YOUSUF JASSEM AL DARWISH
SINDHU NAIR ABIGAIL MATHIAS AYSWARYA MURTHY
VENKAT REDDY M HANAN ABU SAIAM
SANDEEP SEHGAL ALPANA ROY RAVI RAMAN
ZULFIKAR JIFFRY THOMAS JOSE
HASSAN REKKAB LYDIA YOUSSEF KANWAL BALUCH
ADITYA KARKERA
PRATAP CHANDRAN BIKRAM SHRESTHA ARJUN TIMILSINA BHIMAL RAI
AYUSH INDRAJITH MAHESHWAR REDDY B
MARCH - APRIL 2014 HEROES ARE MADE, NOT BORN. A HERO TO ME IS SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T NECESSARILY SCALE MOUNTAINS, BUILD CASTLES, DRIVE FAST CARS OR PUT HIS LIFE IN EXTREME DANGER TO PROVE HIMSELF. A HERO IS SOMEONE WHO WITHIN HIS FRAME OF LIFE DOES SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY AND STILL MIGHT CHOOSE TO REMAIN NONCHALANT ABOUT IT ALL. SOMEONE WHO GOES BEYOND EXPECTATIONS, AND THEN COMES BACK TO LIVE HIS LIFE AS IF IT WERE JUST ANOTHER DAY. I HAVE FOUND A NEW HERO, WITHIN MY OFFICE WALLS. THAT HE HAS SCALED MT KILIMANJARO IS JUST AN ANOMALY; TO ME, IT IS THE WAY HE HAS DONE IT THAT MAKES HIS ACHIEVEMENT GREATER THAN IT ALREADY IS. HE UNDERWENT WEEKS OF TRAINING, UNDER NO CLUB OR ORGANIZATION BUT FOLLOWING HIS OWN SET STRICT REGIME TO REACH HIS GOAL, TO BE ABLE TO SCALE THE TARGET HE HAS SET. AFTER HIS VERY DISCREET THREE-WEEK BREAK TO TANZANIA, HE IS NOW BACK TO DOING WHAT HE DOES FOR A LIVING – SELLING MAGAZINE SPACE. IT IS TO HIS COURAGE AND RESILIENCE THAT THIS ISSUE OF CAMPUS, FOCUSING ON EXTREME SPORTS, IS DEDICATED. TO FINDING OUR FEARS AND SCALING THEM, TO SETTING GOALS AND ACHIEVING THEM, TO DOING WHAT YOU LIKE, NOT FOR ACCEPTANCE OR ATTENTION BUT FOR YOUR OWN JOY AND SELF-REALIZATION. THOMAS JOSE, WAY TO GO!
Address all correspondence to CAMPUS, Oryx Advertising Co. WLL, P.O. Box 3272 Doha-Qatar. Tel: (+974) 44672139, 44550983, 44671173, 44667584. Fax: (+974) 44550982; Email: campus@omsqatar.com. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. The publisher does not accept responsibility for advertising contents. Licensing/Republishing CAMPUS content: To obtain permission for text syndication in books, newsletters, magazines, newspapers and web or to use images/pictures carried in CAMPUS, please contact our syndication and licensing department on the numbers given above. Permission is also required to photocopy a CAMPUS article for classroom use, course packs, business or general use. Custom reprints: Any previously published article/s to be used as stand-alone pieces can be reprinted by us on special request. The reprint cost is based on the length of the article and the quantity ordered. Contact our custom publishing division on the numbers given above for more information.Previous issues (January 2004 onwards) of CAMPUS are available for sale, contact our library department. To subscribe to CAMPUS call our subscription department on the numbers given above.
Published by Oryx Advertising Co. , P.O. Box 3272 Doha-Qatar. Tel: (+974) 44672139, 44550983, 44671173, 44667584. Fax: (+974) 44550982. Email: campus@omsqatar.com website: www.omsqatar.com
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AN ENIGMATIC DESERT CHALLENGE Qatar Tourism Authority’s Desert Caravan Challenge was full of pleasant surprises for those who went along for the ride.
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ISSUE 22 MARCH - APRIL 2014
Aditya Karkera talks about his participation in the The Hague International Model United Nations – Qatar held recently.
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FROM QATAR, WITH LOVE
Girnaas’ first mobile game has seen “over 200,000 downloads across 90 countries” in just over three months of its release.
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RIDING TOGETHER
DESTINED TO WIN When seven young women enlisted to participate in the hybrid challenge, they had only one goal – victory.
Introducing Doha to skateboarding, BMX and roller blading.
THE ROAD WARRIOR
Researcher Dr Jeremie Arash Rafii Tabrizi successfully concluded a different kind of experiment recently. Miles away from his laboratory and one that put his mind and body to the ultimate test.
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HITTING THE HIGH NOTES A few years ago, Maya Mason was just a simple girl from Qatar who dreamed of becoming a great music artist. Today, she is a student of the esteemed Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.
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CLIMBING FOR A CAUSE Lecturer Michael Arbow chats about his conquest of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak.
CAMPUS NEWS
STORIES THAT CROSS BOUNDARIES QATAR FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZED AN EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE TRIP THAT INTRODUCED 23 STUDENTS FROM THE UNITED STATES TO QATARI CULTURE AND IDENTITY THROUGH STORYTELLING.
Between March 7 and 15, 23 students from five major cities in the United States were welcomed in Doha by 24 of their Qatari peers for a memorable trip to facilitate the exchange of thoughts and experiences around themes like identity and culture. Organized by QFI, a Washington, D.C., based non-profit member of Qatar Foundation, as part of its Arabic Language and Culture program, ‘Aber’ aims to bring these students together to better express themselves through Arabic. The theme of last year’s Aber revolved around graffiti art while this year the program takes on storytelling with the theme ‘Aber, What’s Your Story?’. The students from America will be accompanied by Dr Kevin Cordi, a professional storyteller with 28 years’ experience and the first ever full-time high school storytelling teacher in the U.S. The seven-day program culminated in an Umsiyya, a traditional Arabic story-telling performance, where the students worked together to connect the U.S, form of storytelling with a great tradition of oral storytelling in Qatar and the Arab world.
BEATBOXING IN DOHA
THE YOUTH COMPANY IS ORGANIZING THE ARAB HIP HOP FESTIVAL, A THREE-DAY EVENT TO BRING THIS UNDERREPRESENTED FORM OF MUSIC TO THE FOREFRONT IN THE REGION.
T
he festival, which is due to take place on April 3-5 at the Hilton Doha, plans to bring together a number of established hip-hop artists and over 500 visitors with a wide range of talents like breakdancing, graffiti art, beatboxing and rapping. Comprising two parts – an outdoor festival featuring various competitions, performances and featured zones, and the Hip-Hop Conference – the festival aims to provide “an innovative platform for prospective hip-hop performers to experience live participation”.
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RAMP IT UP! Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s students put on an exciting fashion show on Professional Day held in February. The annual cmBA business fashion show showcased formal business outfits designed to help students impress potential employers.
FASHION AND DINING, HISTORY AND ART
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY EXPLORED THE ELEMENTS OF FASHION IN DINING AT AN EXHIBITION IN KATARA WHILE AN UPCOMING EXHIBITION AT VCU-Q’S GALLERY BRINGS TOGETHER HISTORY AND ART. ‘Dressing up, Going out, Eating in’ at Katara went on from January 28 to March 8 and was put together by three faculty and an aluma from VCU-Q. It was a scenographic setting of the dining ritual featuring fashion, furniture, textiles, tableware, lighting and Arabic calligraphy – all of which had been produced collaboratively using a relay method among the creators. Right on the heels of this exhibition, the school is putting together ‘Lines in the Sand’, an interactive project linking Qatar’s past and present, which runs till April 14. This installation, a collaborative project involving VCUQatar, the University of Wales and Qatar Museums Authority, moves archeology into the contemporary gallery, providing understanding of the past, and encouraging individual narratives to be constructed.
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PLAY BALL! SPOTLIGHT
THE CHARACTERIST IC MIXING OF CULTURES IN EDUCAT ION CIT Y – AS WELL AS IN DOHA AS A WHOLE – MEANS THAT ALL DIFFERENT KINDS OF SPORTS ARE SEEN BEING PLAYED AROUND THE CAMPUS. SOME STUDENTS BRING THEIR PASSION FOR CRICKET TO THE PLAYGROUND. OTHERS ENTHUSIAST ICALLY ENDORSE BASKETBALL AS THEIR SPORT OF CHOICE. AND AT THE END OF THE DAY, STUDENTS FROM ALL KINDS OF BACKGROUNDS COME TOGETHER TO PLAY OR WATCH A MATCH OF EDUCAT ION CIT Y’S MOST POPULAR SPORT: FOOTBALL. Regardless of what sport a student enjoys to play or watch, though, it’s hard to ignore the power sports have to bring communities together. They foster the development of team skills and keep students healthy by encouraging them to put down the books and step outside for a few hours. Qatar National Sport Day is a yearly reminder of the importance of taking the time to stay healthy and spend some time with family and friends, even if it involves some friendly competition. Especially in a year like this, while athletes from all over the world are testing the limits of human performance at the Sochi Winter Olympics, we’re always reminded of the importance of staying active. In this issue, Campus talks to Education City students about team sports and extreme sports – what they like to watch, what they like to play and what they’d like to see more of – on campus and in Qatar as a whole.
