For the Muslims, Ramadan is a time of test, patience, forgiveness and generosity. This Ramadan has become more of a test of patience for some because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The holy month has always been an interesting and awakening experience for the non-Muslim expatriates in Qatar as they observe how people conduct themselves and how religious activity mixes with cultural values of the country while fasting.
Greek expatriate Vicky Damalou is an agronomist by profession with more than 15 years of experience in various agricultural businesses. She has been living and working in Qatar since 2009.
“This January I established my own business, providing agricultural and gardening education and advice. I believe that there is a big gap of organised knowledge related to gardening in the Middle East. In the large scale agriculture, that has grown rapidly in past four years in Qatar, there are growers and agronomists out there, with a huge amount of experience about growing food in the local conditions. However, this knowledge is not gathered and available to people that would like to start a farm or grow their own food in a garden. So, I decided to organise all the experience I have gained over the years that I have worked here, and make it available through my website.”
“During the past two months (since the schools closed), I have cancelled my workshops and any work meetings and I am only working from home. I have focused on developing new courses and building my website.”
The agronomist, like other people, is homebound during the virus outbreak. “I have also been spending most of my time with my daughter, doing home schooling, playing, cooking, doing gardening and chores, chatting and working out. My husband is also working mostly from home, so we spend much more time than before as a family. We try to have some routine during our days, like having breakfast all together, attending the Zoom classes for my daughter, while I am doing some housekeeping, then doing the school activities, cooking, working out via an online class at 3pm and after 6pm going for a walk, or watching a movie, theatre or dance. There is a very wide variety of online shows at the moment that we can choose from! This routine helps us a lot to be more productive and to avoid frustrations.”
Vicky has been experiencing Ramadan in Qatar for many years but says it is different this year. “I have spent Ramadan in Qatar for many years, and I can say that this is the first year that I cannot notice any difference in our daily activities, related to Ramadan activities. It is unchanged because of the stay-at-home orders. Usually our schedules change, and, especially during the first days, we should always check the shop or restaurant timings before heading somewhere. This year this doesn’t apply, as we don’t go to any shops or restaurants.
“My first Ramadan in Qatar was back in 2009. On the first day of Ramadan back then, we went to the desert with friends and then we went to a restaurant for dinner, very close to Iftar time. The waiter served us the food, but we had in mind that we had to wait for the Iftar announcement. I remember it felt so awkward, having the food in front of me, but having to wait before I eat.
“After so many years in Qatar, now I know that fasting is something very personal and people follow it because it makes them feel better, physically and mentally. It is a time for recollection, prayers and decisions for a better way of living. Personally I have never tried it – I find it too hard but I might do so in the future. I would like to wish to all my Muslim friends out there a very blessed Ramadan! This year it is definitely a very different Ramadan for all of us and may these times bring only positive changes to the entire world.”
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