai Center For Special Needs.
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Supervisor: Spiers Stuart.
Start and end date of the mission: 5th January to the 28th February.
(DCSN is the abbreviation of Dubai Center For Special Needs).
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Location: Dubai Center For Special Needs is located on 45th Street in the
Al Wasl district, just opposite Sheikh Zayed Road.
Objective of Dubai Center For Special Needs: To provide the highest
standard of education to special needs students (both mentally and
physically disabled).
The Reasons as to why I chose Dubai Center for Special Needs as an
ideal place to work:
1. Convenience.
2. Practicality.
3. General Interest.
Choosing Dubai especially as the place to do my Humanitarian Mission
was convenient for me as I was able to stay with my family. Dubai Center
For Special Needs’ location itself made it both convenient and practical
travel wise, as travel time to the organisation would only take 40 minutes
to reach and another 40 minutes back home. General interest was another
factor that made me choose Dubai Center For Special Needs as I wanted to
better my understanding of disabled people and to see how a special
needs school operates.

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My Duties, objectives and Issues the Organisation faced:
My duties involved making sure that the students made it to their lessons
on time, helping them with any academic problems, making sure that
students were paying attention to the teacher and on the odd occasion, I
would personally teach the class due to the lack of staff members. My
objectives at the organisation were clear and simple, to try my best to
ensure that the students got the most out of their education and to
motivate them to go further with their studies. The issues faced by the
organisation are both the lack of staff members as stated, and the lack of
equipment in general. Unfortunately, this issue cannot effectively be
resolved as the school is an NGO (non government organisation) and relies
mostly on public funding.
Initial preparation when looking for NGO’s:
My initial preparation involved searching for various different NGO’s
online, based in Dubai. I originally thought of going to work for an
organisation in Hong Kong, however practicality and convenience drew
me back to Dubai. I sent out emails to various different organisations,
which did not reply back, including an organisation I had previously
worked with. In the end I had two options, Dubai Center for Special Needs
or Al Noor Training Center for Special Needs. In the end I chose the option
to work at DCSN who were more than happy to have me as a member of
their team.
Initial motivation and expectations of the organisation:
My initial motivation was the thought of going back to see my family and
friends. I was also looking forward to going back to the Middle East as I
had lived in the UAE for 7 years, which made me very familiar with Islamic
customs and traditions; not only that but it allowed me to experience
many other cultures and how different societies along with religions
worked also. Regarding the organisation itself, I was motivated by the
thought that I would end up learning new skills in a field which I had no
prior experience with and the idea that I would be bettering the lives of
the less fortunate. However, I had no expectations whatsoever or learning-

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objectives as I believe you can only set out goals to achieve once you are in
that working environment. I had very little prior experience with disabled
people and wanted to broaden my learning. I also made sure my mind was
blank before I went in as I see expectations as judgements, which I am
strongly against. As soon as I settled into the organisation though, I soon
set out learning how the schools system works and what it is like working
one to one with a special needs student.
How I fitted into the organisation:
I fitted in really well. Within the first week I already had a good grasp of
my job including student behavioural patterns along with their learning
abilities. Staff members were also really helpful; it felt like a small
community. If ever you had a doubt or a problem then you could be sure
that a member of staff would help you. Students in general were also very
helpful and polite.
My level of personal involvement and responsibilities:
I felt like a member of staff to be honest. I was a teaching assistant, and
made sure that my level of commitment to the job was of the same
standard throughout my mission. I made sure to be at the Center before
8:30 am and I would stay there until all students had been picked up. As
previously stated, my job involved making sure students in the class were
paying attention and were able to benefit from their education. I had
various other responsibilities which I also carried out, notable
responsibilities such as making a behaviour plan for one of the students in
the hope that her behaviour would eventually improve (which it did),
helping out students during their sports day event, by making sure they
were happy and ensuring that they carried out tasks assigned (our team
came first). Other tasks and responsibilities included taking part in the
class’s assembly where we sang “we will rock you” by Queen, teaching the
class when the teacher was busy, helping students during their cooking
lessons and even the little tasks where I went to photocopy work for the
students.

