Documenting the Relationship of Khaleejis in London

Article in brief: The article sheds light on a recent educational initiative that the author took up on oral history and documenting the relationship of Khaleejis in London.

One of my goals for year 2013 is to focus on taking up activities that would help me find balance between a career that is time demanding and a personal life that I am somewhat neglecting due to that. I love my job, however, I need to find excitement in other things and develop personally as well.

I caught a tweet from an Emirati friend of mine who was organizing a workshop in oral history at the Modern Museum of Arab Arts (Mathaf) in Doha. In honour of the diplomatic ties between Qatar and UK that is being celebrated in 2013 by both countries, the workshop sought to explore the relationship of Khaleejis in London. Perfect!

The topic was not only relevant to me as a frequent visitor to London, but was also a fascinating one because there are many of us who are there all year round. What was interesting to me was to explore the behavioral patterns of Khaleejis who feel more at ease to be themselves, out of the environments where they are being watched by people from their own society.

Whilst oral history may seem like a boring thing to delve into, I must admit; I thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgia that comes with interviewing the subjects and how they recollect memories of certain happenings at some point in their lives.

Our assignment for the workshop was to hand in a final piece of work, interviewing someone who would give their thought on the subject matter. I was lucky enough to have a friend who co-incidentally is half Qatari, half British, thereby minimizing the biasness that may arise from giving her opinion.

Meet Nadia Haroon, a bright Qatari woman who is determined to make a difference and inspire the youth. Nadia believes she has the right mindset to be what Qatar wants its youth to be and is equipped with the mentality from having best of both worlds in upbringing.  The 5 minutes video below is the result of our individual assignments for the workshop. Enjoy.