Project Greenhouse, an initiative by the health campaign Sahtak Awalan: Your Health First, a programme of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q), has helped young students grow  fruits, vegetables and herbs and develop healthy eating habits.
The project has been instrumental in making the students of schools across Qatar learn about the benefits of eating healthy, the importance of sustainability and the need to build a healthy nation.
As part of the initiative, schools received a greenhouse, soil, seeds and instructions and were challenged to cultivate the best crop. All greenhouses have now been visited and the winners are the students of Moza Bint Mohamed Independent Elementary School for Girls. Al Khor Independent Preparatory School for Girls came second, and Shafallah Centre third.
Nesreen al-Rifai, chief communications officer at WCM-Q, said greenhouses have so far been delivered to more than 80 schools and will expand the programme to include every school in Qatar.
“By making health education fun and practical, we can instill good habits at an early age. The children at all the participating schools have been able to try fruit and vegetables that they may not have tasted before, and their pre-conceived ideas about what healthy food tastes like are then challenged. The transformation we have seen in the eating habits of the children has been amazing and the wonderful produce that has been grown in all of the greenhouses demonstrates that this project is a great success,” she added.
Project Greenhouse has allowed students to work independently and in small groups and has taught them a whole range of skills. Along with learning about healthy eating, sustainability and horticulture, the project feeds directly into classes about science, the environment and even mathematics; students at the winning school regularly measured their plants to record the growth.
Hassan al-Mohamedi, director of Public Relations and the Communications Department at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, said the project can have a very positive impact on the health of young people in Qatar and protect them from the dangers of developing conditions such obesity and diabetes.
Shaikha al-Mansoor, principal of Moza Bint Mohamed Independent Elementary School for Girls, said Project Greenhouse had been a great learning experience.
“The students liked it because they were able to work on their own, watering the soil and growing the plants themselves. They learned that vegetables are important for a healthy life and the importance of nature and the environment. They really looked forward to the fruit and vegetables ripening.”
Mohamed al-Sada, managing director of Shafallah Centre for Persons with Disabilities (SCPD), a member of the Qatar Foundation for Social Work, stressed the importance of the centre’s participation in the innovative Project Greenhouse, and commended the co-operation between SCPD, WCM-Q and its partners. Al-Sada congratulated SCPD’s students for taking third place in their first participation in the competition, and applauded their determination to overcome the challenges of planting seeds and nurturing the young seedlings.
Sahtak Awalan: Your Health First was launched in 2012 in association with the Ministry of Public Health and the campaign’s strategic partners, Qatar Foundation, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Occidental Petroleum Qatar, Exxonmobil and Qatar Olympic Committee.