Health-focused initiative joins Qatar celebration

Yalla Natural, an initiative aimed at reconnecting people with nature to help them lead healthier lives, recently participated at in Qatar National Day, joining the celebration with a food truck at Darb Al Saai.

The initiative, run by Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-U), is part of the larger community campaign Sahtak Awalan (Your Health First).

WCM-U Dean Javaid Sheikh said he relished the chance to bring healthy lifestyle awareness to the community.

“WCM-Q’s Yalla Natural truck has been inundated with children and young people, and while they are having fun on the blender bikes or planting their own vegetable seeds, we are able to offer lessons about living a healthy life that they will hopefully take into adulthood,” Sheikh said. “We want to help create a healthy generation who unlock their potential and are able to meet the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030.”

The Yalla Natural trailer welcomed thousands of schoolchildren, who got to see cooking demonstrations in which healthy ingredients were transformed into meals for the whole family.

“Health issues are obviously so important for our children,” Victoria Horsburgh, a physical education teacher at Awsaj Academy, said. “We have a high rate of diabetes in Qatar so we we try to educate the children as much as we can about making healthy choices and coming to places like this where they learn about health and where the lessons are in both Arabic and English is really important and good for them.”