Children making smoothies with bike blenders.
Promoting healthy living, a number of activities at “Yalla Natural” stall at Darb El Saai including planting education, healthy cooking sessions, smoothie bikes and green recipes are attracting hundreds of children and elders alike.
Yalla Natural is part of Sahtak Awalan (Your Health First) public health campaign of Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar (WCM-Q).
The stall of Sahtak Awalan at Qatar Foundation enclosure has become a major attraction for nature-loving kids and parents.
It offers education on how to grow plants from seeds. They are not only giving basic gardening lessons but also provide free seeds and soil-filled pots. Another interesting activity at the green enclosure is the section where kids make smoothies using blender-bikes. To instill love for fruits and vegetables enriched diet in children, they were presented smoothies as well as green recipes.
An official of Sahtak Awalan seeking not to be named told The Peninsula that a large number children had learnt the art of planting. “They are also being given information on healthy recipes and the smoothies,” she added.
How to be healthy, she said, was the main theme of their campaign and “Yalla Natural” was an important component of public health initiative launched by WCM-Q in collaboration with Qatar Foundation and some other partners.
“Apart from planting lessons in which we are also providing children with pots and seeds, our smoothie bike is pulling children and elders too. We provide seeds of vegetables like celery, onion,” she said.
She said Yalla Natural had established as many as 100 greenhouses in independent schools.
“All students from two and three grades visit those greenhouses along their science teachers once daily to learn about plants, planting, healthy eating etc. While the elder students take part in other activities designed according to their age like poster designing contests,” she said.
At Sahtak Awalan stall, 6:30 pm is the time of live healthy cooking in which children are taught how to prepare salads with fruits and vegetables. “We want to create nature loving attitude among children and a permanent inclination of society towards natural food and healthy lifestyle. We have set our target of establishing greenhouses in all independent schools of qatar,” Sahtak Awalan official asserted.
“This smoothie bike is wonderful,” said Ibrahim, a nine-year-old child who had just experienced making smoothie using bike-blender. “It has two goods: making smoothie and doing exercise,” he said while taking a sip of the smoothie he had just prepared.
