Story Lines – A Celebration of Community, Connection, and Contribution
Thursday, June 19, 2025
From left to right: Sonali A. Maheshwary, Executive Director, AmCham Abu Dhabi; Sharief Fahmy, Board Member, AmCham Abu Dhabi, Regional Executive Director, Kaman Corporation; Emma Shortt, Co-Chair, Arts, Culture, and Education Committee, Founder, xler8AD Limited; His Excellency Rashad Bukhash, Chairman, Architectural Heritage Society (UAE); Dr. Ahmed Al Khoori, Businessman and Heritage Collector; Sadia Anwar, Founder, Uhibbook Publishing; Mehnaz Anshah, Founder, Uhibbook Publishing; Sara El-Dalal, Co-Chair, Arts, Culture, and Education Committee, Country Director, AMIDEAST; Jason Moore, Board Member, AmCham Abu Dhabi, Senior Advisor, GCC, Lyten 3D.
AmCham Abu Dhabi, in partnership with Uhibbook, hosted the Story Lines Book Launch on June 19, 2025, at the Rosewood Abu Dhabi.
This event celebrated community, connection, and contribution through the launch of Uhibbook’s new publication, Story Lines. The initiative also aimed to raise awareness about senior citizens in the U.A.E. and share their unique personal stories with a broader audience. The gathering brought together AmCham Abu Dhabi board members and Emirati seniors, some of whom contributed their experiences of the U.A.E. in their younger years to the book.
The event commenced with opening remarks from AmCham Abu Dhabi’s Executive Director, Sonali A. Maheshwary, and Uhibbook’s Co-Founder, Mehnaz Anshah This was followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session titled ‘Preserving Heritage Through Shared Stories’ featuring two seniors from the book.
The core of the event revolved around fostering connection between seniors and the audience, with seniors sharing personal memories of their unique crafts. The audience actively engaged with several physical artifacts and participated in an open mic session, where some shared their own stories of pearl diving and embroidery.
The narratives shared, from Dr. Ahmed Khoori and Ummer Farooq Musba’s nostalgic recollections of Abu Dhabi’s inaugural cinema to the transformative journey from pearl-diving coasts to the contemporary skyline, truly encapsulated the essence of the city. These are the voices that have intricately woven the fabric of Abu Dhabi’s soul.
A heartfelt thank you to all who contributed to making this event a reality. Together, let us continue to celebrate our past, engage with our present, and collaboratively shape a more empathetic future, one narrative at a time.