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What sports do you see being played most around campus? Hiba
Football, cricket.
Hisham
It’s mostly whatever is offered at the rec center and the Student Center, so football and basketball. There’s also some tennis and squash going on.
Mohamed I see football and basketball, mainly. Cricket as well. Mahnaz
The most popular is football. We are big fans of football, so we are always going out for matches.
Somayeh Running. Shahan
Football. And since many people here are Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, cricket is also played a lot as well.
JOGGING. SOME PEOPLE SWIM. FOOTBALL, MOSTLY.
Yehia Ali Elebiary Chemical Engineering junior at TAMU-Q
What sports do you like to play most? Hisham
I like squash and sailing.
Yehia
Ultimate Frisbee.
Somayeh Cycling Aisha Basketball.
Mahnaz Jalali ABP
TENNIS, VOLLEYBALL AND SWIMMING.
Mohamed Chakroun, Chemical Engineering graduate student at TAMU-Q
I LIKE FOOTBALL AND VOLLEYBALL.
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Shahan Memon Computer Science freshman at CMUQ
YES, BECAUSE IT’S NOT JUST THE CAMPUSES THAT PROMOTE SPORTS, BUT HBKU ITSELF HAVE TOURNAMENTS EVERY MONTH.
Does the campus have adequate facilities for people who want to play sports? Hisham
I think there are adequate facilities; it’s just that students maybe don’t utilize them as much as they should. For example, when I go to the rec center, there’s an eight-lane, Olympic-sized pool, and frequently it’s just me or there’s one other guy in the whole, huge pool.
Hiba Almodaris Mechanical Engineering senior at TAMU-Q
NOT ALL KINDS, BUT A LOT OF THEM. AND NOT A LOT FOR WATER SPORTS.
Mohamed Not any kind, but for enough different kinds of sports. For football they have a stadium. They have facilities for volleyball and basketball. They have a swimming pool as well in the rec center. Mahnaz
Everything they have in Qatar Foundation for us is perfect. They have everything we want for sports and games.
Aisha
I think they should make more girls teams. I know we’re in a culture where a girl covers herself, but then again many girls like sports. So maybe they should create girls’ teams and have them play in front of all-women audiences.
Have you ever seen any extreme sports happening in Doha? I’VE SEEN BUNGEE JUMPING. THERE WAS JET SKI DRAG RACING LAST WEEK. I THINK THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE WHO GO ROCK CLIMBING UP NORTH.
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Hisham Uddin Mechanical Engineering senior at TAMU-Q
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Hiba
I’ve seen kite surfing.
Yehia
Yeah, on weekends you can see sand surfing and sand duning.
Mahnaz
I see jet skiing around the Corniche and at the beaches in Qatar.
Mohammed Drifting at the Qatar Motor Show. Aisha
Well, my brother does underwater diving. That’s the only thing I’ve seen around Doha.
What kind of extreme sports do you enjoy playing or watching on television or online? Hisham
There are some good stuff going on in the Winter Olympics like snowboarding and ski jumping.
Yehia
Mountain climbing.
Shahan
I don’t watch. I don’t have time.
I DON’T REALLY REALLY FOLLOW EXTREME SPORTS EXCEPT WHEN I HAPPEN TO CHANCE UPON IT.
SKATEBOARDING AT THE X-GAMES.
Aisha El Allam Computer Science freshman at CMU-Q
Mohammed Al Dosari Computer Science freshman at CMU-Q
Do you think Doha could use more extreme sports? Yehia
Somayeh Razavi ABP
THEY HAVE ALL THE NECESSARY THINGS FOR THAT. LIKE THEY HAVE THE SEA TO JET SKI. SO THE ENVIRONMENT IS READY FOR IT.
I would love to see more extreme sports.
Mohamed For that you need people interested in that. So if you can get people into it then you can do it. Mahnaz
I think it’s good to have some extreme sports because I’m sure that some people here and also the new people coming into Qatar will probably love to watch and do extreme sports. So it’s good for them to have it here.
Mohammed I think it’s fine because youth here like the extreme sports, and they will get really involved. Though I think it might not be good for Qatar’s youth, just because it’s dangerous. Aisha
Yes, I do. If I want to experience extreme sports like skiing, I have to go to Dubai, but if they were here, that would be much better because I wouldn’t need to travel.
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FOCUS
over the top BY R CONNOS SEAR
Qatar Extreme Sports is trying to bring skateboarding, BMX and roller blading out into the open in Doha. 14
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Gathering
in the back of the parking lot at The Centre, members of Qatar Extreme Sports (QES) take some time out of their Saturday morning to hang out together and ride. After dragging out their spray painted, wooden ramp, this group of BMX riders, skateboarders and roller bladers take turns picking up speed, jumping off the ramp and testing out tricks in front of each other. Though the club itself is less than a year old, the extreme sports community has been alive in Doha for years. Skateboarder Kamel Zarandah had been skating for eight years before QES was founded, but there wasn’t a central group that could bring all extreme sports enthusiasts together and organize larger events. In June 2013, however, QES was officially formed in celebration of Go Skateboarding Day – a global initiative to encourage skateboarding – by founding patron Farhan Al Sayed. “We were lucky when Farhan met us because it was a big break for our sports,” BMX rider Aaron Borleo said. “Since the day we met him, he has helped us conduct some events, which we had been wanting for a very long time.” Farhan has always been a supporter of the Qatar cycling community because his father was the first Qatar cycling champion, Salem Al Sayed. Farhan said he began supporting this
Farhan Al-Sayed (left) became the founding patron of Qatar Extreme Sports in 2013.
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community to help bring awareness to these sometimes misunderstood activities. “I am just trying to support this organization to bring about a little encouragement and respect for these sports in Qatar,” Farhan said. “Most of the time, I don’t think skateboarders or BMX riders get respect in this country or even around the world. People see them as kids from the streets and think they could be up to some trouble, but they don’t realize that they’re doing a sport. It’s much better than being addicted to gadgets.” According to Farhan, one of the misconceptions people tend to have about skateboarding and BMX is that these athletes are constantly getting hurt. He said, however, that this is not the case. Not only does QES encourage safety, but the individual riders stay smart while they’re practicing. This actually leads to QES members being injured less frequently than athletes in an ordinary contact sport, he said. Another problem facing extreme athletes in Doha is a lack of official locations to practice. Skateboarders and BMX riders have access to a park up in Katara, but the distance up to that part of the city can be a deterrent. A new park at Aspire Zone is also opening, but the riders still say more parks would be beneficial. The extreme sports community is still on the rise in Doha. QES is always looking for new members who are interested in skateboarding, BMX riding and roller blading, and the community has been using social media and word of mouth to spread the message. Farhan said that QES hopes to then start hosting international
“People see skateboarders or BMX riders as kids from the streets and think they could be up to some trouble, but they don’t realize that they’re doing a sport.” events for extreme sports here in Doha. The famous skateboarding apparel company Quiksilver has also expressed interest in coming to Qatar and having more of an influence here, Kamel said. So the potential for these sports to take off in the country is high. But even if the community doesn’t reach the heights they’re seeking, they can certainly still enjoy riding with the community they already have. “It’s honestly been some of the best times because every time we go skate, it feels like I’m with my family,” said Kamel, an electrical engineering student at the College of the North Atlantic Qatar. “Everybody’s so cool. Everybody’s always nice to me. And I get to skate with people who are really good and people who are just learning, so really everyone is welcome.”
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TAKING THE CARAVAN CHALLENGE QATAR TOURISM AUTHORITY CELEBRATES NATIONAL SPORT DAY WITH A DESERT ENDURANCE TRIP
THE
weekend before National Sport Day, 36 daring participants took part in the first Desert Caravan Challenge, sponsored by Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA). For the challengers, it was a test of endurance as they trekked through the desert together on camelback, celebrating the holiday by experiencing one of Qatar’s oldest sports. “The idea was to achieve two objectives,” said Rashed Al Qurese, Director of Marketing & Promotions at QTA. “One is obviously to use an ancient sport from our heritage, which is camel riding, and use that in a context of tourism. The second objective is to introduce this possibly as one of the future tourism products that Qatar offers as a destination.”
