Sahtak Awalan a hit at National Day celebrations

December, 2014

Thousands of children have been making their own fresh fruit smoothies and learning the importance of looking after their health as Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) celebrates Qatar National Day.

The college is participating in the Qatar Foundation tent at Darb Al Saai and has an area dedicated to its Sahtak Awalan – Your Health First campaign. Among the attractions are a reaction wall and some dummy medical torsos on which visitors can practice being a doctor. But the most popular attraction by far is the DIY smoothie maker. A blender attached to a bicycle means that guests can create their own fresh, healthy fruit smoothies from the ingredients that the Sahtak Awalan team has.

Nesreen Al-Rifai, chief communications officer at WCMC-Q, said the aim of the booth was to encourage children and families to think about their health while having fun at the same time.

She said: “The Sahtak Awalan campaign is about trying to change unhealthy behaviors into healthy ones and to educate people about looking after their bodies, but we realize that to do that, especially with children, you have to make the lessons fun.

“The bicycle blenders have really captured the imaginations of all the children who have visited the tent. Hopefully we’ve shown them that you can make a delicious drink from just fruit without adding unhealthy ingredients like sugar and cream.”

As well as fruit smoothies, children were able to plant their own fruit and vegetable seeds and take the plant pot away, the aim being to promote fresh organic, sustainable food as a means of staying healthy.

The Sahtak Awalan booth and the QF tent can be found at Darb Al Saai between Sports Roundabout and Al Sadd. The tent is open until 20 December from 8am to noon every morning except Friday, and every afternoon from 4pm to 10pm.