Job Discussion Forums

[Quibby84]

Hey, I am on these forums because I am planning on teaching English in Japan. I saw the forum for Qatar and wanted to tell all that Qatar is a very generous and great country. I live in Louisiana (USA) and last year we were hit by a huge hurricane (two actually) many people died, MANY lost their homes. Qatar donated a TON of money to disperse to students in financial need as well as in the path of the storm. Although I was affected, I didnt lose my home or my life yet Qatar choose to give me (and many others) very large scholarships.
This scholarship was a very big blessing and I just wanted to show my gratitude to the country of Qatar for it.

[veiledsentiments]

That's one funny lookin' cat!!

Interesting how news of things like that seem to never hit the American media... not surprising though. Rather embarrassing how the US govt totally dropped the ball... so perhaps they preferred it be kept quiet.

How did they decide who qualified for the tuition assistance? Who did the dispersing?

VS

[cam]

Here is a link from the Louisiana Weekly which mentions the generoisity of Qatar wrt huricane Katrina.

http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20060522x

Do you mind sharing with us how much aid you got?

[veiledsentiments]

I wonder why Qatar chose Xavier University. Did some of the royal family attend university there over the years?

VS

[Quibby84]

I dont even go to Xavier. I go to Louisiana State University. I got $1,300, which is ALOT. I am extremely grateful.
I never applied for this, just got a letter in the mail saying that I was going to get a grant from the goverment of Qatar.
I dont really know why I got this grant. I know that I pay for my college by myself, my family is not so rich. I recently have gotten married (in April) and his income has helped this semester. I feel like I do not really deserve it but it is very needed. We are trying to save for Japan and this will help alot. My parents were hit by Hurricane Rita, I (where I lived before I was married) was hit by Hurricane Kathrina. Rita took out a lot of my parents trees and they also lost their electricty for more than a week. My parents were blessed because trees fell all around their house but none on it. When they went back to the house they had no idea what to expect. Kathrina took a tree from where I was living, and we only lost our electricty for a day. We stayed home during Kathrina. The house shook and the rain and winded whipped but the house still stood. I was out of school for week. Life was VERY hectic after the storm. Traffic was horrible and there were literally people everywhere (I live in Baton Rouge, about 45 min away from New Orleans). I volunteered one day at our local Civic Center were there were thousands of angry newly-homeless people/people who may have spent more than one night on a freeway that was above water in New Orleans. It took months to make the traffic somewhat bearable, it is still heavy. I went to New Orleans this weekend and you could still see some damage on big buildings.
So anyways, I dont know if I answered your questions, tell me if I didnt.
To sum it up, I was told that I recieved the grant because of my finanical need as well as my being in the affected area of the hurricane.

funny cat eh? lol

[Quibby84]

by the way, they asked that we write a thank you note to Qatar, I will do that later this week.

but i do kinda wish that I could do more than that.

[veiledsentiments]

Yes, definitely send a letter to the Embassy thanking them.

A letter to the editor of your local newspaper might also be a nice thought.

VS

[Bindair Dundat]

[Quibby84]

ok, will do.

[veiledsentiments]

Great idea BD!!

And, if you could manage to get a 'thank you' printed in the newspaper, that would be a nice thing to show the students too.

[Quibby84]

