Connor Dullinger
When my father and I made plans to travel to Qatar to go to the World Cup we had two goals in mind: One being to eat, breathe, and sleep soccer, the other being to immerse ourselves within the culture in Qatar.
We accomplished our first goal with relative ease. We saw 14 different countries, 8 different matches, at 5 different stadiums. We even got to see the U.S Men’s National Team qualify for the round of 16. A feat they have not accomplished since 2014 in Brazil. When we weren’t at the stadium watching the games, we were out at restaurants or in our room watching other teams play on television.
Our second goal was a lot more difficult to accomplish, and as I’m writing this I do not think I have yet to or even am capable of achieving this goal. You see, my father and I, whenever we travel to a new place, we do our best to immerse ourselves in the culture of the area. Whether it is eating their cuisine, learning about their religion, or visiting certain landmarks or historical sites. Usually this task is of relative ease. But not quite in Qatar. During the early parts of the day from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm before the games have started the city is empty. My father and I traveled to places such as the Corniche, the Lusail Boardwalk, and Mia Park (Old Doha Port) to find a very beautiful yet deserted area. There was no foot traffic, most of the restaurants and shops were closed, and for the most part it was empty. To be quite honest, it was a bit unnerving. To be in the center of a city during the biggest sports event in the world and for it to be empty does not make any sense. Granted, the games and venues were packed with supporters, and after the hours of 12:00 am the streets were relatively crowded. But for me it is a bit eerie for the city to be so quiet and so unpopulated during early hours of the day.
Another interesting aspect of the trip was the people. My father and I met with and talked to hundreds of locals. Through all of this interaction we did not meet a single Qatari person. This is not to say we did not see any. We saw many, usually at night, attending the matches. The point is that there were very few Qatari people integrated into the workforce and everyday culture there. In fact, the majority of people we met were migrants from other countries. We met people from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, North Macedonia, as well as various other countries. Most if not all of these people had come to Qatar for one reason. To work and find a better life than they had previously.
This idea was corroborated by Mohammed Ziaul. Ziaul, a Bangladeshi man my father and I befriended on our first day in the country, told us about his journey to Qatar. After spending 22 years in Chattogram, a port city in Bangladesh, he came to Doha where he worked at the U.S air base and then for Qatar Airways. In 2018 he began a new job where he helped excavate and build the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. After years of working on the stadium he then became an Uber Driver which he has been doing for the last couple years. Ziaul talked about his struggles with moving away from his home and family back in Bangladesh and how many people like him in Qatar are migrants trying to create a better future for themselves and their families. Ziaul plans to leave Qatar after the World Cup ends to start a new path back in his hometown. After much talk and consideration my father and I came to the conclusion that a large and main part of the culture in Qatar is actually not the people or history of Qatar but rather the lives and stories of the migrants that travel to work there. In fact, 95% of Qatar’s workforce is migrant workers and only 10.5% of the Qatar population were actually born there.
Granted, my father and I were only in Qatar for ten days. So it is possible that maybe we are not seeing the full picture. But, I can only tell you what I saw. And apart from the beautiful game of soccer, what I saw was a lot of people just working to find a better life for themselves and their families.