Fighting smallpox, leprosy: Rare letters reveal how Sheikh Zayed touched billions of lives outside UAE

Every year, on the 19th day of Ramadan, the UAE celebrates Sheikh Zayed Humanitarian Day to commemorate the humanitarian efforts of the UAE's founding father who has touched the lives of people worldwide.

Khaleej Times recently spoke with Dubai-based British author Graeme Wilson, who has lived in the country for 32 years and is author of many biographies on world leaders, including the highly regarded book 'Zayed—Man Who Built a Nation'.

Wilson has extensively researched the history of the UAE and the works of Sheikh Zayed. He said Sheikh Zayed was one of the biggest philanthropists in history, and he estimates that the founding father has touched the lives of a billion people in areas around health, education and agriculture.

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Wilson also narrated some of the unreported stories of Sheikh Zayed's generosity, which he found through his research in archival documents.

Help in eradication of smallpox

In 1980, the human disease smallpox was eradicated, but what many people didn't know is that Sheikh Zayed played a crucial role in its eradication. According to Wilson, "We have discovered a letter in the UN Archives in Geneva addressed to Sheikh Zayed from the Secretary-General of the UN, thanking him for his support in eradicating the disease. We have also found another letter from the British embassy in Mauritius stating that Sheikh Zayed not only provided central support to the UN, but also distributed funds to individual nations to support smallpox programmes."

Donations for leprosy patients

Prior to the formation of the UAE in 1971, Sheikh Zayed visited Karachi. The Pakistani President at the time, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, hosted him and took him for a walk in a park. During their walk, they came across a Catholic nun who was well-known to the Pakistani president for her work with leprosy patients in Pakistan. The nun shared with Sheikh Zayed about her efforts to fight leprosy.

Two days later, President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto received a call from the nun, who informed him that Sheikh Zayed had donated enough money to cover a year's worth of ongoing operations in Karachi and all the programmes in Pakistan.

Quick aid to cyclone victims

In 1970, the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded hit the world, leading to one of the worst humanitarian disasters in history. This tragedy is known as the Bhola Cyclone. At that time, the UN lacked a system to bring aid from around the world, so Sheikh Zayed took it upon himself to support the affected nation. He asked his elder son, Sheikh Khalifa, to gather aircraft and supplies to send to Dhaka. Within 24 hours, aid from the late founding father had reached 10 million displaced Bangladeshis.

Wilson, who narrated this story, described the gesture as "a first of its kind" at a time when no one used to send aid, and there was no system to gather aid and send it to any country.

Values of the Founding Father

The Founding Father was one of the first to respond with help to the drought in South Africa in 1992. Wilson described him as the man who ‘fed Sri Lanka’ in the mid-1970s with his commissioning of boats all around the country. This led to an increase of fishing catch by 30 per cent and made Sri Lanka a global fish exporter.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of his passing. The Founding Father instilled the values of helping and offering aid around the world, noted Graeme, who emphasised the importance of documenting Sheikh Zayed’s achievements for future generations.

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