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The caravan ended at Al Zubarah Fort – another facet of the event’s focus on Qatar history – where the participants were served a traditional Qatari meal and received recognition awards from HE Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, Chairman of QTA. “We couldn’t have found a better place to celebrate or have this kind of event,” Al Mohannadi said. “I hope you will see this product as a permanent part of Qatar.” “It was a good opportunity to go out and do something and see a bit more of Qatar, outside of Doha,” said Benedict Leigh, a graduate student at University College London in Qatar who completed the challenge. “Apparently about 450 people signed up, and I was one of the few that was selected, so I feel quite priviledged.”
The caravan route took participants around the deserts of northern Qatar.
After the challenge, participants were treated to a traditional Qatari lunch.
The caravan’s base of operations was the historic Al Zubarah Fort, just one way the organizers sought to evoke Qatar’s history during the event.
The camels, as well as their riders, finally earned some rest once the challenge was over.
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At the closing ceremony, each participant received recognition awards from HE Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, Chairman of Qatar Tourism Authority.
“We wanted to make use of Qatar National Sport Day to introduce this product,” said Rashed Al Qurese, Director of Marketing & Promotions at Qatar Tourism Authority. “I think it went fantastically well.”
After hours in the desert, the endurance challenge ended at Zubarah.
The traveling party was made up of both Qataris and expats.
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After the challenge, particpants were addressed by HE Al Mohannadi. “Every one of these particpants has surprised me,” Al Mohannadi said.
Benedict Leigh, a graduate student at University College London in Qatar, was one of the few dozen participants randomly selected from hundreds of hopeful applicants.
THE ROAD WARRIOR
BY RYA AYSWA HY MURT
WEILL CORNELL RESEARCHER DR JEREMIE ARASH RAFII TABRIZI SUCCESSFULLY CONCLUDED A DIFFERENT KIND OF EXPERIMENT RECENTLY, MILES AWAY FROM HIS LABORATORY AND ONE THAT PUT HIS MIND AND BODY TO THE ULTIMATE TEST. 22
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F
our days. 100 hours. 360 kilometers. The scorching desert. And a cause. Ultramarathons are nothing new to this oncology researcher and father of four. Since 2005, when he first started making these kind of runs, he has completed one each year. But this tenth race was his longest, if not the hardest. And certainly it was the first one he had to negotiate under the hot desert sun. Starting from Weill Cornell on February 18, Dr Tabrizi made his way up north to Fuwairit, heading to Zekreet on the second day, making his way toward the Saudi border and returning to Doha on the Friday afternoon to a hero’s welcome. It’s not a physical sport, he says. It’s more of a mental one. “I run almost every day for 12-15 kms, 20 sometimes if time permits. That’s all the training that I do. It’s really about the endurance you build over time and running strategically,” he says. There is no way to prepare for the pain. “Because that starts only after 50-60 kms. How can you possibly train for that?” he asks. Whether you are up for it or not is something you’ll only discover while you are actually running the ultramarathon. “That’s the ‘fun’ part of it,” he chuckles. For him, it’s very a primal experience. “And all ultrarunners feel this way. It goes back to our hunting days when we were always running – running to get food, running for protection…” Dr Tabrizi talks about an ultrarunner in France who ran around the French border in over 400 days. That’s a kind of disruption to life and work that Dr Tabrizi, his family, his research and his patients could not afford. But he could negotiate the borders of Qatar within a week. However, covering the desert on foot is not the same as, say, running the 166-km Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) across the Alps, which he did recently. Water has to be factored into the logistics. “In the mountains, you come across several streams en route, but here you have to carry enough to last you till you next pit stop. During the hottest part of the day I was drinking as much as one liter every hour. Also, unlike in mountains where you
use different muscles when you going up and downhill, in a flat terrain you’d use the same muscles all the time. It’s mentally very difficult to maintain the pace. And worse still, because of the landscape there is no sense of progression. I wouldn’t know how much I had run until I saw my support car parked in the distance, waiting for me,” he remembers. He ran 90 kms each day, taking five-minute breaks every 90 minutes and a 15 minute break at the end of three hours. “I discovered the country,” he smiles. “It was not always beautiful, but I found beauty in everything when I dug deep enough.” Completing the run all by himself was also an intense experience. “The UTMB had over 7,000 participants. So it’s not as tough when there’s always someone running in front of you or behind you.” In the desert this time, however, it was just him and his heart beating to the rhythm of his footsteps on the sand. “It’s like meditation, and it changes you,” he says. “The person that comes out of the end of the run is very different from the person you started out as. You overcome limitations that you never thought you possibly could.” And it’s sweeter still when you know you could have give up any time; only you didn’t. “Anyone could run or walk 100 km a day,” he says. “Won’t you do it if your life depended on it? What matters is how you deal with the suffering and pain.” The best way to fight it is to think of all the positive things in your life, he says. “Conjure up your best memories, your family, your friends, your patients.... I think about the constant pain some of them go through under long-term treatments. This
run was dedicated to them, their struggle and their path through the illness.” The fact that he was running for something served to keep him going. In fact, Dr Tabrizi, who first started running through a cancer center in France, knows no other way, “We created a charity and put all the money we got through running these races into the research we were doing,” he says. The Doha run was to raise awareness about breast and ovarian cancer in the region, the metrics and the unspoken aspects of it. “And the more and more people liked and followed our Facebook page, QURE, the more motivated I was to finish the race.” The page which has close to 500 followers is still active, and Dr Tabrizi has plans for it. “I want to transform it to an informative page that gives ground level tips, facts, and talks about research breakthroughs in a simple, non-technical way. It’d be a place where people can act and react and ask questions.” Often the most compelling worries among cancer sufferers are non-medical and have to do with how they manage the disruptions to their social and personal lives. “What people don’t release is that the chemo and the drugs are but really small episodes compared to the giant upheavals in their lives outside the clinic.” Their despair at the perceived loss of femininity, how they deal with sexual dysfunction; these things that we don’t talk about are the ones that in fact have the largest impact on the family, he says. “Even more so in the Middle East where the woman is so central to the family structure. So anything that affects her heavily disrupts the whole family.”
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WIN DESTINED TO
BY L ABIGAI S MATHIA
When seven young women enlisted to participate in the hybrid challenge, they had only one goal – victory.
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he team comprised electrical and industrial engineering students all between the ages of 19 and 22. The women behind the team – Marina Messiha, Chresteen Barakat, Elrumisa Mohamed, Rehab Ahmed, Batool Gaben, Nouralhouda Tarek Zarga Youn and Sherouk Morsi – represented Qatar University (QU) in a unique competition. TAQA, the largest independent power producer in the Middle East and North Africa, brought together engineering students from across the GCC for the region’s first hybrid-electric car race. The event was hosted by the Petroleum Institute, a university and research centre in Abu Dhabi. The event ran from January 29-31 this year. It gave university teams from the
UAE, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait the chance to apply classroom theory to real-world energy technology challenges. More than 120 students from 11 teams participated in the event. This included teams from Abu Dhabi’s Petroleum Institute, United Arab Emirates University, Masdar Institute, Abu Dhabi University and Khalifa University. This was not the first time that QU took part in such an event. “QU’s College of Engineering participated in many competitions on the local and international scale, but this competition was unique. The idea of hybrid electric car is one of the challenging topics of the century,” explains Rehab Ahmed. The preparation for the competition stretched over three months. According to Batool Gaben, “We received car kits and worked in teams to engineer, build and fine-tune the vehicles for the event with the
aim of developing faster and more energy efficient vehicles. These kits were provided by the organizers to all participating teams.” The teams spent a lot of time working on the kit and building the hybrid electric car, keeping all the rules and regulations of the competition in mind. “There was a lot of hard work involved. We used to be at the university workshop from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to build and test our vehicle. Since we are one of three female teams that participated in the competition, we also had to spend time in creating a unique female car design,” says another team member. They are quick to acknowledge the help given by their faculty. “A lot of support was provided by the College of Engineering. They were with us every moment, from the beginning to the end. Without the constant supervision of Dr Ahmead Masoud, Mazen
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“Though we are a minority in this field, we are well qualified and highly motivated. It was very challenging for us, as women engineers, to prove ourselves, but we did it. Words can’t describe how much this success and achievement means to each one of us,” says Marina Messiha and Ayead from the electrical engineering faculties, we wouldn’t have achieved this victory,” says Messiha. Working so closely made the team feel like a family, where, “every one of us had a specific job to do and we all complemented each other,” adds another team member. Family support played a big part in the girls’ victory, “From the very first time we told our families about participating in this competition, they showed us great support and welcomed the idea of traveling. Throughout the period of the competition, during our stay in Abu Dhabi; they kept in
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touch with us giving positive thoughts and encouraging us to move forward. During the race days; they were with us on phone as the results were published at the end of every day of the competition. When we arrived back at Doha airport, we were surprised to see our families gathered to celebrate our victory,” says Elrumisa Mohamed. This victory speaks volumes for these young women. “It was a challenge to qualify and take on the responsibility of representing Qatar and Qatar University. It has been the first time for all of us to
participate in a competition such as this. Once the results were announced, our team was filled with euphoria. We were extremely happy that our hard work did not go in vain. It proved that girls are capable of doing anything.” In terms of their career this experience is a big boost. “It also gave me a lot of exposure to the both mechanical and electrical field. The competition enhanced my technical knowledge by helping me learn the process of making a car from scratch. This helped me think clearly about my career and work on my future plans.
