* ‘Happy People Doha’ is a community group founded to have fun together by expats from different countries
“One of the criteria to become a member of our group is to be a happy person. When we meet, we do not discuss unhappy or too serious things. We chat about the things that make us happy. We try to help each other in the group.”
Swedish expatriate Ann Jangsell is the founder member of Happy People Doha, a community group consisting of people from diverse backgrounds. She calls it a fun happy bubble to build a personal connection with like-minded professionals that support one another.
“Happy People Join Me was the original name I suggested for the group that was started two years ago but one of my friends came up with the name ‘Happy People’ and everybody liked it. We started the community group with 10 people and now we are over 100 members. It has become an exclusive fun group. We have recently created a board as we are growing as a group,” said Ann while talking to Gulf Times about the distinct community group that includes expatriates from around 30 countries living in Qatar.
Happy People Doha had its first board meeting recently. “It (board) makes it bit easier to come up with cool ideas and all discuss our core values. When you become a member, you need to respond to some questions such as what makes you happy etc.”
It is not a normal networking group formed by expatriates. “This is like a hub where we can be ourselves. It is a place where you do not need to act. You can be yourself and still be a professional. You can be a free soul. I would say that Happy People is all about being at service for each other. We felt the need for such a group for being away from our home countries as expatriates. We have become a large family. We trust each other.”
The Happy People Doha group includes expatriates from different counties and the makes it distinct from other business or social clubs in Qatar. “That is very cool side of the group. It is not a typical European club. We have expatriates from Asian, Arab, European, American and Latin American countries.”
Since forming the community group, the members have been having monthly get-togethers. “As for our activities, we have not been having indoor gatherings since the Covid-19 hit. Many members are from the hospitality sector and they have been very generous. We have been having our meetings while observing the pandemic related restrictions imposed by the government. The concept is just to show up and share your smile. One of the reasons that the concept is a hit we do not have any ‘must’. Sometime we have fun raffles for the members. We have plans to ask our members to share their elevator pitches in near future.
“During the ongoing depressing health crisis, the group has been of a great help for the members. We can ask each other question. We can hang out on social media. It has been a happy bubble during the Covid-19 health crisis.”
The group has been planning to carry out volunteering and social works as well.
“I have experience in beach clean-ups in my previous job. I took part in a clean-up drive at Al Wakrah beach as a part of corporate social responsibility drive. We were around 80 people cleaning the beach. We are going to put the CSR feature in the group too as our members are from different corporates. As the group, we are also planning to have a beach cleanup in March. We want to keep Qatar clean and lovely.”
The members of the group bring their expertise and experience to share. “I think that is the thing about the group that has been very helpful. It is one of the foundations of the group that we are not just happy but also helpful. For us ‘Happy’ has a special acronym. ‘H’ is for heartwarming, ‘A’ for awesome, ‘P’ for passionate, ‘P’ for powerful, and ‘Y’ for yaay – expression of happiness.”
Swedish expatriate Ann Jangsell is the founder member of Happy People Doha, a community group consisting of people from diverse backgrounds. She calls it a fun happy bubble to build a personal connection with like-minded professionals that support one another.
“Happy People Join Me was the original name I suggested for the group that was started two years ago but one of my friends came up with the name ‘Happy People’ and everybody liked it. We started the community group with 10 people and now we are over 100 members. It has become an exclusive fun group. We have recently created a board as we are growing as a group,” said Ann while talking to Gulf Times about the distinct community group that includes expatriates from around 30 countries living in Qatar.
Happy People Doha had its first board meeting recently. “It (board) makes it bit easier to come up with cool ideas and all discuss our core values. When you become a member, you need to respond to some questions such as what makes you happy etc.”
It is not a normal networking group formed by expatriates. “This is like a hub where we can be ourselves. It is a place where you do not need to act. You can be yourself and still be a professional. You can be a free soul. I would say that Happy People is all about being at service for each other. We felt the need for such a group for being away from our home countries as expatriates. We have become a large family. We trust each other.”
The Happy People Doha group includes expatriates from different counties and the makes it distinct from other business or social clubs in Qatar. “That is very cool side of the group. It is not a typical European club. We have expatriates from Asian, Arab, European, American and Latin American countries.”
Since forming the community group, the members have been having monthly get-togethers. “As for our activities, we have not been having indoor gatherings since the Covid-19 hit. Many members are from the hospitality sector and they have been very generous. We have been having our meetings while observing the pandemic related restrictions imposed by the government. The concept is just to show up and share your smile. One of the reasons that the concept is a hit we do not have any ‘must’. Sometime we have fun raffles for the members. We have plans to ask our members to share their elevator pitches in near future.
“During the ongoing depressing health crisis, the group has been of a great help for the members. We can ask each other question. We can hang out on social media. It has been a happy bubble during the Covid-19 health crisis.”
The group has been planning to carry out volunteering and social works as well.
“I have experience in beach clean-ups in my previous job. I took part in a clean-up drive at Al Wakrah beach as a part of corporate social responsibility drive. We were around 80 people cleaning the beach. We are going to put the CSR feature in the group too as our members are from different corporates. As the group, we are also planning to have a beach cleanup in March. We want to keep Qatar clean and lovely.”
The members of the group bring their expertise and experience to share. “I think that is the thing about the group that has been very helpful. It is one of the foundations of the group that we are not just happy but also helpful. For us ‘Happy’ has a special acronym. ‘H’ is for heartwarming, ‘A’ for awesome, ‘P’ for passionate, ‘P’ for powerful, and ‘Y’ for yaay – expression of happiness.”
