The successful QV Cool Campaign
The ‘Cool Campaign’ was first organised in 2009 and this is the sixth campaign involving members of the Qatar Living, iloveqatar and other volunteer groups.
This year, the campaign was once again supported by the Qatar Red Crescent and the volunteers distributed some 2,000 cartons of fruit juice, 2,000 bottles of water and 3,000 caps to labourers throughout Doha.
Volunteers met to collect and pack the items last Friday afternoon and then around 100 volunteers took to the roads on Saturday morning to participate in the distribution drive.
The head of the Qatar Volunteer Group, known by his online nickname Speed, said: “The labourers felt really happy – even if we just spent around five or ten minutes with them. The smiles on their faces and their reaction show they really feel that there are people who care about them and their wellbeing.”
“I really think that they appreciate our efforts – we want to bring together our communities and show that we are there to care for them,” he noted.
“This campaign was not just for heat awareness, it is about many other things; showing that we care about them and that we are grateful for the work they are doing in the country,” he said.
Volunteers presented bottles of water, caps and other items to labourers working in the summer heat
Another volunteer said that he felt honoured to participate in the campaign and meet many people working throughout the day.
“As a volunteer I felt blessed to help and share a smile with the labourers working under extreme weather conditions,” he noted.
Speed said that the campaign was also aimed at encouraging labourers to feel confident enough to talk about their health and to speak to their supervisors if they begin to feel that the heat is affecting them.
“Many of the people that we met feel too nervous to discuss their problems, so we urged them to tell their supervisors if they feel that they are suffering from heatstroke, sweating too much or experiencing any other difficulties,” he explained.
Having visited labourers throughout the country over the past three years, Speed said that he would like to see a lot of improvement in terms of the health and safety conditions for construction workers.
After once again speaking to labourers who lack basic safety equipment and are working with dangerous machines, Speed expressed his disappointment at the carefree approach often adopted towards the welfare of workers here.
However, he is more encouraged by the strong support that campaigns organised by the Qatar Volunteer Group have been receiving, and looks forward to working with even more members of the community in the coming years.
“The response is increasing day by day and whatever campaign we do, we get a great response from the whole community,” he said, adding “there were people from all over the world at the ‘Cool Campaign’ – even people who were just visiting Qatar for a short time.”
“We would also like to thank Qatar Red Crescent for their continuous support of our group and we look forward to working with them in the future,” he noted.
The Qatar Volunteer group will be arranging its annual ‘Iftar Drive’ in the coming weeks, when they will be distributing packages of food to drivers to allow them to break their fast and avoid rushing home on the busy roads.
Anyone interested in joining the group can access the Qatar Volunteer Facebook page or join the Qatar Living or iloveqatar volunteer groups.
Link : http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=520583...
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Kudos to the all the Volunteers for their sincere efforts and spirit.
Keep it up!