The competition made me think more about the importance of conserving oil energy by using electrical energy which is environment-friendly. The idea of hybrid-electric cars allowed me, as an industrial engineer, student to concern my research in this method used in cars, and to develop it further to make it more useful and efficient in order to foster a healthy environment,” says Marina Messiha. The victory sets an example for other young women. Marina says, “This experience offered us the chance to put what we had learned in theory into action
and implement them in real life. Since the team was composed of different disciplines – electrical and mechanical and industrial – we learned from each other, exchanged experiences and we also learned from other competing teams. “Though we are a minority in this field, we are well qualified and highly motivated. It was very challenging for us, as women engineers, to prove ourselves, but we did it. Words can’t describe how much this success and achievement means to each one of us.”
QATAR’S HYBRID WINNING TEAM 21-YEAR-OLD MARINA MESSIHA (EGYPT) 20-YEAR-OLD CHRESTEEN BARAKAT (EGYPT) 21-YEAR-OLD ELRUMISA MOHAMED (SUDAN) 22-YEAR-OLD REHAB AHMED (EGYPT) 20-YEAR-OLD BATOOL GABEN (PALESTINE) 20-YEAR-OLD NOURALHOUDA TAREK ZARGA YOUN (TUNISIA) 19-YEAR-OLD SHEROUK MORSI (EGYPT)
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TALK
CLIMBING FOR A
CAUSE BY R CONNOS SEAR
A
t the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, oxygen levels are about half of what they are at sea level. When college lecturer Michael Arbow was standing at the top, at an elevation of almost six kilometers, he needed to take two breaths for every one he would take if he were back beneath the clouds. But that, he said, is how his daughter used to live every day. Michael Arbow is a business lecturer at the College of the North Atlantic Qatar. An avid traveler, the Canadian-born teacher has climbed hills in the British Isles, Poland and Japan. His daughter Elspeth was born with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs and digestive system. When she was 12, Elspeth’s lungs had become so weak that she was put on the list for an organ transplant. At 13, her life was saved by an organ donor when she received a double lung transplant. Five years later, she’s now healthy, and studying at university. Arbow moved to Doha eighteen months ago, around the same time, interestingly enough, that Hamad Medical Corporation launched the Qatar Organ Donation Center (Hiba). He said he started following the news of the young program and noticed that the number of donors was still fairly low. So when Arbow started to consider attempting the Kilimanjaro challenge, his daughter’s story
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came to mind. “What really tweaked my interest is that HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser became a donor, and I thought that was pretty neat,” Arbow says. “Then this Kili thing started to happen, so I figured, why don’t I try to help raise greater awareness of the organ donor program here? So I approached Dr. Riadh Fadhil at Hamad Medical and said, here’s my idea, here’s my story. I told him about my daughter, and they were fully supportive. And so that started it off.” “Micheal told me that his daughter’s life was saved by an organ donor, and he said that he would like to thank that donor by climbing the mountain, raising the flag and saying thank you from the highest point of Kilimanjaro,” says Fadhil, Director of Hiba. “We honor donors as heroes for their great decision and donation. So we wanted to join him and say thank you to donors.” Arbow brought together his climbing party, which, other than himself, consisted only of his wife, Lori Burns, and Don
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Bastarache, a friend from back in Canada. He then started publicizing his expedition on social media, sharing both his preparations for the climb as well as different advertisements promoting organ donation. He developed the campaign under the tagline “Breathless no More,” a name that was actually created through a brainstorming session in a college advertising class taught by one of his colleagues. Once the preparations were set up, the only thing left to do was climb. The first step out the door, though, can be easier said than done. “Interestingly enough, the morning we left I was crying downstairs making my breakfast,” Arbow says with a chuckle. “That was pretty emotional, knowing what the trip stood for and who we were doing it for. We were doing it for my daughter, we were doing it for Qatar. We were doing it for organ donation. But all that was going on in my head that morning, and I thought, ‘Gee, I’m able to do this. I’m so
lucky.’” The trek to the top of Kilimanjaro is much more than a rigorous hike. The entire ordeal takes seven days - five to climb up, two to get down - so climbers need to pack a stove, tents and a week’s worth of food. They also need to pack for all imaginable kinds of weather. The climb starts in the humid African jungle where any clothes other than shorts and a T-shirt are unthinkable. The final ascent then
takes adventurers into a region akin to the Arctic, one of the only locations in Africa where snow is the norm. Throughout the five-day climb, Arbow says, the temperature went from 32 to -10 degrees Celsius. Arbow laughs as he says he would probably climb Kilimanjaro again, though he was adamantly against the idea when he first arrived back on flatter ground. He says being able to look down and watch the sun rise over Africa is a memorable experience that Kilimanjaro offers its brave challengers. And, of course, climbing in support of an important cause helped make the trip more memorable as well. “Organ donation is growing here. It is a way to prevent needless deaths,” Arbow says quietly. “Yes, there’s sadness when you die, but the joy that you can give other people and other families - to give joy to a father that his son’s going to live or his daughter’s going to live, or to give life to someone’s mom - that’s amazing. It’s amazing that you can do that.”
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OF DIPLOMATS
DELEGATIONS BY ADITYA A R KARKE
KOFI ANNAN IMMORTALIZED THE UNITED NATIONS WHEN HE DECLARED THAT “MORE THAN EVER BEFORE IN HUMAN HISTORY, WE SHARE A COMMON DESTINY. WE CAN MASTER IT ONLY IF WE FACE IT TOGETHER”. AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS WHY WE HAVE THE UNITED NATIONS.
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The
Model United Nations (MUN) initiative strives to reinvigorate this ubiquitous truth among the youth of the 21st Century, with the intent of rearing a generation of men and women, who can, armed with able minds and sound leadership, steer the future of the world towards peace, prosperity and continuity. I was privileged to be a part of The Hague International Model United Nations - Qatar (THIMUN-Q) 2014, one such MUN held annually at QNCC, and represented Portugal in the Disarmament Commission - a special agency of the UN that deals with arms, weapons and lethal technology. I was one among over 70 delegates who shared the room for over three days, involvedn in intense debate, negotiation and dialogue. The build up to THIMUN-Q is not one for the faint hearted. The ceaseless hours of research, coupled with the enormous amount of work one must put into crafting a resolution, are an odyssey only the boldest can pass unscathed. When you represent a nation in an MUN, you have to become a citizen of that nation. This meant endless research into your nation’s foreign policy, traditions and culture.And this is only the beginning, after which are three days of debate, dialogue and discourse On Day 1 of THIMUN-Q, after a jovial opening ceremony where an orchestra’s symphonies blared through the air, the young delegates sat down to work, beginning the painstaking process of negotiating mergers, debating policies and making deals with their fellow diplomats in a frantic effort to draft resolutions that could stand strong in the voting process. I was made the leader of a coalition of 15 nations who merged their resolutions into one, and was charged with leading the resolution to victory. Between all these stressful, and often frustrating, debates, the only thing that gave most of the delegates solace was the food. THIMUN-Q spared no expense to deliver the best to its delegates and the dinner hall was packed with beaming young men and women with their minds filled to the brim with knowledge, and their mouths stuffed to the brim with food. Day 2 was judgement day. Delegates came dressed in their finest clothes, and the chair initiated the paramount discussion of resolutions. After an eternity of debate, argument and amendments, the commission finally moved onto voting. The first resolution was passed, the second failed, and so on. My resolution was passed, to my relief, because 15 angry nations are enough to start World War III. It was on this day that we learnt the true art of diplomacy and were given the wonderful opportunity to exercise tact, precision and negotiation during the intense debates that could make or break a resolution.
THIMUN-Q was special because it served to be a melting pot of culture and ethnicity, kids from various backgrounds united by the spirit of global cooperation On the final day of this monumental conference delegates sat down to conclude what was left to be discussed and debated, exchanged e-mail IDs and Facebook profiles and grudgingly said goodbye to their new found friends, as the chair concluded the sessions of commissions and committees all over the MUN. A pleasant closing ceremony followed, coupled with a final uproar by the delegates, who had been invigorated by the entire experience. THIMUN-Q was special because it served to be a melting pot of culture and ethnicity, as kids from all over the world, with different backgrounds and different identities were united by the spirit of global cooperation, which is what the United Nations fights to preserve in today’s troubled world.
