Penplusnovember092014

SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2014 • [email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 inside Hollywood, we CAMPUS have a problem: • American School of Doha to stage Dialogue is getting Sweeney Todd harder to hear P | 4 P | 8-9 WHEELS • Power weds Italian style in the Ducati Monster 1200S P | 6 BOOKS • Everything I Never Told You is Amazon’s Book of the Year P | 7 HEALTH • Young kids with food allergies may learn helplessness P 11 The spicy scent of Cape Verdian | cuisine wafts down its winding alleyways, past a colourful bric-a- brac of houses perched high above TECHNOLOGY Lisbon. Welcome to the infamous • What to do when Cova da Moura, Portugal’s answer pressing a key produces to the favelas of Brazil -- now turned the wrong result? tourist magnet. P | 12 FAVELA LEARN ARABIC • Learn commonly used Arabic words and their meanings TOURISM P | 13 2 PLUS | SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2014 COVER STORY General view of the Cova da Moura neighbourhood of Amadora during a tourist sightseeing tour of the area on the outskirts of Lisbon. By Brigitte Hagemann he spicy scent of Cape Verdian cuisine wafts down its winding alleyways, where palm trees sway among a colourful bric-a-brac of Thouses perched high above Lisbon. Welcome to the infamous Cova da Moura, Portugal’s answer to the favelas of Brazil — now turned tourist magnet. Taxi drivers refuse to venture after dark into the belly of Cova da Moura, a drug-trafficker’s haven half an hour north of the capital that was long seen as one of Europe’s most dangerous slums. But by day tourists — around 1,000 a year including academics, architects and sociologists — are now will- ing to pay the five euro price for a tour of its narrow, Cova da Moura, history-filled streets. On this autumn day, a group of a dozen Germans stand poring over giant graffiti of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. “These are idols for many of us,” explains their the Portuguese 27-year-old guide Reginaldo Spinola, originally from the once-Portuguese Cape Verde islands like three quarters of local residents. Inspired by the favela circuits launched in Brazil ‘favela’ turned in recent years, the visits have a twin goal: “to clean up the neighbourhood’s image as a drug and crime haven, and give the local economy a boost,” said Miguel Lourenco, who runs the tourism project “Sabura”. tourist magnet “This isn’t Montmartre or Barcelona’s gothic quar- ter, but our cultural heritage can take visitors into the world of Cape Verde, its food, crafts and music.” Baseball cap twisted backwards, Spinola shakes hands and exchanges a few words in Creole with neigh- bours, as he tells the story of Cova da Moura. “This is a little village of 7,000 people — everyone knows everyone else.” PLUS | SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2014 3 Police raids are frequent by night, but Cova da Moura is considered safe to visit — with a local guide — after sunrise, and the gangs seem to have reached a tacit decision to leave the tourists alone. Selling drugs for food Moura is a gateway to Europe,” demolition. without a licence. The first to settle the hill above Spinola said. “Ten years ago, city hall wanted Judging by the German tourists’ Lisbon were Portuguese returning Others — armed with Portuguese to tear down the neighbourhood reaction as they clap and cheer to from the colonies. But after Cape qualifications — have headed home and offer the land up to property a local rap video shot to denounce Verde’s independence in 1975, they to Cape Verde, even though life developers. It is very well located, police violence — the PR operation were joined by a mass influx of there is now twice as expensive as at the gates of Lisbon. is a success. immigrants who built homes there Portugal. “They organised a campaign of For Sabine Oster, a pharmacist illegally. Godelieve Meersschaert first slander on television to get people from Frankfurt, the tours “show Along with men and women from came to Cova da Moura from worked up against us,” she said. you the other side of Lisbon, former colonies Angola and Guinea Belgium in 1982, as a young psychol- So from there came the idea of instead of just visiting the same Bissau, they flocked to Portugal at a ogist looking for a new experience. opening up the area to tourists, old monuments.” time when it was hungry for cheap “I liked the neighbourhood, and to show another side of Cova da “Exploring Cova da Moura is labour. I’m still here,” she said. Moura. more than worthwhile,” she said. Forty years on, with the economic Together with her husband So how bright does the future crisis biting hard, Cova da Moura is Eduardo, originally from the Azores ‘Gold mine’ look for the neighbourhood? plagued with unemployment. Those islands, she founded an association Police raids are frequent by night, Although new waves of immi- who