The heart of a volunteer is never measured in size, but by the depth of the commitment to make a difference in the lives of others. –– DeAnn Hollis
Ask anyone who attended the long-awaited Dubai Expo 2020 what the ultimate highlight of the many public attractions were and you may get varying opinions. But everyone ought to agree that one of the pinnacles for sure must have been the spectacular light festivals every night!
Kaleidoscope – held outdoors over the entire six months of the Expo – astonished visitors from across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the world as its displays lit up the night sky and Expo structures. It also included light sculptures, art projections and fantastic light shows in landscaped public areas.
𝑀𝑜ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑏 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐷𝑢𝑏𝑎𝑖 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑜 2020 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑, 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑎 𝐺𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑟 𝐴𝑚𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑟 𝐴𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝐶𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒.
The Dubai Expo was slated for 2020 but was pushed out (due to COVID-19) and finally took place from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022.
And as faces lit up in wonder and amazement while electricity charged the night sky each evening, Mohamed Abosolieb (Resource Manager for MEA) was subtly going about his business and being a proudly FieldCore “power ambassador” which ultimately led to him recently receiving an Expo Gold Medal of Honor and the Expo 2020 Volunteer Ambassador Award.
“When people were astounded by the lighting shows and energy at the Expo, I would tell them ‘it comes from the other side of the Expo – it is from DEWA,’ ” relates Mohamed.
“ ‘Do you know what DEWA is?’ I would ask them,” he adds.
“I would explain it is the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, the utility that ensures continuous power supply to all of Dubai and the Expo. ‘They rely on GE turbines and FieldCore hands to make this happen’ I would tell them, and then explain how it all works. Together we made the Expo one of the world’s greatest events,” he says modestly.
Mohamed joined GE Oil and Gas as Subsea Control System Engineer in 2008, became Resource Manager in 2016 for the former Granite Services, and transitioned to FieldCore in 2017 with the formation of the company in the UAE.
Asked why he stepped forward as a volunteer at the Expo, Mohamed responds: “It was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities with massive valuable learnings as well as global networking opportunities.”
He describes being a volunteer in both the Media Office and Operations Management Team for the event that recorded more than 24-million visitors from all corners of the world as an “absolutely fantastic new experience”. “Very few, if any, global events would come close to offering similar personal growth experiences,” he says.
Volunteering is by no means new to Mohamed. In fact, as someone who personally has been supporting voluntary aid mission work into Africa for many years, and specifically funding less fortunate families in Uganda through personal means, offering freely of his personal time, labor, skills and compassion is part of his DNA.
Some of the charities which benefitted from his labors of love include:
- RSPCA (prevention of animal abuse in the UK)
- Oxfam (building new schools in Kenya)
- YMCA (supporting provision of accommodation for young people om Scotland)
- Red Crescent (Children’s Cancer Hospital in Egypt)
- Al Jalila Foundation (special Olympics World Games held in the UAE)
Why does he offer so much of his personal time, money and effort? According to Mohamed he has discovered that the urge to make a difference still matters.
“The joy of the work, the people I meet, the bonds I forge and the things I learn, sustain me emotionally as well as my personal growth. Most of the individuals I have had the pleasure of working with as a volunteer are exceptionally talented people and in some way of another, they have all challenged me to do my best,” Mohamed says.
His personal lessons learned as volunteer at the Expo includes the value and importance of giving back to the community as well as creating a meaningful legacy for the UAE and beyond. He says that as he learned further about different communities and organizations, he also discovered more about himself because the experience highlighted his passions along with development of new skills.
As part of the Media Office for the Expo, this FieldCore and GE ambassador engaged with big brand media outlets such as CNN and BBC, and was honored to have conversations with the President of Namibia and the country’s General Secretaries for the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Energy, and Tourism. He also rubbed shoulders with the Ambassador of Finland to the UAE, while closer to home he met the UAE Minster of State for International Cooperation… and the list of dignitaries goes on.
𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠:
𝐺𝐿𝑂𝐵𝐴𝐿 𝑇𝐼𝑀𝐸𝑆 – ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑝𝑠://𝑤𝑤𝑤.𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠.𝑐𝑛/𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒/202110/1235662.𝑠ℎ𝑡𝑚𝑙
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑑 – ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑝://𝑤𝑤𝑤.𝑘𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑎ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑑.𝑐𝑜𝑚/𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤.𝑝ℎ𝑝?𝑢𝑑=20211001000422
𝐶𝑁𝑁 – ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑝𝑠://𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.𝑐𝑛𝑛.𝑐𝑜𝑚/2020/10/01/𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡/𝑑𝑢𝑏𝑎𝑖-𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑜-2020-𝑜𝑛𝑒-𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟-𝑜𝑢𝑡-2021-𝑠𝑝𝑐-𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑙/𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥.ℎ𝑡𝑚𝑙
𝐸𝑋𝑃𝑂2020 1 – ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑝𝑠://𝑤𝑤𝑤.𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑜2020𝑑𝑢𝑏𝑎𝑖.𝑐𝑜𝑚/𝑒𝑛/𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠/𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠-𝑎𝑛𝑑-𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠/𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟-24𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛-𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑠
𝐸𝑋𝑃𝑂 2020 2 – ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑝𝑠://𝑤𝑤𝑤.𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑜2020𝑑𝑢𝑏𝑎𝑖.𝑐𝑜𝑚/𝑒𝑛/𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠/𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑜-𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒-𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠
𝐺𝑢𝑙𝑓 𝐵𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑝𝑠://𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑓𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠.𝑐𝑜𝑚/𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟-24-𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛-𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑠-𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑑-𝑎𝑡-𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦-𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑑-𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑜-2020-𝑑𝑢𝑏𝑎𝑖/
