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To be a Qatari woman and a journalist is not only hard, but also unusual. When I told my family I was applying to a journalism school, I got mixed responses. Some told me that it was fine because I wasn’t going to use my education anyway. Others said that I shouldn’t study journalism print or broadcast because it wasn’t a good career choice for a Qatari woman, especially someone from the royal family. Being on television is a career choice more suitable for a member of the expat community they said – not Qataris. A very few family members encouraged me to pursue my dream.
Northwestern doesn’t only teach us the theories, but we have hands-on experiences that push us out of our comfort zones. I had to convince my parents about the importance of having these hands-on experiences. Enterprise reporting is the backbone of our journalism education at Northwestern University in Qatar. Before taking the class, I didn’t know if I had what it takes to be a ‘real’ journalist.
The class was a series of firsts for me, the first time I went to Musherib, the first time I walked the streets in Qatar and the first time I spoke to strangers and asked them questions. It was very intimidating and overwhelming at first, but after a while it became empowering.
I was able to break out of my shell and to not be afraid to stop someone on the street, because I learned at Northwestern that as a journalist you need people as much as they need you. It is trickier to do journalism in the Middle East because people are not used to seeing journalists, and local journalism has a bad reputation for not being fair, honest or anything remotely close to ‘journalism’. Also, some expatriates are afraid to answer questions that could get them into trouble.
In the beginning weeks of our enterprise reporting class, we learned that there was so much we didn’t know about Qatar. We got to see things that were concealed in an area of Qatar that locals don’t visit anymore. It was a mesmerizing experience for me. It really opened my eyes to the other side of Qatar. I never knew that there was a part of Qatar so neglected.
One of the most memorable encounters was when I met with an aging man wearing ragged clothes at a video rental store. He looked helpless, defeated and lonely. When my friends and I started to talk to him, he opened up and told us his entire story.
The wrinkly old man turned out to be a driver who worked for my great uncle. When my great uncle decided to leave the country years ago, the old man was left without a job. The man became paralyzed and needed treatment that he couldn’t afford in Pakistan so he decided to stay live here in Qatar where healthcare is affordable and more prestigious. He now lives in one of the crowded bachelor houses in Musherib and it was such a coincidence that I see him there and meet him for the very first time.
Later, during one of our reporting classes, a classmate called me to accompany her to one of the crowded bachelor houses so she could finish her interview. There I saw him again. Instead of being in the comfort of his family home in Pakistan, he lives in a crowded, partly torn-down old house in the center of Doha’s oldest neighborhood-Musherib.
I felt that our traditions and expectations of what a ‘proper’ girl or woman should be was completely changed. Before enterprise reporting, asking questions, approaching men on the street, walking on the streets and even taking pictures were considered inappropriate. Now that has all changed. I feel like a completely different person. I grew so much in the past year, more than I did in the entire 21 years of my life.
Professor Janet Key, my enterprise reporting professor, might have been tough and sometimes demanding, but I learned so much from her that at the end of the semester I actually felt like a journalist. I do believe it was enterprise reporting and Professor Janet Key that molded me into the journalist that I am today.
In an office in Musherib, the oldest neighborhood in Doha, a former Indian clerk is now pursuing a life her never expected when he left India 20 years ago in search of a better standard of living. Buried behind piles of black-ink newspapers, Abdul-Basheer Thannikkandi sits in his office working on his computer.
Unlike many Indians who migrate to Qatar with only minimal educations, Thannikkandi, graduated with two degrees in Islamic studies from the Islahiya College, and social sciences from Calicut University, both in Kerala. Once in Doha he first worked as a clerk in a bookstore in Musherib, and devoted all his time and energy working and coming up with new and innovative ways to make money. Today, he is the manager of Al Haramain Library in Musherib.
Gulf Maddimum, is a Kerala-based newspaper that has an edition in Qatar and all over the Persian Gulf. It is published in the Malayalam language, which is mainly spoken in Kerala. They report news both from Kerala and Qatar, and their advertisements are mainly from local companies aimed at expatriates. In their small office in Musherib, they have one staff reporter, an editor in Chief and Thannikkandu who does anything that needs to be done, but his official positions is the manager of marketing and advertising at the newspaper.
His Qatari sponsor appreciated his dedication and hard work in the store, and gave him the liberty to have his own newspaper and gave him the store with only a small portion of the profit returned to him.
Thannikkandi is now working on his dream, publishing a daily Indian newspaper to help spread local Indian news to the Indian community in Qatar. He always wanted to help the Indian community in Qatar, because some Indians cannot read English or Arabic.
