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[email protected] SUNDAY 5 APRIL 2015 • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 A SWEET-AND-SOUR DISHH FURIOUSFURIOU 7: LG G FLEX 2: THAT WILL HAVE YOU A TOUCHINGTOUC SECOND COMING DITCHINGHING TAKETAKE-OUT OUT TTRIBUTERIBUT TO OOFF CCURVEDURVED PPHONEHONE PAUL WALKEWALKER P | 6 P | 8 P | 11 Students as young as seven and eleven are growing vegetables as part of a greenhouse initiative by Sahtak Awalan - Your Health First campaign — designed to teach children about the benefits of growing and eating healthy food. PAGES 2 & 3 | SUNDAY 5 APRIL 2015 | 02 FARMING Developing healthy eating habits through farming n an unusual scene at schools in and humidity need to be watched, and Doha, greenhouses have become the seedlings need to be cared for and a prominent feature at some watered regularly. Independent schools recently. But WCMC-Q’s greenhouse project is A BBC crew doing an interview with students of the Nusiba Bint Kaab School I Students as young as seven years and a lot more than that. For WCMC-Q, it is on organic farming. eleven years grow vegetables as part of an educational programme that will teach learning to eat balanced diet and live a children about the importance of nutri- healthy life. tious, healthy food and balanced diet. It They managed to get good harvet of also provides the opportunity to initiate parsley, coriander and arugula as well as discussions inside classrooms about how good helpings of tomatoes, peppers, and food is produced and whether farming eggplants. and other food production methods are The greenhouse initiative, designed to sustainable and environmental friendly. teach children about the benefits of grow- Elementary Independent schools ing and eating healthy food, has been from across Qatar were selected by the launched by the Sahtak Awalan — Your Supreme Education Council to be part of Health First campaign, which was intro- the scheme and all these schools receive duced by Weill Cornell Medical College a greenhouse from the Sahtak Awalan in Qatar (WCMC-Q) and the Supreme campaign. In addition they are presented Council of Health to encourage people with gardening equipment and a variety of to think about adopting a healthy lifestyle. vegetable and herb seeds. Students are Successfully growing fruits and veg- given advice on how to grow the seeds etables requires you to follow certain and they can then watch the plants from guidelines, the compost needs to be germination through to when the vegeta- prepared correctly, the temperature bles develop. | SUNDAY 5 APRIL 2015 | FARMING 03 The students can take the produce “I’m growing cucumber, I water it home and eat the freshest, healthiest every week and measure it to see how food and a competition is held at the it grows. This is the first time I am see- end of the growing season to determine ing vegetable grow, I want to grow which greenhouse had the best crop. many vegetables, especially carrots Initially, greenhouses, plant pots, at home as well,” said seven-year-old seeds and compost were given to 15 Fatima Mohamed Suwaidan, a grade primary schools across Doha. Now the two student. number of schools has increased to A health survey in 2012 showed more than 30. Students at the schools that more than 90 per cent of people are then challenged to grow the best in Qatar do not eat the recommended produce they could. The aim is to teach daily amount of fruit and vegetables. children about fresh, healthy food and The Your Health First campaign, along to encourage them to eat more fruit and with the Greenhouse Initiative, aims to vegetables. change that. Students at Nosaiba Bint Kaab Girls “We wanted to teach young children Primary were found to have grown the the importance of eating fresh and best crops in 2014. healthy food. By learning good habits Haya Juma Bunassoum (11) and at an young age, they are more likely grade five students at Nosaiba Bint to continue with them as they grow Kaab Girls Primary was among those older,” said Dr Sharad Taheri, Professor who contributed to get a healthy of Medicine at WCMC-Q. harvest. Unhealthy eating habits has exac- “This is something very new for us; erbated health problems and has led the experience of growing vegetables to chronic diseases such as obesity was exciting. Week after week we saw and diabetes, as well as cardiovascular the plants growing,” she said. diseases and some types of cancer, Her experience growing vegetable occurring at an early age. Obesity is didn’t end at school, now Haya is grow- 30 percent in Qatar, which is very high, ing tomatoes and cucumber at home. and among them about 70 percent are Her classmate Lyla Bassem too kids. shared a similar experience, “When we “Look at the diabetes population in grow vegetables we are also taught the Qatar, the majority are younger than importance of eating healthy and taking 45 years, there