An Educational and Cultural project in Qatar

My name is Valérie Collet I'm Belgian and have been a Falconer for 6 years now.

 

From summer 2013 until summer 2014, I was living in Qatar as an expat with my familly. Because my kids were studying in a French /Qatarian school (Lycée Voltaire) and because the school principal knew I was a Falconer, I have been asked to build a school project about Falconry .

 

Since Falconry is such a big institution in Arabic countries, it seemed very relevant to get the kids from various cultures to realized they shared common practices and history which could be illustrated through the art of falconry.

 

With the help of many teachers we build the project « Semaine de la Fauconnerie ». The idea was to present European Falconry and compare it with Arabic Falconry.

 A visit of Falconry souk at Souk Wakif was organized and combined with a visit of the Veterinary Clinic where I led a group of approximately 35 students.
 I presented 2 conferences to kids around 10 to12 years old about European Falconry followed by an open discussion where children could share what they knew about Falconry and ask many questions.
 An Algannas representative (Qatarian Falconry Association) presented Arabic Falconry in a similar conference that was very well illustrated with stuffed game and colorfull banners.

 

It was a real success. The kids were very responsive and the teachers had done their part in getting the kids to prepare documentation, questions, drawings and poems.

 

The school management was delighted to bring the students and their family together around a cultural project with such a powerful symbolic common to all cultures.

 

Last year, the school invited me again to lead the second edition of « La semaine de la Fauconnerie » and present conferences to students of the secondary school.

 

 The Doha Film Institute came to present a very well made film (A Falcon A Revolution) were Falconry was used as a metaphora of political leadership in troubled countries.
 An avian Veterinary came to explain the development of a Falcon from the Egg to leaving the nest.
 A Qatarian falconer presented Al Galayel which is a guild of traditional falconers teaching falconry with Camel, dogs and Falcon.
 The last day evryone was invited in the private farm of the Ministry of Environment, where many falcons were presented and flown.

 

I was very pleased to witness the fact that what started as my little school project had bloomed in a mature annual event for the school.

 

It has always been my aim to share the heritage of falconry with other cultures and what a beautiful way to do it with school kids, their parents, their teachers and their mentors !

Together with Lycée Voltaire, we are already preparing the 2016 edition and this year we are considering linking our Qatari/French/Belgian adventure with other communities through the IAF « school link » program. Early contacts with Shawn Hayes from USA are promizing and we hope to develop a fruitful collaboration between eachother's educational projects

 

Here under a few pictures of the past 2 years.