Growing Up in a Tapestry of Worlds

When I think of my childhood, I often remember running barefoot, riding ponies and horses, losing myself in the pages of books that transported me to distant lands in different languages (coaxing me out of Fnac in France was always a challenge). These were the rhythms of early life: movement, connection with animals, and the infinite worlds that books provided.

My early years were not mediated by a screen in the palm of my hand, they were peppered with the joy of ink on paper, and my creativity sparked through the craft of making bracelets. I do, of course, remember the magic of seeing animals and coral reefs on television and, as technology became a more significant fixture in our lives, spending days at Futurekids learning how to use the computer (I may not have enjoyed it at the time, I am still grateful that my mother signed me up for that opportunity).

Mostly, childhood was a time where we could just be.

I feel especially fortunate to have grown up here, in Abu Dhabi, spending most of my childhood in Khalidiyah. The UAE offered me something rare: a childhood lived within a rich tapestry of nationalities, religions, and ethnicities.

You may have come across the term ‘Third Culture Kid’, referring to those who grew up amongst cultures that differed from that of their parents’ home countries. This immersion brings with it so many cognitive and emotional benefits, from adaptability to cultural intelligence, and the capacity to hold multiple perspectives. While I cannot claim that exact terminology because the UAE is my country and my ancestral land, I am, in every meaningful sense, a multicultural kid because of the beautifully diverse nation I call home.

This has only been heightened by the ever-evolving cities around me that allowed me to dream bigger and think outside the box. My classmates and friends came from every corner of the world. We celebrated each other’s holidays, tasted each other’s foods, from Connie’s cookies to Maggy’s Umm Ali, learnt each other’s languages. This wasn’t diversity as an abstract concept but as a daily, lived experience. It shaped not just what I knew but how I saw, teaching me early that there are many ways to be in the world, many truths that can coexist, and many stories worth telling.

In many ways, this is what shaped my love for children's literature and is, perhaps, why I am drawn to simplifying complex concepts for young readers. I have written several children’s books that feature easy to grasp interpretations of systems thinking, climate change, and the interconnected nature of our world. Before the pandemic, through the ‘Wanna Read?’ initiative, I created spaces for children in hospitals who needed an escape through the world of books. Then, as COVID19 hit, and suddenly all children found themselves living in a very different world – confined, confused, watching adults struggle to explain the unexplainable – I felt compelled to help them understand the ununderstandable. I wrote ‘Who is Corona?’, a short story that could be freely downloaded in different languages, reaching young minds across borders at a time when borders had never felt more rigid.

Now, when I write for children, when I build spaces like The Climate Tribe Hub, for them to read and imagine and grow, when I offer stories in multiple languages so every child can understand, I am passing on the gift my own childhood gave me...not just the gift of knowledge, but that of wonder. These are more than stories, they are moments of understanding that we are all part of a larger story, woven together in ways both beautiful and complex.

19 November 2025