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The Reluctant Athlete BY ADITYA A R KARKE
The year was 1978 – and as the world tirelessly upheld the rhythm of its existence – one young man whose dreams were too big for him to carry, locked himself in his classroom, sat in a corner and cried. As hot tears rolled down his face, he tried, and desolately failed, to forget the cause of his torment - he’d just been cut from his school’s basketball team. 34
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He We never wished for the school to ignore our studies and let us play all day long, but that shouldn’t give the school the option to snatch our passion away from us to conform to what the school thinks we should be passionate about.
beat himself down, and declared that he was a failure, that he would never be able to achieve his dream of playing basketball with the greats. Little by little, the athlete within him began to die. It was hours later that his coach walked up to him, looked him in the eye and did something that changed his life forever – inspired him. He revived the dying athlete within him and put forth a passion for victory in the young man’s heart. 30 years later, this very boy who had been crying in a corner and calling himself a failure, found himself inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame. In golden letters, his name shined – Michael Jordan. In the timeless words of R W Emerson, “Schools are the monasteries that birth every child’s dreams, and teachers must serve to be the humble monks who deliver these dreams to their pupils.” It is the school where a great athlete runs his first race, and a legendary sportsman scores his first point. But today, more than ever, schools have begun a systematic butchery of anything that it deems non-academic. Sports have been thrust to the back seat, and children whose hearts and souls reside on the playing field are forced to espouse the pen over the cricket bat. The situation of academia’s regard for sport, and its subsequent effort to encourage children to disown sports, is horrific. “Sure, I agree that my role in school is to study first, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to play on the field too,” remarks a budding cricketer from an Indian school in Qatar, “But the school doesn’t understand that I can’t study well if I don’t play. Playing cricket gives me peace of mind, and helps me focus. And how do they expect me to study when I lack focus and peace of mind?” Another member of the very same cricket team added this pearl of wisdom “We never wished for the school to ignore our studies and let us play all day long, but that shouldn’t give the school the option to snatch our passion away from us to conform to what the school thinks we should be passionate about.” Clearly, students are increasingly becoming annoyed with the shackles that
their schools have thrown upon their passions, and are no fans of their interests being chained to their academics, with their academics holding the leash. Schools need to realise that the definition of sports is synonymous with the definition of freedom. Everybody has their own cup of tea, and sweat, toil and adrenaline are in an athlete’s cup of choice. “I think the biggest flaw in schools when it comes to sports is their reluctance to invest in sports facilities,” said a young basketball player, “They see everything in terms of academics and see sports as a bad investment when compared to a new library or a new chemistry lab. Books are fantastic and all, but I can’t play basketball with them.” But on closer analysis of the situation, one is compelled to ask oneself if schools are in the wrong. In this world of cut-throat competition and tireless rat races, are schools really aberrant when they force their students to concentrate on their academics, that they may have the competitive edge over others in the fierce race to come? But isn’t it far better to run a real race with passion in your heart, than to run a figurative race that you never wanted to be a part of. There’s a reluctant athlete inside all of us, a hidden spirit that yearns to run free and play hard. An enigmatic instinct to feed off the energy of a good game. A sharp pull towards the smell of a playing field’s freshly cut grass, a desire for the adrenaline that pumps through the body in a fierce game. It feels so alien, but is the most human thing in the world. And schools hold in their hands the key to slaughter this spirit, or bolster it to unimaginable levels. Michael Jordan had a reluctant athlete within him all those years ago, but it was his coach that transformed a reluctant athlete into an international sensation. Schools need to capitalise on this example and work to inspire – not impair – a generation of talented sportsmen and women because these kids are ready to sacrifice everything to do what they love, inspire the reluctant athlete within themselves and achieve wonders.
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CAREER TRIVIA
PLAN
THREE STEPS TO RECOVERY WHEN A JOB INTERVIEW GOES WRONG HAVE YOU RECENTLY MESSED UP A VERY IMPORTANT INTERVIEW AND NOW WANT TO KNOW IF YOU COULD EVER RECOVER? AFTER A JOB INTERVIEW, MANY OF US HAVE HAD THESE THOUGHTS: “WHAT WAS I THINKING?”, “I REALLY WISH I HADN’T SAID THAT!”, OR, “I COULD HAVE HANDLED THAT QUESTION MUCH, MUCH BETTER!” While in some cases it is not always possible to recover from a really big blunder (answering your cell phone during the interview, dressing inappropriately, using bad language, etc.), most interviewers understand that people are nervous in job interviews, and they take that into consideration when evaluating a jobseeker. Recovery after a job interview is possible because it might not have been as bad as you thought it was. Here’s a three-step plan recommended by the career experts at Bayt.com that you could follow after a bad job interview to speed up your recovery:
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01 02 03
ANALYZE WHAT HAPPENED Think about what went wrong during the job interview, and see if you can figure out why it happened. Were you nervous? Were you distracted by something else going on? Were you not prepared well-enough? Was it a panel interview and too many questions were being asked at the same time? Remind yourself that everyone is fallible and that if you stumble or falter with a particularly difficult question, you can quickly recover. The secret is not to make a big issue out of a wrong answer but to quickly take stock of what went wrong and take remedial action if possible.
LAUNCH OPERATION ‘DAMAGE CONTROL’ Send your “thank you” letter, as usual, and use it to launch your recovery. Think of all the questions you couldn’t answer well during the job interview and answer them better in your thank you message. For example: “I have been thinking about your interesting question [question], and wanted to add this thought, [what you wish you had said in the interview].” If you called your interviewer by the wrong name, be sure to use his correct name in the thank you message. But whatever you do, do not reference a mistake you made during the interview.
PREPARE FOR THE NEXT TIME Develop a strategy for handling this kind of situation the next time you run into it, Whatever the situation, try to develop a strategy to better handle it if it occurs again. What could you have done differently? How can you do better next time? Think about it. Ask friends. Doing research before attending the interview is always recommended. If you were faced with a particularly tough question that requires you to look into it further maybe next time you will be more thorough in your research. So if you did not answer a question well, write down the question. Perhaps you could do some research on the question so you can be better prepared in case it is asked again in another interview. If you interviewed with a new kind of employer, a different industry, or a larger (or smaller) company than your previous one, things can be quite different for the same profession or job function. So do some research into what the differences are and how the other side (the new industry or new company) works. One way to gather all the information you need would be by requesting a number of informational interviews with friends or connections who work in the new industry.
“To err is human” is a very old (and very true) statement. So if you think your job interview was not as good as you wanted it to be, try to look on the bright side: you now have more experience with interviewing. And if you follow the three-step recovery process mentioned above, I bet you won’t make the same mistake again.
Bayt.com is the #1 job site in the Middle East with more than 40,000 employers and over 15,100,000 registered job seekers from across the Middle East, North Africa and the globe, representing all industries, nationalities and career levels. Post a job or find jobs on www.bayt.com today and access the leading resource for job seekers and employers in the region.
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AT SNAIL’S PACE TALK
BY RYA AYSWA HY MURT
VCU-Q STUDENT HANA AL SAADI, WINNER OF THE DAMIAN HIRST CHALLENGE, TALKS ABOUT HER WINNING ENTRY, VISITING THE ARTIST’S STUDIO IN THE UK AND HOW HER PERCEPTIONS OF ART ARE CONTINUALLY CHANGING. 38
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© Damien Hirst/Science Ltd., All Rights Reserved, DACS 2014
HANA AL SAADI, Painting and Print Making student at VCU-Q, says she isn’t a big visitor of museums and art galleries. She would like to go but convincing a friend or a family member to come along is a task by itself. But Damien Hirst’s Relics was something she couldn’t miss. “I had loved his work since before his exhibition. I knew it was going to be unique and nothing like we have ever seen before,” she says. And it was. “It was different, it was shocking. Each and every work made you think.” For a young artist whose expectations of art were being drastically changed and shaped by her professors at school, it was an exciting experience. So even before the specifics of Qatar Museum Authority’s Damien Hirst Challenge were announced, Hana signed up for it. Of course we gave away the ending at the onset; she won. When it turned out that she had come up with an installation that was inspired by Hirst’s work, Hana decided to submit a project that she had in mind for her screen printing class. “What I wanted to do through the project was to discuss the basic functions common to any living organism – eating, mating and reproducing,” she says. In the process, she also wanted her subjects to work for her, making prints. “Initially I had planned to use ants. I was going to create an ant farm in a box, lure them over some ink using sugar and let them create trails over the paper.” But gathering ants proved to be much harder than she imagined. “They were so fast and tiny. And it was too hot,” she shrugs. “And from my research I realized that I had to find a queen ant as well.” That’s when she abandoned the idea. But luckily for her, during one of her ant-hunting expeditions, she had
also picked up a couple of unassuming little snails. “I was not entirely sure if they were even alive,” she remembers. They were probably just playing dead. When you are a snail, running away is not exactly an option. But when she released them into the box, they sprang to life. “What was interesting was the trail of slime they were leaving behind. That’s how Snail Print Factory happened.” The installation still sits at VCU-Q. It’s no surprise that she won. This kind of work is right up Hirst’s alley. He confessed how he loved “art like Hana’s that is difficult to define... and involves a living element which makes the art feel more real”. So as promised, Hana got a personal tour of the artist’s massive, and predictably macabre, studio back home. “When I arrived with my sister, Damien was there waiting for me. He showed me around his studio where his assistants were busy at work. I had the chance to see some of his unseen, unfinished works. He taught me some of the techniques he uses in his installations. And then he took me to his large deep freeze where he stores all the dead animals,” Hana finishes nonchalantly. While most would find this nightmare-inducing, Hana was in the charming company of the artist who she describes as “friendly, modest and very down to earth. Unlike what you would expect a famous person to be.” They had lunch. They made some spin paintings. He sent some of them home for her and her sister. All in all, it was a trip she is unlikely to forget. For Hana, it was a trip served to reaffirm her faith that art can be created anywhere and with anything. All you need is a perspective.
