Ayed Al Qahtani (centre), General Manager and Head of the Board of Trustees of RAF, Salman Abdullah Abdulghani, Adviser Strategic Projects, Nizar Haraki, Syrian Ambassador to Qatar, and other officials during the Launch of Mercy of Winter booth by RAF at
Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF) yesterday opened a refugee simulation exhibition showcasing life of Syrian and Iraqi refugees and those displaced internally in shelters amid the biting cold.
A month long exhibition “60 seconds of their lives” at Ezdan Mall (Al Gharrafa) aims at making visitors feel the plight of ill-fated people of both war-torn countries.
“The initiative is meant to demonstrate the suffering of refugees and internally displaced Syrian and Iraqi people, said Mohamad Rashid Al Marri, Head of Community Service Department at RAF. He was speaking at a ceremony to inaugurate the exhibition at Ezdan Mall yesterday.
“The simulation provides a kind of live experience to the visitors in a very effective manner. The exhibition has two rooms with the temperature inside close to that in Syria. They look similar to those in refugee tents.
Desks for collecting donations have been set up near the exit of the exhibition so visitors can donate after taking a tour of the simulation,” said Al Marri.
The philanthropists have four options for donation: QR100, QR500, QR1,000 and QR5,000. The system of donation is to pick up a brick of same value of the donation made by the donor. The donor will write his name on the brick and place it on a wall of a room embodying a home of a hapless refugee.
A Pakistani businessman representing his community donated QR20,000 to kick start the donation, the main purpose of the exhibition. He picked up four bricks worth QR5,000 each and placed them on the wall after
writing his name on them.
The simulation exhibition is part of a massive initiative launched by RAF to draw the attention of the world towards the refugees and displaced people of Iraq and Syria who are forced to leave their homes and source of income.
The exhibition will continue until February 15.
Ambassador of Syria to Qatar, Nizar Al Haraki, appreciated people in Qatar supporting Syrians during tough times.
The simulation exhibition is being organised by RAF in collaboration with Qatar Airways, said Salaman bin Abdullah Al Abdul Ghani, an ambassador of mercy and adviser for Strategic projects.
