The American School of Doha (ASD) hosted Café Oasis recently. Café Oasis is an annual tradition at ASD, almost as old as ASD itself, where students, faculty and members of the ASD community showcase their artistic talents from dramatic and musical performance to visual art in a relaxed, urban lounge type setting. Café Oasis is one part Rick’s from Casablanca and one part Hemmingway’s El Floridita, making for a unique experience found nowhere else in Doha.
Performers from this year’s Middle School Musical, Bye, Bye Birdie performed some selected scenes from the production. ASD’s middle and high school students covered classical, jazz and pop music favourites and presented brief open mike sessions where “break” poetry, a form of guided writing based on a topic given at a moment’s notice, was presented by attendees. The ASD’s Chamber Singers also rounded out the evening.
All of this was accompanied by hors d’oeuvres and refreshments provided by the ASD’s chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS). There was also a silent auction featuring everything from art work by ASD staff and students, and sculptures from around the world. The NHS has long had the privilege of organizing and running Café Oasis which is their major fundraising event of the year. This year’s Café Oasis was presented under the direction of NHS President Temitope Akinade, an ASD senior.
The NHS is a service oriented, student led organisation that has supported a variety of causes including Syrian refugee relief through the Qatar Red Crescent, Tsunami relief in Japan, and most recently, the Smile Train foundation which provides free surgery for children in developing countries who are born with cleft palates. The proceeds of Café Oasis are being used to support ASD’s newest adopted service project, the Machakos Knowledge Centre in Kenya. A school-wide effort is being undertaken at the ASD to raise money through local initiatives to build a primary school in the community of Machakos. The goal for this year is to raise funds to purchase and fence the land upon which the school will be built. Subsequent years will involve raising funds to pour the foundation and eventually build a school block. This project was the brain child of Machakos native Mr. David Robert, who is a member of the ASD community.
In the words of one member of the audience, “this is one of ASD’s best kept secrets.” Café Oasis continues to be a part of ASD’s student culture but is also a reminder of when ASD was a much smaller school and community. What continues on is the ASD community’s commitment to support community service through grassroots fine arts by working continuously to nurture all of its members to become positive, active, global citizens. The Peninsula