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TALK
hitting the high notes BY L ABIGAI S MATHIA
As Maya Mason took to the stage on a busy Thursday evening in Doha, it was easy to tell that she was a little nervous. All that changed the moment she sang her first note, transforming from a shy 12-year-old to a confident young singer.
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A
few years ago, Maya Mason was just a simple girl from Qatar who dreamed of becoming a great music artist. Today, she is a student of the esteemed Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, an institution with a roll call of former students who achieved fame in theatre, film, television and music. These include the likes of Leona Lewis, (the late) Amy Winehouse, Billy Piper, Rita Ora, and Emma Bunton from the Spice Girls. Maya’s parents noticed that their child was gifted early on. “Maya has always loved singing since a very young age; I would say even as young as four. She would always look for a stage or even something that looked similar to a stage. Maya loves singing and sings all the time at home, in the car everywhere that she can,” says Mimosa Mason, Maya’s mother. Her parents have been hugely supportive of their daughter’s budding career. Maya started her journey as a student of IAID, the first performing arts academy in Qatar, in 2007 when she was just six years old. “When we first arrived in 2005 there were very few places that offered any formal training or even a platform to perform just
for fun. Then we found IAID and Maya was very happy and loved the atmosphere, the instructors and their method of teaching,” explains Mimosa. Maya trained under the Academy’s Music program which follows the London College of Music (LCM) curriculum and she consistently achieved Distinction in her LCM examinations. She gained experience in performing on stage as she participated in IAID events such as Talent Extravaganza Night at QNCC, Doha Tribeca Film Festival at Katara, Flower Each Spring Program at Qatar Foundation and talent road shows. Her local music academy decided to celebrate her journey through a mini-concert titled ‘Maya Mason: A Dream Come True.’ Maya wowed the audience with her mature vocal skills as she performed her own rendition of popular hits like Christina Aguillera’s “Beautiful”, Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain”, and Bruno Mars’ “When I was your Man.” Accompanied by IAID music instructors, the 30-minute event held at IAID’s Centerstage was attended by well-wishers and guests. More than showcasing her talent, the event served as an inspiration to other students to continue working hard in order to pursue their
dreams. Speaking to Campus, she transforms to the soft spoken young girl. “It was nice to see young people there to listen to me. I was nervous at first, because I didn’t know what people expected. Then I told myself I’d do my best, no matter what happens,” smiles the singer. Like any other pre-teen, Maya has her own favorites from the music world. With a wink in her eye she says, “I like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Not just only for their music. I know Katy Perry has had difficult times. She has had to work hard. She has a show every night and she keeps on doing it. Lady Gaga is not afraid to be herself.” Dealing with pressure is something Maya can relate to. Living in London, away from her parents has its challenges. “I’ve gone for many auditions where I often didn’t get the part. It was tough. A lot of people think you can just become famous instantly, that’s not the case,” she says wisely. She spends most of her time doing vocal exercises or goes online to improve her skills. Maya’s advice to other budding artists isn’t flamboyant. “I would tell other young people not to give up. You have to make sure you will work hard if you want to achieve results.”
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HEALTH & FITNESS
FITNESS ALERT BY PETE COLLINS PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROB ALTAMIRANO FITNESS MODEL: GIOVANNI DE CARLO
Pete Collins from CrossFit Oryx spent the day catching up with CrossFit Athlete Giovanni De Carlo on his preparations for this years’ CrossFit Games Open. He took us through some of his more gruelling workouts and the key conditioning exercises for this years’ preparation. Pete Collins (Right) and Giovanni de Carlo
First up was the Kettlebell Swing. This is a great exercise for developing that core to extremity strength and, repeated over high repetitions becomes a cardio workout too. Starting position is with the Kettlebell between the ankles, arms fully extended holding the Kettlebell. Using a swinging motion raise the kettlebell above the head maintaining a natural curve of the spine with the chest and head facing forward at all times.
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Following that is the Wallball. Start in the squat position with the ball pressed against the chest. Stand up pressing the ball to touch a line 10 feet up on the wall. Stay standing until the ball returns, then squat back down. This is a great way of developing that lower limb muscular strength and endurance.
He now switches to the Olympic ring to help develop body awareness, coordination and upper body strength. Start with the arms fully extended, imagine the fists are in the trouser pockets, then flex down until the fists are close to the armpits before extending again.
Finally an old classical favorite, Box Jumping.This exercise is great for giving you a real great workout which is explosive and also promotes good body awareness. Start on the ground and jump onto the box landing on both feet before extending the hips and standing.
For whole body strength training he uses rope climbs by carrying out numerous shifts to the top his upper and lower body receive a good workout. Whilst changing hand position he must grip tightly with his lower body and then vice versa to maintain control.
Carry out all of these exercises together or make sure you include them into your weekly program to get long lasting great results. A typical workout for Gio would be five rounds of: 25 Kettlebell Swings, 25 Wallballs, two times top of the rope, 25 Ring Dips and 15 Box jumps. He would do this as quickly as possible and then record the score to retest later in the week. This level of intensity is obviously aimed at him so scaling it down in reps and rounds is cool too.
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WHAT’S COOL
Battle the beat with Adidas’ new women’s performance wear, the perfect dance partner. Ideal for outdoor workouts and indoor gymming, the new Reload Collection will help you find your fitness rhythm.
After the announcing of the superstar’s association with MAC, the Viva Glam Rihanna frosty red lipstick will be available from mid-March. Proceeds from sales go toward helping men, women and children living with and affected by HIV/Aids.
The Blush Rose Aux Joues from Guerlain is the perfect accompaniment to any make up regime. We like the brush size.
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This Summer Le Coq Sportif has come up with a number of sportswear items worn with the new season’s authentic sneakers and casual footwear. Smart, bright colors bring the collection to life.
This season calls for a lustrous shine – night or day. Add a gloss to your look with an iridescent clutch or a dazzling pair of shoes that will have you flash bulb ready. Neiman Marcus new collection offers an array of gleaming shoes, bags and apparel that will have you shining from head to toe.
The eyes are given sensual warmth with a deep and vibrant smoky violet with this season’s star color. For an intense and sophisticated result, the liner flaunts a new black... a faux black created by Bourjois, delicately tinged with brown or violet.
The Winter 2014 collection of Rouge Edition by Bourjois boasts a new shade seen gracing the catwalk! 36 Pourpre; a jazzy, rich wine shade for a radiant smile.
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TECH BEAT
FACEBOOK’S BIG MOBILE MOVE
FLYING TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN
With Facebook coming out to state that it was a “mobile company now” and in the light of its dwindling appeal among teenagers, the company has been for a while trying to get a foothold among the younger demographic. It has reportedly tried to acquire SnapChat for $3billion (which was turned down), but Facebook bounced back with the surprise news that it will now be taking over WhatsApp. The instant messaging platform was started with a little over $8 million in funding and has grown in five years with 450 million people using the application, 70% of those daily. WhatsApp users share 400 million photos and 10 billion messages each day. Now Facebook will try to leverage this large user base to cement its market, especially in emerging economies in Asia and Africa. Mark Zukerberg, CEO of Facebook said in a blog post, “WhatsApp will complement our existing chat and messaging services to provide new tools for our community.” WhatsApp has since announced that it’ll introduce voice calls soon.