With all the demolitions and reconstruction happening in Musherib, Indians who can’t read English have only rumors to rely on for news. This paper provides concrete information about what is going on as well as advertisements for homes and places to live Thannikkandi said.
The liberty granted to Thannikkandi by his sponsor enabled him to start up more than one business, selling toiletries and bottled-water which helped increase his income and to provide for his wife and three children.
The newspaper is run from an old, deteriorated building in the center of Doha. Both Thannikkandi and Hamza Abbas, editor-in-chief of the Qatar edition, work as in-house reporters to ensure the newspaper maintains its credibility and that his company employees before sunrise circulate it around Doha.
The Gulf Madhyamam daily started in Kerala and after it was established, Try to edit from the start the parts where u said he formed the news paper change it to he opened a branch in Qatar Abbas chose to publish international editions in the Arab world. It was initiated to deliver a balanced perspective on news to the former of Kerala.
“Keralites care about the news, whether its newspapers, radio or television. Newspapers give people cheap, accurate and reliable information,” said Thannikkandi
In the past, newspapers had to be flown in and information would be delayed, and the circulation would be done late in the day. Normally, “Keralites like to read their paper with their morning coffee or even before that,” said Thannikkandi. “Now that we are publishing our paper we can get it to our readers by home delivery in the early morning.”
“I read the Gulf Madhyamam every day. Whenever I call home, I don’t have time to ask them about the news and what was happening there,” said Basher Abdul Diam, 42, a driver in Qatar.
This newspaper conveys news about what happens in both Qatar and the various districts in Kerala, a feature that has increased the readership of the newspaper. “In one villa, you would find five or six bachelors occupying the room, they would share only one newspaper,” Thannikkandi said.
In the future, Thannikkandu and Abbas hope to have daily newspapers in more Indian dialects to provide news to the rest of the Indian expats in Doha, said an employee Mohammed Yusuf.
The bus stop near Musherib’s National park, one of the busiest neighborhoods in downtown Doha, was recently relocated, about 200 meters away, to Al-Jaidha in front of Home Centre.
“It (the bust top near Musherib’s National park) was closed because of the construction for Dohaland’s new project next to it,” said Ricky Arevsto, a bus dispatcher for Karwa buses, part of the Qatar’s Mowasalat transport company.
Mowasalat is a semi-private company that provides public transport to the residents of Qatar, said Rasel Amoche a controller of mass transit at Mowasalat.
A survey by students at Northwestern University in Qatar of 45, people in Musherib, it was found that the majority of people there have an average salary of QR1000 to QR2000. This salary isn’t sufficient enough to allow them to purchase their own vehicle or use private transport. “I use Karwa taxis, but I can’t afford to all the time,” said Satheesh Danil who works in Al Seal Residence, a residential building close to City Centre.
Moving the bus stop from near Musberib’s National park to Al-Jaidah has made transportation for most residents and employees in Musherib difficult. “It’s a very big problem,” said Earl Gamit a Filipino living in Musherib, I might have to use private cars (car-lifters), (people who use their own cars as taxis), which costs QR10 to QR15 per ride, instead of the QR3 I used to pay for the bus.”
“Musherib’s National park is a very well-known and popular location in Musherib,” said Ali Azzam, a worker living in Musherib. “Now that they moved it (the bus stop), I don’t know if people are willing to walk a very long distance (around 200 meters) to ride buses that sometimes don’t show for hours.”
The Karwa buses have a proper system, daily route and timetable said Amoche. However “The buses are delayed sometimes because of traffic,” he said. “It’s out of our hands.”
“Sometimes two buses come together and people would be waiting for a bus for 45 minutes to an hour,” said Julius de Guzman, a worker in Musherib who uses Karwa buses.
In the scorching heat of summer, it is often difficult to wait a long while or walk a long distance to find a ride said de Guzman. “Once I waited for the bus at the National bus stop for almost an hour. Other times it never shows,” said Khagendra Rumptel, a Nepalese who works in the Al-Meera complex, where he rotates between supermarkets.
Bus drivers have their problems too and some impact their passengers like Rumptel. Bus drivers can be fined if they allow more people on the bus than the limit of seats available and therefore many people are left waiting at the bus stop for another one to show up.” We don’t stop the buses at every bus stop we pass through because we would be fined QR1000 if we were caught having more passengers (than the available seats on the bus),” said Johnson Mwalimo, a Kenyan bus driver.
