By Usha Wagle Gautam
The Nonresident Nepalese Association-National Co-ordination Council (NRNA-NCC) Qatar celebrated its 12th birthday and the NRN Football Cup closing ceremony at the Coral Hotel in Old Salata last weekend.
The programme began at 9am and went on till 6pm, with more than 200 people attending.
The programme was chaired by NRNA-NCC Qatar Chapter President Maksud Alam, while NRNA-ICC President Shesh Ghale and Second Secretary at the Embassy of Nepal Nitesh Sapkota were present as chief guests. A number of NRNA-NCC representatives from Saudi Arabia, USA, Bahrain and elsewhere attended.
The teams that participated in the NRN Football Cup were given certificates. The winners were also given prizes on the occasion. The volunteers, management and technical team members were also acknowledged on the occasion. Twenty-six teams participated in the tournament that was held at Al Arabia Technical Ground.
A documentary on NRNA-NCC Qatar was screened on the occasion. Produced by NRNA-NCC General Secretary Binod Bhattarai, the documentary showcased the work done by Nepali community members in Qatar in the 11 years since the formation of the committee in Qatar.
In the documentary, Nepali expats are shown participating in blood donation programmes, beach cleaning activities, health checkup programmes, traffic awareness programmes, sports programmes and volunteering for the Qatar National Day, Sports Day and Eid activities.
Prominent Nepali expats Dr Dev Kaji Dangol, Sagar Nepal, Rajib Dangol, Sujendra Shrestha, Pragyan Udash, Bhim Prasad Sharma Poudel, Badri Prasad Pandey, Sudhir Kumar Singh, TB Karki, Kamal Mani Guragain, Dil Kiran Khajum, Rajesh Darshan Aryal, Narendra Kumar Bhat, Bill Bahadur Gurung, Ajijur Rahiman Sheikh, Amrit Gurung, Guru Narayan Ranabhat and Kranti Singh were felicitated for their activities in Qatar.
Faisal al-Huwadi, representing the Ministry of Interior Public Relations Department, said that Qatar government has always been ready to support Nepalese programmes and solve their problems. He told all the Nepali community to contact his department if any Nepali is facing legal problems. Qatar Football Association (QFA) representative Othman Blake said that his organisation is ready to support any Nepali community tournament held in the country. Representative from Al Arabic Sports Club Zakaria Gaga said that the Nepali community can find a second him in the club.
NRNA-NCC Saudi Arabia President Pushpa Lal Shrestha said Qatar was more open than Saudi Arabia.
NRNA-NCC Bahrain President Tanka Basnet said Nepali government is “rather prejudiced” towards the Nepalis residing in the Gulf region.
Former vice president of NRNA-NCC Qatar Sagar Nepal said that instead of blaming the Nepali government, Nepalis abroad need to improve themselves.
NRNA-ICC general secretary said that NRN-NCC must focus on the younger generation of Nepal so that they won’t be forced to move overseas for work. He said giving back to Nepal should NRN-NCC’s major duty.
Nitesh Sapkota, Second Secretary at Nepalese Embassy, alerted the Nepali community that the validity of hand written passports was only till December 2015. The hand-written passports are being replaced by machine readable passports.
Shesh Ghale, the chief guest, appreciated the works being done by the Qatar chapter and urged the Nepali community to build trust and bring hope to others.