Flappy Bird, a mobile game created by a small, Vietnam-based developer was all set to be the next big mobile app. First launched in May 2013, this simple but frustrating game unexpectedly exploded in popularity at the beginning of this year. It quickly grew to become the leading free app for Apple devices before releasing a version for Android devices as well. The game stars a simple, pixilated bird whose goal is to navigate between oncoming green pipes with an endless series of short, sudden jumps. As the game’s popularity grew, different controversies came to light as various media outlets scrutinized Flappy Bird’s similarities to existing games and questioned how it was able to go from just another app to a chart topper in less than a year. In February, the game’s creator announced that he was removing it from all digital stores, ending the game’s success as suddenly and unexpectedly as it had begun, saying that the game’s unexpected popularity interfered with his “simple life”.
THE SOCIAL NETWORKING GIANT ACQUIRED WHATSAPP FOR A COOL $19 BILLION IN CASH AND STOCK.
AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS OF UNEXPECTED BUT IMPRESSIVE SUCCESS, THE UNASSUMING MOBILE GAME FLAPPY BIRD WAS PULLED FROM DIGITAL STORES.
FLYING WITH STYLE
BECOME A PRO AT AIR TRAVEL THE NEXT TIME YOU FLY WITH DOHA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’S NEW MOBILE APP. With operations at Doha International Airport (DIA) quickly growing larger and the new Hamad International Airport set to open up sometime this year, navigating through Doha’s gates and terminals can become an intimidating proposition. But with DIA’s new mobile app, available for iOS, Android and as a mobile website, making your way to your flight is a piece of cake. The app can be operated either offline or via the airport’s Wi-Fi. The power to check the status of your flight, look up other departures and arrivals, make your way to the nearest dining location and contact airport authorities can all rest in your pocket. The app, available in both English and Arabic, a free download and is continually being updated with new features and functions.
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MUCH-AWAITED GALAXY S5 ANNOUNCED
SAMSUNG ANNOUNCED ITS FLAGSHIP PHONE, THE GALAXY S5, AT THE MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS IN BARCELONA LAST MONTH. After all the fanfare and hype, the Galaxy S5’s unveiling felt like an anti-climax for many. The lack of exciting features, the plastic case and the unchanged screen resolution came as a disappointment. This doesn’t by any means make the S5 a bad phone; it’s still one of the best products out there, on a par with its biggest competitors, namely Apple. The manufacturer has taken a leaf out of the iPhone 5S’s book with the inclusion of a fingerprint scanner (a partnership with PayPal means users can authenticate transactions with the press of a finger) in addition to a heart rate monitor. Apart from this, the phone comes in four colors and runs on the new Android KitKat OS.
DATE SET FOR 2014 ICT CONFERENCE
THE THIRD ITERATION OF QITCOM WILL AIM TO FURTHER ADVANCE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY IN QATAR. QITCOM 2014 will take place from May 26-28 at the Qatar National Convention Centre. The convention allows companies and consumers alike the opportunity to showcase and celebrate new ideas in the field of communication. Germany-based communication leader fischerAppelt has been chosen to manage the event after sponsoring several other events in Qatar. “Today information and communication technology is an integral part of our daily lives,” says Feda Al Barghouti, Acting Market Development Manager for the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology. “In order to remain in the forefront, and always remain at the level of the global competition, we have to continue to learn and adopt the best and latest technology that will facilitate our lives and our businesses.”
GET YOUR GAME FACE ON
STARTUP EXCITMENT REACHES FEVER PITCH WITH TWO COMPETITIONS ANNOUNCED FOR YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS FROM QATAR LOOKING TO KICK START THEIR BUSINESS. Qatar Career Fair and Bedaya Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development called out for young Qataris to submit their ideas for a brand new business concept. The best 10 concepts will be showcased at the QCF 2014 in April. This year’s competition is also open to smaller Qatari businesses to give their existing products and services a boost in the market. Winners from both categories will be given a free booth within the Qatar Career Fair’s ‘Startup Arena’. They will also be invited to network with potential employees, partners and investors throughout the
duration of the fair. Those who missed out on this opportunity also had the chance to apply to the fourth edition of the annual Qatar National Business Plan Competition — Al Fikra 2014 — organized by Enterprise Qatar. The program encourages enterprising young minds to submit their ideas for a successful startup business project. Winners will receive much needed capital injection in the form of cash prizes and consultancy and incubation services to help their business ideas flourish into profitable ventures.
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GIZMOS
CLEAN YOUR BRUSH BEFORE YOU CLEAN YOUR TEETH This toothbrush sanitizer keeps your toothbrush clean in a dirty world. You know what they say about keeping your toothbrush at least six feet away from the loo. Well with this device, you won’t even have to bother. This nifty device uses germicidal UV light to wipe out 99.99% of the germs on your toothbrush within six minutes. Ideal for travel and home use, the battery-operated sanitizer can be used with regular brushes as well the electronic toothbrush heads. Available for QR138, it includes a designer toothbrush with a suction-cup on the handle so that your bristles never have to touch a bathroom counter again. If you are in the mood for something more funky, chip in QR20 extra for the cute, round little sanitizer. Available at www.wamli.com
NEXT-GEN WEARABLES Tired of the tangled wires of your earphones? Is your Bluetooth earpiece a pain in your ear? Here is the answer to hassle-free, hands-free listening. With this Bluetooth Beanie, you can not only keep your head warm but also keep away from the tangled mess that are your earplugs. The beanie syncs to your Bluetooth device in seconds, allowing you to chat and listen to music on the go. Boasting high quality built-in speakers, the beanie has a 60-hour standby time and 6 hours of talk time. For QR215 (ÂŁ35), this could be yours. Available at www. firebox.com
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A LITTLE CONTEMPORARY, A LITTLE RETRO Polaroid is all set to ship its first social camera which comes with a feature that’ll take you back in time. Remember when instant Polaroids were the height of cool? Well, those times might well be back again. Polaroid announced the Socialmatic camera that’ll soon be available for a price tag of QR1088 ($299). The built-in Zero Ink (ZINK) printer produces 2x3-inch full-color sticker photos in less than a minute. The printed photo comes with a unique code that can help you scan the picture and transfer it to other devices. The square-shaped, Android-based, touchscreen camera features a 14 megapixel front lens, a 2 megapixel rear camera, and WiFi and Bluetooth for easily sharing snaps to the social network of the user’s choosing. There’s also 4GB of internal storage and a Micro SD slot, ensuring there’s plenty of space for your everyday as well special occasion photos.
LONDON GETS ITS FIRST BITCOIN ATM After Canada and the US, the UK got its first digital currency dispenser at a cafe near the tech hub in east London, offering customers the ability to exchange bank notes for bitcoins.
A SIP AND A CLICK This cool imitation coffee mug will leave onlookers mired in confusion.
A SUPERHERO AMONG PHONES Wear your comic book nerdiness proudly with these collector’s edition iPhone cases from Marvel. Featuring classic artwork for Spider-Man and Captain America, these clip-on cases even look like they’re made from classic comic book paper. Spidey’s case features his stylish new emblem, while the Captain’s case is emblazoned with the contemporary shield design from the latest movie. Adorn your phone with either of these for QR 105 (£17) each. Available at www.firebox.com
Is it a camera lens? Is it a coffee mug? Who can tell. Well, only you can. With this camera lens shaped travel mug, shock photographers who are borderline obsessive about keeping their cameras dry and out of harm’s way. Ultra-realistic with rubber focus rings and plastic switches, the mug comes with an airtight screw-top lid and stainless steel insulated interior and can be bought for QR 105 (£17). Available at www.firebox.com
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TALK
FROM
QATAR, WITH LOVE BY RYA AYSWA HY MURT CAMPUS SPEAKS TO LOCAL GAME DEVELOPMENT COMPANY GIRNAAS WHOSE FIRST MOBILE GAME HAS SEEN “OVER 200,000 DOWNLOADS ACROSS 90 COUNTRIES” SINCE LAUNCHING JUST OVER THREE MONTHS AGO.