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My Personal Development:
The result of my involvement at DCSN, I believe has made me better my
understanding of what disabled people have to cope with in their day-to-
day life. It has made me appreciate the many things in life that people
without disabilities take for granted. I now appreciate the fact that I have
two perfectly functioning legs, the fact that I am capable of speech and the
fact that I am mentally capable to walk to the end of the street and buy a
carton of milk without constant supervision along with many other gifts. I
no longer see them as necessities; I see them as privileges.
My involvement has also made me understand the role of a teacher and
how enduring the job can be at times. I have found that there is a great
sense of achievement in the job when a student eventually comprehends
what you have been trying so hard to teach. Throughout the mission, I
have been learning more and more about myself. I have discovered that I
am far better at communicating then I once thought and that I make a
good teacher.
The result of my involvement with others:
If I were to select a person in particular, I would choose Abdullah Al
Suwaidi, a student from A4 (the class I was working in). Abdullah is an
autistic teen who is often quite bi-polar. At times he would be quite
cheerful and at other times he would tend to walk in without making eye
contact whilst mumbling anything he said.
However during my time at the center, I tried my best to make sure that he
got rid of these habits, which after 3 weeks of being there began to pay off.
Whenever I saw him shuffling around the place, I would immediately say,
“Abdullah, back straight, chin up and smile!” to which he did not hesitate.
After a while, I would see him walking around the Center with his back
straight and he would at most times make eye contact with other people.
I also learnt that he made a good actor, as he would constantly tell me that
he is a “real United Kingdomer”. He caught me off guard with this on my
first day at the center, to which I thought he was half Emirati half British-

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only later to be told that he is just from Dubai. Whenever we would play
Mr.Bean in the class, he would begin to imitate Rowan Atkinson’s prized
role. For the class assembly, he had the role of pretending to be the
guitarist in “We will rock you” to which he rocked the role with style; he
even started saluting me. I would say my time working with Abdullah was
well spent, as I was able to see a general boost in self-confidence. I got
along with the rest of the class as well, however I believe I had the most
significant impact on him.
Factors, which have made me aware of my own personal
development during my Mission:
The one factor in particular, which made me aware of my own
development during the experience, was time. Over time, I slowly began to
realise that I was good at what I was doing and made sure to keep the
standard, if not then improve. Being brought up in Dubai’s multicultural
environment, I was not one for being shy to talk; however I would have to
say that my communication skills have improved over time during my
mission at least to a professional standard after being placed in a working
environment. Another factor, which has made me aware of my own
personal development, was bettering my understanding of the varying
disabilities, Autism in particular and how diverse such a disability can be.
The National Autistic Society states “Autism is a lifelong developmental
disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other
people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them”,
Which is true; however from my experience gained I have learnt that each
and every Autistic student is different in their own way and cannot be
compared to one another. For example, one Autistic student could have a
decent level of social skills where as another student would not be able to
structure a single convocation.
The strategy implemented for successfully completing my mission:
“Keep calm and carry on” the famous British quote which helped millions
win the fight in World War 2 was my mind set for successfully completing
the mission I had and the strategy also as calmness I believe is the key to
success. Another famous quote “Anger and intolerance are the enemies of
correct understanding” by Mahatma Gandhi shows that by having a-

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negative mind set, you will never correctly understand the tasks ahead of
you. The practical side however for successfully assisting everyone in class
lessons throughout the day, would be to sit between two students at a
time and work with them in pairs (depending on how much help the
student needed) roughly for 10-20 minutes before sitting beside another
pair of students to help them. And I would also assist other students if
they asked for help during the time intervals to ensure that no student was
left out.
My experience gained in the field of being attentive to others, respect
and tolerance:
The experience that I have gained during this mission, in terms of being
attentive to others, respect and tolerance has not changed that much to
how I was prior to the mission. I liked helping out people, I had a high
amount of respect for nice people and my tolerance level was still at the
same level (generally quite high). The only difference I could say now is
that I have implemented these attributes into a working environment.
Resistance, obstacles or difficulties faced duringmy mission and the
human contribution I have made to the Organisation:
I would not say there was any resistance, obstacles or difficulties involved
during my mission. However, I would say I that I have made a reasonable
amount of contribution to the organisation due to the lack of employees,
and as previously mentioned I did contribute a lot to Abdullah’s academic
and personal development during the past 2 months.
Summary:
To conclude, I believe this experience has been worthwhile for a number
of reasons. Firstly, my behaviour when dealing with others has improved
in the respect that I am now able to present myself in a professional
manner after spending 2 months in a working environment. I believe that
in the future I will be able to develop this even further once I start at either
an internship or a summer job later this year. Secondly, I believe my ability
to participate in a welfare project went really well as I have done little
charity work in the past with DCSN being my first full time commitment. I
look forward to participating in future welfare projects, possibly in an-

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LEDC (Less economically developed country) country in East Asia, such as
Cambodia. Finally, this experience has bettered my personal growth and
development as I now have a better understanding of how disabled people
cope with everyday tasks and academic problems along with the everyday
tasks a teacher has to handle and the various different methods of
teaching used to help students in terms of academic success.
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Appendices:
Abdullah and I.
Helping Sam out with his English
work.

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Last day on the job.
Nouf and I.
Sports day.
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References:
 (2015) What is autism?, Available
at: http://www.autism.org.uk/about-autism/autism-and-asperger-
syndrome-an-introduction/what-is-autism.aspx (Accessed: 1st
March 2015).