have work struggle as badly called Moinho da Juventude — Mill but Cova da Moura is considered grants continue to head to Cova paid labourers or cleaners. of Youth — which has been working safe to visit — with a local guide — da Moura, any new construction “A lot of young people sell drugs to improve local living conditions, after sunrise, and the gangs seem is banned. to put food on their families’ tables,” including fighting for access to run- to have reached a tacit decision to “When a local resident dies, if said Spinola. ning water and sewage. leave the tourists alone. his children live far away, the town Some have left to seek better These days, the soft-spoken One dealer even had an abortive demolishes his home,” said Spinola, fortune elsewhere, in Switzerland, 69-year-old is on a new mission go at a new career as a tour guide — gesturing at a patch of newly- Germany or France. “Cova da — to save Cova da Moura from before he was sent to jail for driving cleared land. “They want to knock down the neighbourhood,” he said. “It’s a gold mine for developers.” In the middle of the 2000s the Portuguese government tried to bring local crime under control, while funding a major literacy campaign. But in 2011, on the verge of bank- ruptcy, the state pulled out. “The authorities are no longer doing anything at all for Cova da Moura,” said the sociologist Elsa Casimiro, who has studied the neighbourhood and its close-knit community. “But the area will survive, because there is a great solidarity here.” AFP A local guide welcomes the German tourists. 4 PLUS | SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2014 CAMPUS / COMMUNITY American School of Doha to stage Sweeney Todd he American School of Doha T(ASD) High School Music and Drama Departments are bringing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street to the stage; a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. This production, directed by Patricia Sands (ASD HS Drama Instructor) features Sen Huang (ASD grade 12 student) and Deana Taheri (ASD grade 11 student) as Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett, the most unlikely of partners. This includes a full Ideal Indian School (IIS) Taekwondo team with Principal Syed Shoukath Ali and team officials. IIS team bagged 9 gold, 3 cast of 36 plus over 40 stage- silver and 2 bronze medals and emerged as the Qatar Cluster champions in the CBSE Clusters Taekwondo Championship hands and crew members, all held recently. The team was trained by Martial Arts Coach Amazad Khan. students from The American School of Doha. To prepare for this production, the cast members held a live Skype master class and a Q&A session on Wednesday, October 22, with Alex Gemignani. Gemignani is a SIS marks Broadway actor and tenor and a Broadway regular. He per- Keralappiravi formed the role of Sweeney Todd in the 2007 national tour of the he 58th Keralappiravi was Broadway production, among celebrated with cultural pro- his many recent performances. Tgrammes depicting the tradi- This opportunity was arranged tions and customs of Kerala. by the Musical Director for the Students, guided by the production Stephanie Gravelle Malayalam department, presented (ASD HS Choral Instructor.) a cultural fiesta that comprised of Sweeney Todd is set on Fleet Thiruvathira, Opanna, Poem recita- Street in Victorian London and tion, Mapilapattu and Vallamkari. features the story of Benjamin Shareefudin brought alive the audi- Barker who seeks revenge ence with his compering. Shameem during the industrial revolu- welcomed the gathering. Principal, tion. Filled with wonderful and Dr Subhash Nair praised the per- memorable Sondheim tunes, formances of the students and the this popular production will efforts of the teachers. Abhirammi amaze you. Tickets are on sale Unnikrishnan presented the vote of now. More information email thanks. The Peninsula [email protected]. The Peninsula Tennis tournament All Stars Tennis club kicked off the annual singles tournament for its members recently at the Aspire Tennis courts. The matches will be played on Friday and Saturday morning 7 to 10. Finals will be played on December 19. The club members play regularly at the Aspire courts. The club was formed three-year ago by a group of tennis loving residents in Qatar from various walks of life. The club conducts tennis camps for kids by bringing in experienced coaches. The picture shows some of the members on the first day of the tournament. COMMUNITY / MARKETPLACE PLUS | SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2014 5 Painting workshop A drawing and painting workshop was conducted at Al Khor Community by Bharathi. Workshop was led by N Ravindran winner of “Beat the Drum award” for creat- ing best posters in Toastmaster International — Middle East-North Africa regional level for three times including this year.

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