s
Chance sent Gayle Powell to Dubai, finding love with a desert racing driver kept her there.
When Gayle Powell landed a contract as a primary school teacher in Abu Dhabi shortly after qualifying, she could never have known that it heralded a life in the Emirates directing the internationally famous Dubai Harmony all-female chorus and marrying a FIA World Championship off-road racing driver. Today, home for Gayle and her family is the Umm Suqeim suburb of buzzing Dubai.
Shortly after arriving in Abu Dhabi Gayle met Mark Powell, who lived in the same apartment block, and the couple became best friends. Four or five years down the line, Mark’s career took him to South Africa but, realising how much he missed Gayle back in Abu Dhabi, he proposed by letter. The couple were married in England the following Christmas Eve and then lived in South Africa for a couple of years, before returning to Abu Dhabi after Mark was offered a management job that promised sufficient security to allow them to start a family. Enter daughters Jourdan and Ellice.
In 1997, after Mark was headhunted by a major company in the neighbouring Emirate of Dubai, the family, now committed to a life in the Gulf, moved to Umm Suqeim and rented a villa just a five minute stroll from the white sands of the world-famous Jumeirah Beach.
During a break in Gayle’s hectic day – she teaches music these days as well as being a mother and chorus director – we stopped off at the awe-inspiring Hall of the Emirates for a well-deserved coffee. As we sat in the air-conditioned gloom of a plaza lit to give the impression of being under a cool desert evening sky, despite it being almost 40C outside, Gayle told me how different the lifestyle is in the Emirates.
“Dubai is what you make it,” says Gayle. “If you are prepared get out there and take advantage of everything the place has to offer, it’s a great life. I love it.” One thing that she did stress, however, was that those considering a move out to the Emirates shouldn’t think their cares would be over in this Persian Gulf paradise. All the mundane chores and little predicaments of family life, from taxing the car to dealing with schooling to changing jobs, still exist and do not evaporate in the year-round sunshine.
Gayle does think that Dubai is a good place to bring up a family. “The education system is very good. The girls attend English College, which I cannot praise enough. In addition to the educational side, both English GCSE syllabus and Baccalaureate, there is an excellent extra-curricular programme. For example the piano and dance teachers are second to none and there are opportunities for the sports-minded to compete not only against other schools in the Gulf region, but internationally too.”
A major worry for those working and bringing up a family in foreign countries has to be healthcare, but Gayle says that the choice is, in her words, phenomenal. “My doctor happens to be British”, she said, “but Dubai attracts the cream of the medical profession from around the world. Mark’s company provides BUPA cover for the whole family. In my opinion, the best thing about the system here is that if you have a problem you are straight in there and there is no hanging around waiting for test results and lingering on waiting lists.”
With the city being such a burgeoning commercial hub, career opportunities seem to be virtually unlimited for suitably qualified expats with the right skill sets. However, make sure that the salary and welfare package on offer is the right one, as the cost of living is rocketing. Four years ago a two bedroom apartment with swimming pool could be rented for a little over £500 a month, but today it is hard to find a one room studio for twice as much, usually paid annually in advance.
“The opportunities are certainly here if you are willing to work,” says Gail of the differences between working in Dubai and in the UK, “though the working day tends to be longer than in the UK. Some people work spilt-shifts, but office hours for most are eight to five, with Friday and Saturday as the weekend. The school day is longer too, starting at twenty past seven and ending at three, with extra curricular activities afterwards.”
Gayle and Mark have toyed with buying their own home in Dubai since the law was changed to allow residential rights for foreigners, but as they are very happy in the villa they have rented in the Umm Suqeim suburb for several years, they have not yet taken the plunge. As a family is dependent on the primary bread-winner having a work permit, sponsored by an Emirati employer, to allow them to stay, but owning a home can now in some circumstances lead to permanent resident status, buying is something that has to be seriously considered as the girls get older.
On the whole, Gayle says she would not exchange life in the Emirates for that in England, except in the very height of summer when the thermometer almost boils over. That is when the Powell family escapes off to what Gayle regards as paradise; the cool haven of the family’s UK home back in mid-Wales. This is also where they try to spend their anniversary most years, after Gayle has directed the annual Christmas season for the multinational Dubai Harmony chorus, which is in such demand in the Emirates that most years they stage ten concerts during the run-up to the festive season.
A final word from the other half of the partnership. Ten years ago, in a press interview after competing in his first international rally, Team Saluki owner-driver Mark was quoted as saying: ”The UAE gives you the opportunity to do things not possible elsewhere in the world.” Earlier this year, as we sat at a table outside the world-famous Ravi’s restaurant in the heart of Dubai’s Indian Quarter, enjoying a meal fit for kings at a price affordable by paupers I asked Mark if he still believed this. “Absolutely,” was his one word reply as he dived in for another chapatti-load of curry.
