The women members of Al Thakhira Youth Centre, backed by the Community Outreach Programme and Community Police, have held a festive event “Sharing the Spirit of Garangao”.

The entire community of the northern town of Al Thakhira came together for the celebrations.

While the event was hosted mainly for women and children at Al Thakhira Youth Centre, the community’s older male members actively participated. A play, written by local talents in Al Thakhira town, was staged.

Traditional products were on display to highlight the Qatari heritage and culture. The Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC) Community Outreach Programme (COP) set up an interactive booth.

“The idea behind the event was to revive the community spirit and get people in a cheerful mood for Garangao night and teach our children the importance of sharing and generosity,” said Ali Lahdan al-Mohannadi, director of Al Thakhira Youth Centre. “We are happy that more than 700 people from the community joined in the celebrations.”

Many  indoor activities were also arranged providing the participants with hours of fun. Garangao celebrations in both Thakhira and Al Shamal city were  supported by the RLIC- COP.

“The programme was a grassroots-level initiative by RLIC to open a dialogue with the community in Northern Qatar around RLIC and form a bridge of communication and collaboration,” an official said.

“It is such an amazing feeling to participate in distributing Garangao sweets alongside the Community Social Police and RLIC-COP members and see the smiles on our children’s faces,” said Yousif al-Fadala, head of the Cultural Committee at Al Shamal Sports Club. “By holding such events and festivities we help the new generations to connect with their heritage”.

“Our support to the local communities with Garangao celebrations allowed RLIC Community Outreach Programme members to spread happiness among the youngest members of the local community and reinforce the importance of sharing and generosity as part of our Qatari culture,” said a spokesperson of the COP.

The COP founding members are Qatar Petroleum, Al Khaleej Gas, a project that was undertaken by ExxonMobil Middle East Gas Marketing Limited and operated by RasGas, Dolphin Energy Limited and Oryx GTL.

 

Children at the Garangao celebrations in Al Thakira.