August 22, 2006
The Honorable Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Khalisa
Ambassador
Embassy of the State of Qatar
2555 M St., N.W.
Washington, DC
20037-1305
Dear Sir:
Hello, my name is Melissa Q and I am a recipient of your very generous scholarship. I am a senior at Louisiana State University and will graduate in December 2006. My plans after graduating are to travel to Japan with my husband (We were married on April 8, 2006). We plan to teach English while there and are now taking a TESOL certification course. After spending a year in Japan we are not sure where we are going to go, we may decide to move to another country. I also may go back to school to study midwifery or public health; these two things have been interests of mine for quite some time. Because of your scholarship, getting to Japan will be pretty easy. My husband works at a local TV station and we have been very diligent in saving around 40% of his check each month; we started to become worried that we were not going to be able to save the amount of money needed to get to Japan and pay off my school loans, this is around the time that your scholarship came in. We are VERY thankful, you have greatly blessed us and I do not know how to thank you enough.
Last year, as you know, Louisiana was hit by two very large hurricanes. I live in Plaquemine (which is about an hour away from New Orleans) and we stayed at home during Katrina. The lights went out very soon after the storm started; my grandparents and I sat in the living room during the entire storm hoping that it wouldn�t blow our house over. We were very happy to discover that after the storm the only thing we lost was a very large tree in the back yard. As soon as the storm cleared we were outside picking up tree branches; this was better than sitting in the dark listening to a battery powered radio. After Katrina, life in Baton Rouge (about 15 minutes from Plaquemine) was very hectic. It was not uncommon for a 30 minute ride to school to take two hours. There were people everywhere. If you were to go downtown there would be people on the streets. Baton Rouge was almost completely shut down for a time; I was out of school for a week. Roads had to be cleared as well as repaired before life could become normal again. A few days after the storm my friend and I went to volunteer at the River Center in Baton Rouge where thousands of homeless evacuees were staying. The day that we got there, there were still people coming in�very angry people. The place was complete chaos; people were everywhere, asking for cots or food or clothing. There were not enough workers or supplies to go around. My friend met with an elderly couple who had no way to tell their family that they were alive, my friend and I went to find a phone to call them up. The family was overjoyed to hear that their family was alive; they could not contain their joy. Although there was a lot of anger and aggravation that came from the storm, if you looked hard enough, you could see the good shine brighter than the bad.
The second storm that hit Louisiana was Rita. This one brought lots of rain and family to my grandparent�s home in Plaquemine. Having the family was nice for a few days, but after a few weeks, my longing for quiet was very prevalent. We had five extra adults and one child staying in our small three bedroom one and a half bathroom house. My parents were among the ones staying with us, the live in Dry Creek. My aunt and uncle (the other family that stayed with us) lived in Lake Charles. Lake Charles as well as Dry Creek was very badly hit by Rita. Lake Charles was closed off to residents for weeks because of hurricane damage as well as flooding. My parents were the first to go home not knowing what to expect when they got there. They were overjoyed to find that they had only lost trees. Trees fell all around their house, but none on it. My aunt and uncle�s roof was messed up as well as their yard and subdivision, but nothing that couldn�t be repaired. My parents decided not to ask for FEMA money although people told them that they could; they felt as if it were wrong to ask for money if you could fix things yourself.
Overall the Hurricanes were terrible things for our town as well as for our state. Baton Rouge is still very populated and it seems to me as if the crime as gone up. Although the traffic is not nearly as bad as it was soon after the hurricane, it is still heavy. At my job and at my school I have seen many terrible pictures of homes and towns destroyed by the hurricane. The worst stories are those that are unable to claim insurance and have lost everything by either the storm or looters or both. Thank you so much for you generous scholarships, I am sure that you are blessing students all over the LSU campus. Thanks so much to you and your country for the scholarship. If you ever need me to write a note or something to put in your country�s newspaper, then just let me know. I do not feel as if this simple letter can express my gratitude so please let me know if there is more that I can do. Thanks again.

Sincerely,
Melissa Q

Student at Louisiana State University

(Since this is a public board, it is safer not to post full names: MOD)

[Rin]

Yes Qatar is very giving. Now they are giving lots of money to the Hamas and the Hezbollah to rebuild Palestine and Lebanon. I guess there's nothing wrong with sucking up to both sides.

[Quibby84]

I was wondering why they support the US when they are in the middle east...in my opinion, sucking up to both sides is the best option...lol

[veiledsentiments]

One part of it is naturally 'zakat' which is one of the 5 pillars of Islam that requires them to give quite a high percentage of their income to those who need help. And Qatar does have one of the highest incomes per capita in the world.

It is nice that they show their generosity to people who need help irregardless of their politics or religion. But, when it is a government doing the giving, there is probably a bit of political expediency mixed in it too.

VS

[biffinbridge]

It's a shame the salaries in Qatar haven't been that generous in recent years.
Oh and Melissa;your surname isn't Qhatani is it?