Emirates flight attendant honoured for Dhaka Project
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Emirates Airline Flight Attendant Maria Conceicao has been honoured with Emirates Woman of The Year Award in recognition of her work on the Dhaka Project recently, said a press release.
Miss Conceiçao founded Dhaka Project in 2005 after witnessing the city's poverty during a stopover. There are 90 staff members at Uttara in Dhaka and many volunteers are working to bring Dhaka out of the slums.
She was nominated in the humanitarian category. She won both that and the overall title after a vote by readers of Emirates Woman.
"The Dhaka Project is not only a project that is helping the children, we are really helping the whole community," she said.
To allow children better access to the school, the volunteers built roads. There was no clean water so they dug three wells for drinking water. There is now a small dental centre and a medical centre.
She hopes to expand the project into Brazil, which will bring about its own unique challenges.
Miss Conceiçao was born and raised in Portugal, the youngest of eight children. Before arriving in the UAE, she also lived in Italy, Switzerland and Britain.
Emirates Airline, the Meridien Hotel group and Arabian Explorers have all agreed to hire the fathers of some of the schools' pupils. This helps to break the cycle of poverty that forces children into the same situation that their parents are in.
Miss Conceiçao founded Dhaka Project in 2005 after witnessing the city's poverty during a stopover. There are 90 staff members at Uttara in Dhaka and many volunteers are working to bring Dhaka out of the slums.
She was nominated in the humanitarian category. She won both that and the overall title after a vote by readers of Emirates Woman.
"The Dhaka Project is not only a project that is helping the children, we are really helping the whole community," she said.
To allow children better access to the school, the volunteers built roads. There was no clean water so they dug three wells for drinking water. There is now a small dental centre and a medical centre.
She hopes to expand the project into Brazil, which will bring about its own unique challenges.
Miss Conceiçao was born and raised in Portugal, the youngest of eight children. Before arriving in the UAE, she also lived in Italy, Switzerland and Britain.
Emirates Airline, the Meridien Hotel group and Arabian Explorers have all agreed to hire the fathers of some of the schools' pupils. This helps to break the cycle of poverty that forces children into the same situation that their parents are in.