Sara Shaker and Joumana Al Kahlot being interviewed for Morning Show of Qatar TV.
The Best Buddies Qatar project encourages people to build long-lasting friendships with those with intellectual disabilities.
The project was the subject of a Morning Show on Qatar TV, in a collaboration between the channel and Best Buddies Qatar Organisation. Best Buddies peer couple Sara Shaker and Joumana Al Kahlot were interviewed for the programme at the Second Cup Café in the Pearl.
Joumana met Sara as a student at Carnegie-Mellon University. At that time Sara was a student at Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs. The friendship has lasted more than two years and both the ladies are now employed and know each other very well.
Joumana decided to participate in the College Programme of Best Buddies Qatar Organisation to make friends with an intellectually challenged person and enhance Sara’s life. Joumana likes this friendship and confesses that she has discovered that a person with intellectual disabilities is an equal part of society, sensitive, kind, positive, able to influence people, creative in arts, sports-loving and open to life.
In the beginning, Sara’s parents worried about the new development in their daughter’s life. They had to trust Joumana to cope with her responsibilities as a friend and she did well. Joumana and Sara often spend time together: Watch movies, do shopping, go to restaurants, visit each other or simply talk on the phone.
Joumana is Sara’s best friend and she says friendship with Joumana is a great gift. A happy Sara thinks Best Buddies Qatar helps promote social responsibility and values.
Best Buddies Qatar aims to motivate more people to participate in a global social movement to enhance the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by establishing one-to-one long-lasting friendships and integrated employment.
The Peninsula
