CATHERINE W GICHUKI
DOHA
THE American School of Doha (ASD) looked like a multi-cultural hub on Friday as the school held its annual Friendship Festival featuring an array of colourful activities.
Several activities took place including fun-filled games, vendors selling food and clothes and different groups from the school performing at the fest.
The charity event has become part of the school's tradition for many years and is aimed at promoting community spirit, friendship and cooperation amongst students, school staff, parents, local business owners and visitors.
Organised by the school's Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and supported by volunteers from the school community, the proceeds from the day's activities would go to the school to enhance the academic and extracurricular programmes for the students. The proceeds also support projects outside Qatar.
Speaking to Qatar Tribune, ASD Director Dr Thomas Hawkins said,"This is our biggest festival that we do year-long. It is a community builder. It brings everybody across the community together from older students to high school students, younger students, parents, among others, in the school community. It is a big social event and more to that it is a fundraiser. And it's something that everybody looks forward to."
On his part, President of PTA Nikki Routledge said that this year they expected over 5,000 people to attend the festival. Last year, over 4,500 people took part in the fest. She added that, this year, there were new additions, including new slides and fun maze, among others. There were also more vendors compared to the past years.
"One of the things that the school has been able to acquire is the recycling points. We have a company which is going to collect all our cardboards, cans and plastics on our campus to help in promoting sustainability throughout the school," she said.
She explained that the festival is a fundraiser but mostly it is a community fun day where the entire school and the school community get together.
Routledge said that the proceeds from the event would support in-house projects at the school; support the students who are running their own service programmes; support sister schools and plenty of projects that are running in Nepal, Tanzania, Maldives and Cambodia."We are also helping to build a school in Machakos in Kenya. The funds will also support aspiring teachers to receive training in Africa," she said.
The event was organised by over 18 parents and the chair of the committee was Lori Meszaros.
The festival was sponsored by ExxonMobil, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, Occidental Petroleum, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Seib Insurance and Reinsurance, Jaidah Automotive, Zaks, Al Mana Entertainment, Gulf Agency Company, Writer Relocations, Family Dental Clinic, British International Dental Centres and TLC Nursery.