Mona Ali Babetty, a Lebanese expatriate recently wrote a book on Qatar titled ‘Qatar is face of Life’.
In 2012, Mona came to Doha as a tourist and was suggested by a Qatari friend to settle in Qatar. Qatar offered her many opportunities which made her stay in Qatar beautiful and she fell in love with this country and its people.
Currently, Mona is working as a trainer at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. Earlier, she has working at the Ministry of Interior. She names Qatar as her ‘second home’ and lives here with her daughter and son.
Talking to The Peninsula, Al Babetty said: “Qatar has given me love at every point of my life. I have been blessed with great Qatari friends and a beautiful Lebanese community.”
Qatar has given Lebanese community freedom (like all other communities) to adopt their culture and live life in a way they want.
“Out of love (for Qatar) I wrote a book after blockade was imposed on Qatar last year. Each chapter of my book is based on a person I met in Qatar. My book will be translated in French and English soon,” she added.
Lebanese people form one of the largest community of non-citizen Arabs in Qatar. Al Babetty said: “We are around 25,000 Lebanese living in Qatar. The Lebanese community in Qatar celebrate their culture very often.”
Recently Lebanese community celebrated their Independence Day at the embassy of Lebanon. “We celebrated our Independence Day with the community, it was good to see all of us together under one roof celebrating our culture,” Mona said.
Talking about Lebanese expatriates, she said: “Lebanese people are welcoming, they are very friendly and polite with everyone. The reason behind their success in every field is the way they communicate with others.”
“We are known by our honesty with hard-work. All my Qatari colleagues trust me blindly and always appreciate my work that flourish my feelings of love and likeness to the country,” she added.
Qatar has given Mona new identity. Mona said: “Qatar has given me shelter, respect and love. Being a Lebanese national, I would stay all my life in Qatar, as the safety provided here is not given in any other country.”