is a whole lot of young care for ourselves. It was a great experi- people developing various complica- ence to see the plants and vegetables tions including cardiovascular prob- grow.” lems,” said Dr Taheri. By introducing Although students learn to grow veg- healthy eating habits and lifestyle at a etables at school some even experi- younger age to students Sahtak Awalan ment to grow different plants at home. believes that a long term solution could Aya Wageh Refaat, who grew toma- be found. toes at school, is now growing flowers “This is a start, we have to start some- at home. “I wanted to try something dif- where to educate the children about Students at the schools are then ferent at home, so I am growing flowers. healthy eating, and it would take time challenged to grow the best produce I want to have my own small farmhouse until everything changes. There are big they could. The aim is to teach soon to grow all the vegetables that I advertising prmoting unhealthy food, but children about fresh, healthy food like,” she said. unless we have the same appetite for and to encourage them to eat more This winter younger children at their healthy food, it’s going to be difficult,” school have taken the task of growing said Dr Taheri. fruits and vegetables. vegetables to learn about healthy living. The Peninsula | SUNDAY 5 APRIL 2015 | 04 CAMPUS Qatar University and Qatar Shell collaborate to empower women chemical engineers he Department of Chemical Engineering at Qatar University (QU) in collabora- Ttion with Qatar Shell brought together Chemical Engineering students to discuss the significant contri- bution of women to the development and progress of Qatar’s industry and to foster the spirit of loyalty among the faculty, current students and alumni. The ‘Al Majlis’ event provided an opportunity for the department to engage its students and alumni, and to gain valuable feedback on the current status of the department and ways in which the programme could Research Engineer shared their expe- Kahraman and Nisrine Al Kadi, Collaboration Manager at Qatar Shell be improved. riences of women working in the indus- Subsurface Team Leader at Qatar Shell Research and Technology Centre Over 60 attendees including Dr try. Also participating in the discussion and President of Qatar Shell Women’s (QSRTC), said that Qatar Shell aims Rashid Al Ammari, the Dean of the were QU teaching assistant Shaden Association Network (QSWAN). through its partnership with Qatar College, were present at the panel dis- Daghash and Executive Assistant Layal Sharing her insights as a woman University to empower women in the cussion which was held at the Marriot Bani Nasser, Rabaah Al Musleh, Qatari engineer at Shell, Al Kadi said: “The oil and gas industry. Marquis Hotel at City Center. Diar Real Estate Investment Company support of international oil companies, Aysha Al Mohannadi, who gradu- Maryam Al Mesaifri, Ministry of Senior Development Executive; and like Qatar Shell, has been at the fore- ated from Qatar University in 2011 and Environment Senior Chemical Engineer; Hanan Larm, Qatar Chemical Company front of ensuring women have the guid- now works as at RasGas as a Project Aysha Al Mohannadi, RasGas Project Production Planner. ance and mentorship they require to Engineer, said that building a successful Engineer; and Aida Rafat, Global Water Welcoming remarks were made by succeed in this competitive industry.” career requires women to be passion- Sustainability Centre-ConocoPhillips Department Head Professor Ramazan Maha Al Mannai, University ate about their job. The Peninsula ‘Makeover 5’ gears up SIS Parent-teacher conference held teachers for new academic session at Pakistan Education Centre eachers of Shantiniketan Indian Jisha Pomnarth, HM-Junior, TSchool (SIS) were updated with showed how creative teaching can the latest trends in teaching-learning help students achieve higher level process at the two-day ‘Makeover- 5’ of attention in the class. Mehjabeen, conference, a staff enrichment pro- HM-KG wing, shared information on gramme, held recently at its campus. class decorum and school so that The teachers were trained in the teachers can maintain a congenial domains of Objective Assessment learning environment in the class. and Evaluation, Incorporation of Meeraj Ali, HOD Commerce, Skills and Values through classroom talked about the art of preparing teaching, Creative Teaching, the a well-designed question paper Art of Questioning and Formulating as per curriculum standards set Answers, Designing of Question by the CBSE. Bilkees and Shobhi Papers and the Development of ICT helped the teachers with advance skills among the faculty. level of computing to help them Shihabudeen Pullath delivered the prepare presentations in MS akistan Education Centre hosted a parent teacher conference keynote address.

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