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GIRNAAS’
office space at ictQATAR is everything you’d imagine a game development studio would look like. A kaleidoscope of colors, beanbags, random inspirations scribbled down on whatever space is available on short notice, action figures, posters, a collection of novelty USB sticks and tonnes of candy; in short, nerd nirvana. It’s close to 5 p.m. and though all the workstations are occupied, there is barely a sound. It’s probably the end of a long working day or the start of one – with these guys, you can never tell. Munera Al Dosari, Managing Director and one-third of the founding team, tells us about how the office was just as packed even at 10 pm on New Year’s Eve. “I gathered everyone’s attention and told them straight up – Guys, you are such losers! Go get a life,” she says. It’s doubtful if that accomplished anything. Fatima Al Kuwari, who handles the marketing, assures us that working here is just as much as fun as it looks. “On most days,” she adds. What we don’t see on the surface are the thousands of man hours of intense labor that went into launching this wildly popular gaming app. Barely a year ago, when the new company was chosen to be part of ictQatar’s Business Incubation Center, the three young engineers (Faraj Abdulla, technical lead, completes the trio) had nothing much save a common passion to “create a mobile game that represents our culture”. “I would watch my son play all these games on his iPad that were irrelevant to our culture or, worse, rewarding the wrong kind of behavior. We wanted to start a gaming company that promoted good values and reflected the rich Arabic stories,” Fatima says. Munera nods in agreement adding, “Kids are highly influenced by games. So why not use them as a tool to communicate the values we hold dear.” Idea to app store, Girnaas managed to accomplish its objective in just eight months. If you happened to glance into your neighbor’s phone and saw a round, abhaya-clad lady called Big Mama racing across the Sheraton Hotel, guzzling down Karaks for an energy boost, you are probably sitting next to another Giddam-addict. The racing game, complete with a dozen Doha landmarks and everyday objects from the Qatari world, is instantly endearing with its easy familiarity and quirky characters. From Ali to Strawberry and Big Mama to Rashid, you can play as any of these avatars and, what’s more, challenge your friends and family for a quick race across Corniche between classes. The social element has been one of the key factors in the success of the game and has taken it places, the team says. But the winning formula didn’t just land on their laps. It was clear that, being new at the game, they had to start small. “We gathered a focus group to brainstorm ideas for the first game. It had to be something simple that could be brought to the market fast and achievable within our resources,” Fatima explains. But they also didn’t want to skimp on quality or user experience. “A lot of local developers feel that since there isn’t a lot of Arabic content out there, people would download and use their applications regardless of their quality. But we wanted to make sure our game measured up to international standards. We were competing against hundreds of thousands of apps, and Giddam had to be just
“A lot of local developers feel that since there isn’t a lot of Arabic content out there, people would still download and use their applications, regardless of their quality.” as complex, attractive and intuitive. So we listened closely to our focus group – what are they playing, what are they interested in, what they would want to see in a local game and as you can see,” Fatima points to one their idea boards, “the characters just evolved from one meeting to another.” Continual feedback was an important aspect throughout the development of the game. Now, after the launch, this market engagement has taken on an even more important role. “We are constantly talking to our gamers through our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube channels and trying to incorporate their feedback,” Munera points out, “That’s how the game industry works; you continuously improve or die out.” Since December they have released four updates with enhancements and new levels and maps. “It’s not just a Qatari game anymore; we want to include the whole region. We recently introduced an Arabic interface. In mid-January we released a Saudi level which went down really well in KSA,” says Fatima. And it definitely helps that the whole community seems to have a soft spot for these home-grown developers. “Even when people found glitches they’d rate us high, leaving us comments about the problems they had. They are on our side, wanting us to improve and make it better. During our first week, we got 140 comments on Google Play alone,” Munira gushes. And Girnaas have found their own special way to give back to the community. “During our interactions online, we found a lot of talented Qataris who wanted to do something in gaming but didn’t know how to go about it and didn’t have the right kind of support. So we decided that we don’t want to develop our games alone but instead be a kind of hub, a go-to place, for independent developers,
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artists and designers in the country. We are currently helping three Qataris publish the games that they have developed,” Fatima says. Apart from this, Girnaas is also mentoring an informal group of young game developers, some of them only 13 years old. “This group of young men, they call themselves the Combo Crushers, came to us looking for advice on developing fun, educational games. We book the meeting room for them on the weekends and they work on their projects here, learning software specifics and technical know-how,” says Munera who claims she sees herself in these young kids. “We’re amazed that they are already developing their own games and they are amazed that we exist and could be reached so easily for guidance. It’s a very rewarding experience.” Fairly early on, Fatima points out that one whole section of the wall was confidential and that we couldn’t take any pictures of it. It’s obvious they have already started working on something new. Munera confirms it. “The cycle continues. Development, design, launch, updates – all of these keep running in parallel. We are working on two games, one involving more strategy and puzzle
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solving elements. The first one we hope to bring out in April, Inshallah.” Fatima adds, “There are different kinds of players out there with varied tastes and we want to capture as many segments of gamers as possible. So while we continue to work on light, interactive, and competitive games we also want to launch games that require people to think, analyze and challenge themselves.” It’s always difficult to predict what’s next when you have defied your own expectations in such a short while. Do you continue to temper your goals? Or do you make your dreams bigger? Girnaas has chosen the later. “Incubators here are trying to set up Qatar’s next $100 million startup. But we are it! We are already here,” Munera says confidently. “We see ourselves as the future Angry Birds of the region,” Fatima chimes in. Munira corrects her. “The next Disney,” she smiles, “Kids here will grow up watching our characters, playing our games and learning about our values through them.”
AROUND TOWN
QATAR JOINS THE GLOBAL TEACH FOR ALL INITIATIVE
WITH THE LAUNCH OF TEACH FOR QATAR, THE COUNTRY BECOMES THE 32ND NATION TO JOIN THE GLOBAL NGO THAT SEEKS TO BRIDGE THE EDUCATION GAP BY BRINGING BRILLIANT YOUNG MINDS TO THE SECTOR.
WANT TO PLAY FOR QATAR?
HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani launched Teach For Qatar (TFQ) which seeks to reinvest Qatar’s brightest graduates into the public education system by providing young graduates and professionals with rigorous teacher training and placing them as teachers in independent schools across Qatar for a two-year “fellowship”. The initiative was officially launched at Katara on a quirky little stage where, behind gauzy curtains, a make-believe classroom continued to function as HE Sheikha Hind, Chairperson, and Mohammed Fakhroo, CEO, delivered their addresses to the audience, made up of dignitaries like HH Sheikha Moza, HE Hessa Al Jaber and other senior officials. More than 10 independent schools have signed up for the program, and TFQ says it plans to train 30 teachers who will take charge of 90 classrooms and 2,000 students in the very first year. The organization begins its recruitment drive this week which will go until May 10. Information booths will be set up at Hamad bin Khalifa University Student Center and Qatar University.
COPA COCA-COLA RETURNS FOR THE THIRD SUCCESSIVE YEAR TO DOHA TO FIND THE BRIGHTEST, MOST TALENTED YOUNG FOOTBALLERS WHO CAN REPRESENT THE COUNTRY IN 2022. The international youth football tournament has got participating teenagers all over the country excited for they could potentially be spotted during the course of the various matches to represent the national team at FIFA World Cup 2022. Introduced for the first time in the Middle East in 2012 with tournaments taking place in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman, the tournament consists of teams of eleven players aged 13-15 competing on professional sized pitches, in accordance with the rules and regulations of FIFA. The winning team will have the chance to represent their country in a regional final tournament later in the year and ‘Become a Hero’.
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(File photo, 2013)
TRAGEDY AT THE AIR SHOW QATAR RACING CLUB’S QATAR MILE WAS CANCELED AFTER THE TRAGIC DEATH OF DAREDEVIL STUNT PILOT TAMAS NADAS DURING ONE OF HIS SHOWS IN AL KHOR.
The 44-year old Hungarian was close to wrapping up his second show of the day. It was a particularly risky and exciting maneuver, flying upside down and close to the ground, racing against a car. The amazement and cheers among the onlookers quickly turned into shrieks of horror as the plane wobbled a little before crashing into the runway. Qatar Racing Club posted a message on its Facebook page announcing Nadas’ death. “On behalf of Qatar Racing Club we would like to inform you that the Qatar Mile will not take place tomorrow as scheduled,” the statement said. “This is in respect for the courageous pilot Tamas Nadas who unfortunately lost his life today in the airshow doing what he loved. We would like to express our deepest condolences and our prayers are with his family and friends. May his soul rest in peace.”
THE NEW MINI IN TOWN THE MINI BLACK KNIGHT EDITION LAUNCHED AT THE QATAR MOTOR SHOW RECENTLY IS BOUND TO BE A HIT AMONG MINI OWNERS.
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EDUCATION CITY HONORED FOR ITS SUSTAINABILITY Qatar Foundation has won the Sustainable Leadership Award at the World Corporate Social Responsibility Congress held in India this year for its sustainable Education City concept, which was regarded as “an innovative method in which to permeate sustainable living across the Qatari society”. QF was recognised for “actively catering to the adoption of sustainable living”.
Boasting textured, matte black paintwork, this exclusive new edition has plenty to offer and is now available for the Middle East’s best-selling MINI Countryman and the MINI Paceman models. Inside the cockpit of the MINI Black Knight, music lovers can experience superior audio technology thanks to the Harman Kardon HiFi system, which features ten speakers strategically positioned inside the vehicle. MINI comfort access feature allows drivers to lock and unlock the vehicle without the need to physically press buttons on the key. Furthermore advanced technologies allow usability of the vehicle without a key in the ignition through the use of a dedicated ‘Start/Stop’ button.