‘Karwa Smartcards’ which are sold for QR30 and swiped by the passenger when board and depart the bus and gets paid for the distance he travelled. Otherwise you would have to pay QR10 for a bus ticket, said June Miranda, a Smartcard staff.
“I don’t take the bus anymore because I didn’t make a card yet,” said Azzam, who just got back from Bangladesh and found out the new system in place. “It’s very expensive to take the bus if you don’t have a card.”
Some people choose to not purchase a smartcard because they don’t use the bus very often. “I only leave Musherib once or twice a year,” said Rashid Akbar.
Removing the bus stop has affected many people because National park is a central location where many expatriates meet. “We could get some tea and talk with our friends who live here (Musherib) while waiting for the bus,” said Rumtel. “But now that they moved it, I don’t know what to do. I walked from (Musherib) to Al-Jaidah and it took me about 30 minutes then I waited for about 45 minutes until a bus came.”
The emergency room Doha’s at Hamad Hospital is overflowing with Asian expatriates and laborers who are suffering from minor and major injuries, such as cuts, bruises, headaches broken arms and eye-infections.
These laborers work in noisy and dangerous construction sites all over Qatar building the skyscrapers, malls, hotels and the main infrastructure for the country. They continuously work long hours a day without breaks. Even during the summertime they have to work up to 10 hours a day under the scorching sun.
A health card at Doha’s Hamad Hospital costs 100 Qatari Riyals, but that only insures workers them for minor illnesses and injuries such as headaches, stomach-aches, colds and small cuts. However, for major surgical procedures, such as heart surgeries, amputations and brain surgeries, the hospital covers half the costs and the patient covers the other half, said a doctor who asked to remain anonymous because he didn’t get clearance from the hospital to be on speak to on the record.
“The law that protects the workers health insurance is pretty vague,” said Ashraf Al-Sayyed, a lawyer at the Ministry of Interior in Qatar. The law states that a sponsor is responsible for his employees’ health but doesn’t state how they should go about it.
Al-Sayyed said that some employers take advantage of their employees by trying to find a way around the law: “They bypass the law by telling their workers that their salaries are covering their health benefits.”
Al-Sayyed said that even if there was a stated law about labor workers health insurance policy, “if there is no organization supervising and making sure that the workers get their health insurance, then it’s just ink on paper because most of them don’t know their rights anyway,” said Al-Sayyed.
But Mohammed Ghareeb, an Eygptian worker in Musherib, said that he never signs a job contract without an insurance clause. “If they don’t give me health insurance, I don’t take the job,” he said. “All I have is my health, without it I’m nothing,” Ghraeeb said.
But that’s not true for everyone. Most labor workers have minimal educations and they don’t understand their rights and what is in the contract, said Garheeb. In addition, employers should educate and inform their workers of their rights, said Al-Sayyed.
“On one of the construction sites I worked on in the Dafna area in Qatar, I saw a worker who was using an electric machinery to cut objects, he lost control of the machine and split his face in half causing a lot blood to pour out and his skin was eradicated,” said Ghareeb.
When people are seriously injured, must go back home because they are unable to work as efficiently as they used to. Some who are sent home are sent without pay, he said.
Ghareeb told a story of another construction worker who left Qatar because his leg was amputated at Hamad Hospital and his sponsor sent him home. “He lost everything,” Gahreeb said. “His sponsor didn’t compensate him or anything,” he said.
“I pay for everything,” said Ahmed Fathy, an Egyptian labor worker, who works in construction sites around Doha. “I paid for my health card in the first couple of days when I came to Qatar,” Fathy said.
He doesn’t share Ghareeb and Al-Sayyed’s view on sponsors’ responsibilities. “My sponsor doesn’t have to pay for any health related issue at all, its not his responsibility,” said Fathy.
“It is all based on luck. If you get a good and kind sponsor he would pay for your medical expenses. If you get a sponsor who only cares about money he wouldn’t,” said Basheer Abd al-Daim, an Indian driver in Qatar. He said that he has health insurance and that his sponsor has been very kind to him. “I worked for them for more than 14 years. They have taken care of all my health issues,” he said.
Piles of neglected garbage, streams of flooded sewers, piles of construction residue and a nauseating odor of sewage linger in the air above the oldest neighborhood in Doha, Musherib.
“I wanted to move, but this is the only house that I can afford. This neighborhood was filled with families, but now there is only men living around us,” said Zakia Saleem, a woman living in Musherib for the past 25 years.
The neighborhood is currently undergoing a redevelopment project, for a new commercial and residential complex project called Musherib.
