This school year marks the tenth year that Qatar Academy’s Eid Al Adha Suitcase project successfully distributed boxes of basic necessities to some of the less fortunate families in Doha. Rola Abu Ramadan, Arabic teacher and the project’s founder maintains that the QA community’s generosity and commitment to the cause continue to grow each year.
“This year, QA students from Grades 6-12 managed to collect 260 suitcases with an additional 170 suitcases by the student council,” she shares. Each suitcase or box holds provisions like sugar, flour and rice and a small toy specially included for the children of the families.
As with the previous years, the project has been a competition of sorts for classes to see who can collect and assemble the most number of suitcases. The time and effort they put forth accounts for their Community, Action and Service hours as part of their International Baccalaureate Middle Years (Grade 6-10) and Diploma Programme (Grades 11-12) curriculum.
For grade 12 student Ibrahim Al Mana, the project has been an integral part of their high school years. “After being part of Eid Al Adha Suitcase for four years continuously, I decided to sign up again for the fifth year for the last time. This time it was quite different as this year I’m helping Rola organise the activity,” he says. “It is really a wonderful experience because of how these things (suitcase) gives them hope in life and makes them happy. This activity is a lesson for every single one of us, as it teaches us to be thankful of what we have every day”.The Peninsula
