Doha Environmental Actions Project (DEAP) and Qatar Volunteers joined hands with Qatar International Adventures (QIA) to reach the far-off beach area and carry out the cleaning activity.
The cleaning drive was led by 30-year-old Canadian expatriate Jeanne Bedard Brown, who has formed the DEAP group, inviting volunteers to clean Qatar’s beautiful beaches and sand dunes.
The group’s activity on Friday was supported by the QIA, a private company dealing in tourism business. The volunteers gathered in the morning at Family Food Centre in the Old Airport area. They were taken to the Sealine area in two buses. There, they were picked up by professional drivers of the QIA in 17 SUVs to be taken to the cleaning areas.
On the way, the trained and professional drivers entertained their passengers with dune bashing. The volunteers, most of them in a desert setting for the first time, enjoyed the rides through the sand dunes. The group reached one of QIA’s camps at around 11am, where they were served lunch.
In the second leg of their journey, the volunteers were taken to the beach, which was about half an hour drive from the camp. Equipped with gloves and plastic bags, the volunteers scattered alongside the beach and the nearby dunes and started picking up the trash. They mostly found plastic bottles, plastic bags, and even buckets that were half buried in the sand. A group of men dragged out a big carpet that was stuck in the sea near the beach. The garbage was deposited in a truck.
The group got back to QIA’s camp at about 5pm to rest, play volleyball and swim in the sea. The QIA staff prepared dinner for volunteers and after the dinner, they stayed at the camp and kept enjoying the weather till 8pm, when they were taken back to the Sealine beach.
The volunteers said they enjoyed the mix of activities that were planned throughout the day and shared their thoughts with Community.
Noora Nasser al-Thani, a Qatari student, said, “I came to know about the programme from Facebook when I was reading about Qatar volunteers. I found the event posted by DEAP. My motivation comes from my love for clean environment. Plastic items are littering the whole world. I want to clean Qatar because it is my country. I want to clean beaches. I want to make Qatar beautiful. I found that the group is wonderful. All of them are helpful. They do cleaning every week and this is something (I) look forward to.”
FOUNDER: Jeanne Bedard Brown.
Sabina Uzakoua, an expatriate from Kyrgyzstan working at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University, said, “I joined this group in summer. I have been a pretty active member. I work in student housing and we teach students about environmental sustainability. I have been in Qatar for five years and have been involved in different activities concerning the environment. It is really good to give back to the country and the community. I find the experience of cleaning the beaches very rewarding. It has been very educational.”
Fahad Lubega, an expatriate from Uganda who works in Qatar as an administration officer, said, “I came to know about the programme from my brother. The group has been doing some wonderful work. I want Qatar to be clean. Qatar has given us a lot and it is one way of giving something back. It was a great experience. I have met people of different nationalities. I will continue working with the group.”
Jeanne Brown, the group leader, talking to the volunteers said that it was very satisfying for her to see a good number of people. She said that she started the drive six months ago, when she noticed garbage on the beach. She thanked the QIA for providing logistics and transportation to the volunteers.
Talking to Community, QIA Manager Khalid Waleed al-Jauni said, “Sometime ago Jeanne came to our officer and she spoke about the kind of work she and other volunteers had been doing. Our company supports clean beaches. We offered every kind of support we can give them to clean the beaches. It was an amazing day. We do all kinds of tours in cities, sea, and deserts in Qatar and we have been in business since 1999.”
