‘I am able to live my purpose every day’: Moving from Germany to Dubai, why this Berlin expat says the UAE exceeded every expectation

Dubai: When Sabine Karunanithy landed in Dubai with her three children on December 31, 2021, she arrived with more questions than expectations.

The German national had visited the city twice on family holidays, but she knew that living somewhere was very different from passing through it as a tourist. She wondered what daily life would look like, what kind of community she would find, and how welcoming the people would be.

Nearly five years later, she says Dubai left her positively surprised on every single aspect.

“There’s not a single day that I wake up and ever regret this decision,” she said. “It’s rather to the contrary – this has been one of the best decisions I have made in my life, after my decision to marry my husband, of course,” she added.

Today, the 38-year-old entrepreneur and self-awareness coach calls Dubai home. Together with her husband, Nalla Karunanithy, and their three children — Mia, 9, Noah, 6, and Jonas, 4 — she has built a life she says has exceeded every expectation she had before moving to the UAE.

More importantly, it is a place where she believes her children are growing up with a perspective that would have been difficult to replicate elsewhere.

“I cannot describe in words how much I have learned in the UAE, how much I have grown – and how grateful I am for everything my children are experiencing here,” she said.

“So many cultures live peacefully side by side. Open-mindedness, curiosity and a growth mindset are pillars of education here. A healthy lifestyle with exercise at its core is something they learn as their standard.”

Before Dubai, life for the family was firmly rooted in Berlin, Germany.

Sabine was working as a director of human resources, leading a team of 17 people and overseeing major projects. The family had recently purchased a home. Their routines were established. There was a daycare arrangement with a nanny, the family had a dog and everyday life was predictable. Then, her husband, originally from Malaysia, moved to Dubai in 2018 for a consulting assignment before being offered a full-time role here.

“At the time, everything was somewhat established,” Sabine recalled. “We had our structure and our life in Berlin.”

So, initially, the family stayed behind while her husband relocated.

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck and international travel restrictions kept them apart for months, Sabine began reassessing what mattered most.

“I realised I didn’t want to keep the family separated,” she said.

The decision to move followed soon after and five years later, what still strikes her the most is how family friendly the city is.

For Sabine, the environment Dubai creates for children is one of the city’s greatest strengths.

“I don’t think my kids could grow up in a better place,” she said.

“It is so international and open-minded. They are learning so much about different cultures. We celebrate everything from Eid to Diwali, Easter and Halloween. It’s like the kids get the best of all worlds.”

That openness, she says, is truly heartwarming, especially as it extends across the community. One of her first experiences as a new expat still stays with her as a reminder of how people in the city interact with children.

The family had gone to Mall of the Emirates to shop for furniture and like many young children, her sons were running ahead, distracted and full of energy.

Her youngest son, who had only recently learned to walk, accidentally ran straight into an elderly Emirati man at full speed. Sabine immediately braced herself for a reprimand.

“In my mind, I expected him to tell me off or give me a look to say in some way that I wasn’t teaching my child how to behave in public,” she said.

Instead, the gentleman simply smiled, patted the child gently on the head and continued on his way.

“He must have been around 70 years old,” she recalled.

“It may sound quite simple, but for someone like me it was shocking because in Europe I would have expected a very different reaction.”

For Sabine, the moment reflected something she had already begun noticing about life in the UAE.

“It was such a heartfelt reaction,” she said.

“Just a simple understanding that, yes, children don’t always look left and right when they are running around. Rather than looking disgruntled, he responded with kindness.”

That social standard, Sabine says, can be seen across the city.

“There is almost like a red carpet for kids everywhere,” she said. “It’s so beautiful and liberating. Also, if you look at Arab culture, it is really so grounded in having a family and community and taking care of each other,” she said.

But moving to Dubai has also been an exceptional experience for Sabine from a personal perspective. Long before moving to the UAE, Sabine had hoped to launch her own business in Germany. The process, however, became so difficult due to the tedious paperwork that she eventually abandoned the idea.

“Everything had to be done on paper. Documents had to be sent through the post. Everything was incredibly slow. In the end, I gave up and took the HR director role instead.”

Dubai presented a completely different experience. Setting up her business took a fraction of the time she had expected, with everything done digitally, and the business support she has received has made the entire experience exceptional.

“What really stands out is how supportive the environment is,” she said. “Through networking events, people show you the way, introduce you to others and help you connect with businesses.”

Today, she works as a self-awareness coach, supporting both organisations and individuals through training programmes and one-on-one coaching.

“My business is doing really well, mainly because of the environment here,” she said.

The experience has also helped her gain clarity about her own purpose.

Over the past few years, she spent considerable time reflecting on what truly drives her, what values matter most and what kind of example she wants to set for her children.

That journey eventually led her to two principles she says now guide every aspect of her life.

“My purpose is to share my knowledge,” she said.

“And I do that through my two core values: mastery and love.”

Whether she is acting as a mother, wife, coach, trainer or entrepreneur, she says those values remain constant.

“Knowing that these two are the backbone of everything I do gives me clarity,” she said.

“Here in Dubai, I am able to live my purpose every day, free to focus on what truly matters to me.”