Dubai: For 29 years of her life, Sri Lankan expat Sasha Sequeira has watched and learned.Born in the UAE, the marketing and communications executive, has seen Dubai move at an unmatched pace, surrounded by people focused on growing and building. The learning curve, she says, has been steep.“The pace at which the city moves, and has always moved, is beyond words. Growing up in the late 1990s in Dubai, I never imagined the city I see today. It is about the pace,” she said.“You could be driving past a road under construction one day, and the next week you pass by the same place and it has been constructed. That’s just how fast things move,” the Sri Lankan expat said.A natural consequence of that pace has also been efficiency. Something that has transformed every aspect of her life – from applying for government paperwork, to ordering food.“In other parts of the world, government work can be difficult. In Dubai, no matter what you need, you can get it done in a matter of hours or days. It’s just how convenient things are, it is impeccable,” she said.A family rooted in the UAESequeira’s connection with the UAE dates back two generations – her grandparents first arrived in the UAE in 1984, and her mother joined them two years later, completing her school education in Dubai.For Sequeira, too, all the major milestones in life have been crossed with the UAE as the backdrop.“I went to school and university here. My high school sweetheart became my husband here. I started my career here. Became a mum here. A lot happened here,” she said.Sequeira with her husband Kevin Kugan after their civil marriage in Abu Dhabi in 2023.But as her life unfolded with the city’s own journey of success, Sequeira said she witnessed not just the power of Dubai’s ambition but also the generosity of its community.“The support I have seen Emiratis offer, especially, is really something else,” she said.Recalling a difficult period in her life, when her mother lost her job and Sequeira had to return to Sri Lanka for a month, she said that it was an Emirati acquaintance of her grandmother who helped her secure a UAE visa so that she could come back.“My grandmother used to work in the Al Qassimi Hospital in Sharjah, and someone she knew from her years working at the hospital helped me get my visa,” Sequeira said.“It shows the extent to which people in this country have helped not only me, but my entire family.”This willingness to help has been a constant in Sequeira’s life, whether it was through individual support she received from friends who became more than family, or watching the government support people in the city during challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic.Her university stepped in when financial difficulties threatened to bring her education to an abrupt end during her final semester.“I was already studying on a scholarship, but when the university found out that I might not be able to complete my last semester, they offered me a further 50 per cent reduction in my fees,” she said.“They told my mum, ‘There is no way we are going to let her leave college in her final semester.’ It made things so much easier for her. I owe a lot to this place.”The support she received from her university as well as acquaintances played a critical role in helping Sequeira complete her education.Her mother’s confidenceEven during the regional conflict this year, Sequeira says her mother’s words reinforced a belief she had carried throughout her life: that the UAE was the safest place.She recalled the message her mum – who has now moved back to Sri Lanka – had for her: “I have confidence in the UAE. You are in a safe place and I am genuinely not scared for your safety. I think being in the UAE is better for you than being anywhere else.”“When your mum says that, it makes such a difference, especially because I was here with my young daughter,” Sequeira said.“My mum knows what it means to live in the UAE because she also grew up here. She has that confidence in the country, and that is exactly the confidence I have, too,” she added.It was the same sense of reassurance she felt during the COVID-19 pandemic.“The security was just so good. Even if somebody got sick, the ambulance would arrive quickly and the person would be taken to a properly maintained facility. This wasn’t just for citizens or residents, but even for visitors. This place takes care of everyone and that’s the reason my mum said that I was better here than anywhere else in the world,” she said.What ‘Dubai-it’ means to a ‘Dubai kid’Today, Sequeira works as a marketing and communications executive at Curtin University, Dubai, and when His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the ‘Dubai-it’ initiative in June, she was initially curious.Expecting to see a new idea being launched, the initiative instead unlocked a rush of nostalgia.To ‘Dubai-it’ is to turn an extraordinary idea into reality, with precision, speed and excellence. It was something Sequeira had witnessed every day of her life, not just in the city but also in the people around her.“When you see the country growing, you want to grow with it. I have a two-year-old daughter, but I still want to keep working, learning and building. When everybody around you is working hard and creating something, you cannot remain idle,” she said.Even as she revisits the spots she went to growing up, now with her daughter holding her finger, Sequeira says the city’s growth and ambition have been infectious.One of her favourite childhood outings was taking the bus to Deira City Centre with her school friends.“We didn’t have a car at the time, so we would buy a Dh10 bus ticket and go there. Deira City Centre was our hangout spot,” she said with a laugh.“Now, when I take my daughter there, I am at a completely different stage of my life. I might be going to buy groceries, but it is still the same place. I still see the faces that over the years have become familiar,” she said.Another favourite spot for Sequeira as a child was Dubai Festival City. Here she is pictured with her newly born daughter, Kayli, at the Christmas celebrations at the mall.But the biggest lesson Sequeira says she has learnt living in Dubai all her life is to see how the city responds and cares for its people. Something that she always tries to pay forward.“We have been taken care of, so we want to give back. That is something I have learnt from living here: if you see someone falling, you go and help them,” she said.“I have seen that throughout my own life. People who were not family stepped forward to support us. It all comes down to the place you are in and what you learn from seeing the country and its people.”And as Sequeira has watched and learned from the city she can’t imagine a life anywhere else.“This country keeps growing, and I want to grow with it. My husband is growing, my family is growing, and so much of that has been possible because of the opportunities Dubai has given us,” she said.“There is no other place I would want to be.”
