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Tribune News Network
Doha
AS Qatar gears up to host FIFA World Cup that will leave a lasting legacy for the country, region and the entire world, Generation Amazing Qatar, an initiative of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), has been impacting the lives of many expatriate workers in various positive ways.
To get an idea of the impact Generation Amazing Qatar has had on the lives of the workers since the initiative kicked off in 2016, a visit to one of the training sessions of the SC programme at Labour City gives an immediate insight.
Meet Inamul Hassan from Sri Lanka and Padam Shreshta from Nepal, both employed in the NAAS Group, the SC's local delivery partner for the football for development programme for workers, delivered at Labour City and in Al Khor.
Hassan, 24, and Shreshta, 35, are among the 569 workers who have participated in the pilot and rollout phases of Generation Amazing from May to December of 2016. But the reasons behind their enrolment differ and so do their experiences.
"I wanted to improve my self-confidence and communication skills and become a better leader," said Hassan, a catering supervisor who supports his family comprising parents, two younger brothers and a sister.
"I wanted to learn football skills as it gives me a lot of joy and helps me shut out for a brief while the daily responsibilities of life," said Shreshta, a cleaner who also is the sole earning member of his joint family consisting of parents, wife and two children.
Both are well on their way to achieving their targets and have enjoyed every step along the way on their Generation Amazing Qatar experience.
"My goal in life is to be a better leader, and participating in the first two phases has helped me realise that I can positively influence people around me," said Hassan."From the time of the pilot, I have been engaging with different people and this has helped me brush up my English language skills and given me self-confidence."
He added,"I have always been a self-starter. I played football in school when all other children were interested only in cricket; my schooling is only until the 'A' Level and I learnt the basics of English from YouTube videos as well as during my professional stint in Saudi Arabia before I reached Qatar earlier this year. Generation Amazing has massively improved both my football and English language skills."
Hassan also explained how the life skills learnt have been instrumental in him becoming a better leader among his group.
"The majority of the South Asian workers in Qatar are Hindi-speaking as they are from the North of India or Nepal and they do not understand English. I do not speak Hindi but I have been able to get them to comprehend English at a very basic level," he added.
Hassan's efforts have not gone unnoticed Generation Amazing promoted him to the role of a coach for the rollout phase, which he had started off as a player in the pilot stage.
"We have structured the Generation Amazing workers programme in such a way that we reward initiative and progress," said the SC's Football for Development coach Michael Richardson. He added,"We will have many batches once we launch the programme. People excelling in one will stand the chance of gaining a promotion into the following ones."
Shreshta exemplifies the passion for football which is evident throughout the programme.
"I have gained confidence by talking to colleagues, but the sheer joy I derived is the best part of the experience," he said.
