Friday 15 February 2008

Doha contd

Yesterday we attended an orientation about the Qatar Foundation of which we are a small part. It soon becomes obvious that the vision for Qatar in general is huge and almost beyond belief. We see plans for the largest equestrian centre being built nearby, more universities including a teaching medical college, a leadership college which looks like a series of space ships nestled in the sand and a convention centre which resembles the branches of a giant tree. We hear about the underground part of this city with its own service roads so that rubbish trucks can stay out of sight and to allow movement. We meet people from countries we have hardly heard of, as well as a woman born in the next town to mine in New Zealand. One group is here to design the most up to date hospital in the world - to be opened in 2011. How exciting to be given the opportunity to bring to life all of the excellent practices of the world in one spot! I don't know whether to laugh at the pure decadence of it all or to cry about the amount of concrete being poured into the desert- instead I just shake my head in wonder and decide that this experience, while being completely opposite to our African one, will in itself contribute to our lives in many rich ways.

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