By Azmat Haroon
Doha: Some South Korean university students who are visiting Qatar for the first time as part of a student exchange programme have said that they were ‘afraid’ to come here because of stereotypes about the Gulf and Islam.
The group has men and women in their 20s, some of whom said they thought they would not even be able speak to Muslim women because it may offend them.
Many of their preconceived notions have, thankfully, changed after visiting Qatar, as they found people here to be friendly and polite. Some here, surprisingly, were familiar with the Korean culture.
The black-coloured abayas, worn by women across the Gulf, seemed intimidating to some students.
“I was a little scared because I had heard every woman wears hijab, and the black colour was overwhelming for me at first,” Heejune Lim, a student of psychology from Korea’s capital Seoul, said. She said the ‘abaya’ seems to have its own charm now that she had interacted with women wearing it.
Lim is among a group of students who has come here for the first time under a student exchange programme organised by Sarang Plus, a South Korean Cultural Centre.
She said that when she began talking to people, her opinions about Qatar and Islam changed.
Q Kim, the group leader and a lecturer in Korea, said that he was surprised to see how groups in public places were always divided based on nationalities.
“I saw people from Iraq, India and Egypt in different places but they were always moving in separate groups. They didn’t seem to have integrated with one another well.” Kim said he was shocked to learn that single working men were not allowed to enter certain public places here on certain days of the week.
Recalling an incident on the first day of Eid Al Fitr, Kim said that his group visited a local souq where he found out that some Asians, among others, were not allowed to enter.
“I was hurt to see that because I think foreigners who come to work in your country are like guests. We need to give them special treatment,” he said, adding that he had never heard of such division of groups before.
Kim Woosung, meanwhile, said that he was pleasantly surprised to see that many people here were interested to learn more about the Korean culture.
“Most of the people I’ve met have never been to Korea but they love Korean music and its culture,” the 26-year-old, who is studying furniture design, said.
Woosung has been training in hip-hop for the last nine years. He said many young Koreans aspire to join the Korean entertainment industry because of the fame and wealth associated with the profession. Ha An, a dentistry student, said Qatar was not as hot as she thought it would be.
“I thought it would be unbearably hot. But it’s okay, it’s not as hot as I imagined it would be,” she said. As part of their visit to Qatar, the students interacted with several youngsters in Qatar through cooking and dance classes. The cultural centre is being run by Jaehoon Hong and his wife Jiwon An, who will also teach Korean music at the centre.
