DriveArabia supports the Maria Cristina Foundation charity

DriveArabia.com has done financially in the last two years. Really well. That’s because three years ago, Bayt.com took on our ad sales and things just boomed from there. Even after getting banned by three carmakers, and feuds with several others, all for being too honest, we made a huge profit. We have a large cash reserve at the moment that we could spend in several ways. One way would be to squander that money on an Aston Martin Vanquish. The other is to do good. We put some of the money back into the website, starting a mobile version, an Arabic-lite version, upgrading our office, getting more writers and picking up a couple of used long-termers. And some of it has been earmarked to help the less-fortunate. We picked the Maria Cristina Foundation / Dhaka Project for our charitable donations, because Portuguese founder Maria Conceicao has made it her mission in life to help the children of Bangladesh.

As patriotic as I am, being a Bangladeshi in this world is a bit of a curse. I know it more than anyone else, so it can only be due to divine intervention that I’ve gone on to create the largest automotive portal in the region. And it is now time for me to give back. I love what Maria, a former Emirates flight-attendant, has been doing since 2005, who saw the plight of slum-dwelling children and decided to do something about it, without the bureaucracy of traditional aid agencies that eat up a large chunk of the money as “administration” costs. She has changed lives with free educational initiatives there. You can read more about her in this Gulf News story.

We’ve been donating to the Dhaka Project and elsewhere for the last couple of years now, but we never shamelessly publicised it. But recently Maria climbed Mount Everest in an attempt to raise awareness of her charities, but it wasn’t covered by most of the Bieber-obsessed regular media, and the money raised was far below target. So we’re now taking it upon ourselves to promote her activities every once in a while, in the hopes that you too would donate to one of the best charities around. Or donate wherever you like. It’s the thought that counts.

For more information on donations, please contact them directly at mariacristinafoundation.org, since I am not directly involved in their daily activities aside from occasional financial contributions. Meanwhile, here is a press-release of her recent climb:

Eight weeks after leaving UAE and battling through the harsh environment and freezing weather conditions, the Portuguese philanthropist and the UAE’s very own Maria Conceicao has successfully reached the top Mount Everest on Tuesday, 21 May 2013.

Maria’s monumental ascent to the top of the world was strictly to raise funds and awareness to help improve the lives of the impoverished children of Bangladesh.

Adding to her list of accolades, Maria’s accomplishment falls on the 60th anniversary of the first men to summit Mount Everest in 1953 – Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

Maria Conceicao, founder of the Maria Cristina Foundation, said: “I am deeply honoured and humbled by the overwhelming support I have received from friends, family, the people of the UAE and across the world. My ultimate goal is to inspire people to take on the fight against poverty and rid the world of this disease. Once I reached the summit all the physical, emotional and psychological stress that I endured was completely worth it as I strongly believe that more people will now join me to give the children and people of Bangladesh an opportunity to live better lives from now on.”

Maria experienced nausea, dizziness and loss of appetite when scaling Mount Everest. She was very fortunate to have not experienced frostbite, hypothermia, extreme sunburns or broken bones – which usually occurs to climbers that attempt this challenge.

The UAE’s first web-based TV, MyDubaiMyCity.com has been tracking Maria’s progress and uploading it to its website regularly for those interested in following this incredible and inspirational woman.

Generous corporate sponsors supporting the Portuguese philanthropist include: Raahi Group, KG, Petrochem, Up & Running, Etihad Airways, Flying Colours, Drive Arabia, GEMS of Yoga, and Nike.

Established in 2010, The Maria Cristina Foundation is an organisation based in Dubai providing premium secondary education to slum-dwellers’ children. Maria also believes in trying to break the cycle of poverty by giving their parents marketable skills for employment.