Most of the houses in Musherib are still as they were built, more than 50 years ago. They maintain traditional Qatari architecture; small rooms surrounding an open-air garden. However, there has barely been any maintenance done to these homes, leaving them in poor conditions. Some houses have tin roofs, holes in the walls, curtain separators and no air conditioning.
There are around 4 to 8 rooms per labor camp. In each house there are at least 30-40 men living there. “Sometimes we have seven people in a room and sometimes more,” said Aslan Abbas, a resident in a labor-camp in Musherib.
The cramped conditions and old houses are not the only thing the residents have to worry about. Abbas says that every two-weeks the residents suffer bad smells, as he finds difficulty cleaning the sewers which overflow into the streets and houses.
“I have to clean it up by myself because it takes the government a day or two to come and clean, but I cannot wait that long,” he said. “The smell is very bad,” said Chandan Kumar Choudhari, a labor worker who lives in a labor camp in Musherib.
“Once the sewage overflow was very bad that I was stuck in my house,” said Astar Ahmad, a worker and resident in Musherib.
“Of course there is sewage overflow in Musherib… the plumbing and pipes are very old,“ said Abdullah Al-Qahtani, the head of the health department at Doha’s Municipality.
Along with the government delay in dealing with sewage overflow; the garbage disposal is being neglected.
“The government does not pick up all the garbage from [Musherib.] [The neighbors] tell me to throw them in one of the two abandoned houses on the street,” said Saleem.
The sewage and garbage is creating an environment that encourages cockroaches and rats to breed in Musherib. “My daughter kills up to ten cockroaches and rats everyday,” said Saleem. Saleem added that leaving garbage to gather for a long time would add to the unsterilized, environmentally unsafe problems in the neighborhood.
“The residents should contact the Insects and Rodents Fighting Section of the municipality,” said Al-Qahtani.
Some residents have seen a decline in the amount of sewage overflow over the past few months, “It [because] the government has built a new road close by,” said Rikba Prakash, who works at Al Tanveer Intl. Trading Co. on Umm Wishad St.
Leaving the house and going outside is not any better. The broken and uneven streets are filled with cans, dirty tissues and plastic bottles and many other items. Twice a month the sewage overflow fills the streets and people are unable to navigate the streets to get to their destination unless they walk over the streams of sewage, said Saoud Mohammed Al-Sheme, an Egyptian living in Musherib.
The odor deters visitors from coming to the area especially the customers that come to restaurants, “The smell is so bad that people who come to eat normally walk away,” said Mohammed Ikram, a worker at Golden Sweets. Visitors are inclined to leave when they see and smell the sewage. “The smell is very bad,” said Rimzi Sakif, a salesperson at Silky Way, on Abdullah Bin Thani St.
People only take action when it personally affects them or their business. “Normally [the overflow of sewage] doesn’t come too close to the pharmacy that I work in so I don’t have to call (the municipality to come clean it,)” said Isaac Edwin, pharmacist at Al-Kazem pharmacy.
“I never call (the municipality), I did once or twice because the overflow was so severe we had to, but normally someone else does,” said Prakash.
Most of the garbage in Musherib is not being collected from each metal bin on the streets. Normally when the come to Musherib the garbage trucks are full and other times they only take some of trash, said Mohammed Anwar, a resident in Musherib.
“When we receive complaints about the garbage, first we investigate the source of the problem,” said Al-Qahtani. After that we send a person from the services department to collect the garbage, he said.
The sewage and garbage are not the only problems facing the old neighborhood of Musherib, the current reconstruction is affecting the residents, workers and visitors to Musherib. The residual dust and sand from all the construction work causes so many illnesses, such as asthma, throat and eye infections, said Isaac Edwin, a pharmacist at Al- Kazem pharmacy on Abdullah Bin Thani St.
“Since Musherib is an old area, garbage and sewage problems are normally found. Anyway this area will be demolished soon,” said Al-Qahtani
Many of the residents and workers in Musherib said that the dust and sand in the air is a very big concern. “When my friends and I go out to smoke the dust comes into our eyes,” Sakif said. “Last month, all our employees (Al Tanveer Intl. Trading Co.) got sick. I believe its from all the construction and dust,” said Pakash.
Not everyone agrees with Edwin, Anwar and Al-Sheme. “This place has more positives than negatives,” said John Infaidon, a Nigerian visitor to Musherib. He said that in Nigeria there are smells and garbage everywhere as long as his room is clean nothing else matters. In Musherib, the merchandise is cheap and good quality. The food is tasty and the prices are cheap so living here wouldn’t be so bad, said Imafidon Lewe also a Nigerian visiting Musherib.
