Photo credit: Salim Matramkot/ The Peninsula
Doha: Dr Mayal Qaisi was on a regular visit to her restaurant during the peak Covid times in Qatar, when she noticed a man standing outside the eatery and staring at the shawarma stand inside. She invited him inside and shared a meal with him. The resulting happiness on his face prompted her to put up a notice outside Kitchen Al Qaisi – her restaurant - on Al Nasr street that poor and needy will be offered free food.
Kitchen Al Qaisi is one of the few kitchens and restaurants in the country that offer free food to poor and needy. The restaurant has been dishing out Arabic cuisine for the last three years with delivery across country.
"We have all suffered huge losses due to Covid-19. I myself have been forced to shut two other branches of my kitchen due to Covid-19. There are limitations for me to help and I try to do it in whatever way possible for me. I understand only Arabic and English, and so put up this notice outside my restaurant," said Dr Qaisi, who is a practicing gynaecologist and owner of a clinic in North Khalifa.
Seeing the impact of this notice, Dr Qaisi put up similar notice outside her clinic, offering free consultation to any resident who does not have a health card and is in need of healthcare services.
Dr Qaisi said that she put up the notice in July and since then daily about two to three needy have come in, probably because the small kitchen can easily be missed in the plethora of restaurants that are on Nasr street.
But a tweet on social media with a picture of the notice outside her restaurant has attracted quite many in recent days.
Prominent lawyer in Qatar @Hawasalshammari shared two pictures of the restaurant and the poster outside on Twitter. "This notice caught my attention on Al-Mirqab Al Jadeed street, this restaurant has a poster on the door that carries a wonderful message," he quoted in Arabic adding blessing to the owner for this gesture.
Unaware of the tweets about her restaurant, Dr Qaisi was surprised when told by The Peninsula of this. "I suddenly started receiving many thank you notes from my patients. As I am not on social media, I was unaware of this being shared by someone," added Dr Qaisi hoping that the message reaches more people.
