00:00From Doha to Santiago, two modern cities rooted in heritage.
00:08But despite being thousands of miles apart, there's so much in common between South American and Arabic culture.
00:16Like yerba mate and karak, tea drinking steeped in tradition,
00:22and al-Sadu weaving an Aztec prince, geometric motifs born out of tribal culture.
00:28Art, history, food and sports.
00:31These are the ties that bind, bridging centuries of traditions through cultural exchange
00:37and building on the lasting legacy of diplomacy.
00:41I'm Laila Humaira and I've travelled from Doha, Qatar to Santiago, Chile
00:45for this special edition of Qatar in Motion.
00:52Did you know that the Years of Culture initiative is marking nearly 15 years
00:57of international cultural and educational exchanges?
01:01Launched in 2012 under the patronage of Her Excellency Sheikha al-Mayasa bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani,
01:08the programme has embraced the cultures of many different countries,
01:12including Japan, France, Brazil and Morocco.
01:16This year, it's Argentina and Chile.
01:19It's a celebration of 51 and 43 years of bilateral relations with the two countries
01:25that transcends borders, cultures and languages.
01:31Besides collaborations between museums of the three countries,
01:35a big part of the Years of Culture initiative is educational excursions
01:39that bring communities in Qatar and South America together.
01:43These hands-on, human-led experiences give local traditions a global perspective.
01:49So we've travelled two and a half hours southwest of Santiago to the coastal region of Navidad
01:55to explore how the exchange in knowledge and art can be a refreshing common ground.
02:02High on the hills of Navidad, a group of volunteers from Qatar are learning to make ceramics from Anna,
02:09who is a Mapuche, the indigenous peoples of South America
02:13and one of the last living custodians of pre-Columbian pottery.
02:18Jose Guzman is the director of La Cancha,
02:20a non-profit that's helping to keep the tradition alive
02:24by organising local and international volunteer trips like these.
02:28In a specific, in Navidad, we have a very pure clear
02:33that maybe the Aborigines trying to extract that
02:39and they know that some part of the extract are very, very, very specific to construct.
02:45Pottery making is deeply rooted in the community of Navidad.
02:49The secret lies in the soil beneath their feet.
02:53And for the Mapuche, protecting it is their entire purpose and identity.
02:59Mapuche means it's two words.
03:01Mapu, it's tierra, it's tierra, it means ground or earth.
03:08And che, it calls people.
03:10So it's the people from earth.
03:13The volunteers have finished making their interpretations of traditional Mapuche pottery
03:18and it's time to set the pieces before placing them in the kiln that they've helped build.
03:25Hazim Idris, who heads the volunteer program at Qatar Museums,
03:30has been involved in the Years of Culture program for years.
03:34And every addition is slightly more special than the one before.
03:40If you look around, that's the culture that we are,
03:45we can't say we miss it in Qatar, but we don't have it.
03:48So we have the desert, which they don't have,
03:50but they have the greeneries, which you don't have.
03:52So this is one of the elements that the volunteers are experiencing,
03:56and they're so happy.
03:58We want them to be the ambassadors of Years of Culture,
04:00so they can bring the knowledge, the culture,
04:04the experience that they have met here in Argentina or Chile,
04:09and take it to Qatar and encourage other colleagues, friends, families, etc.,
04:15to come and visit where we are today.
04:18The Years of Culture or the Cultural Exchange is not only diplomatic,
04:22but the cultural exchange,
04:24the element of knowing you and you knowing me
04:27is very, very crucial and very important
04:31for a long-term legacy
04:33between the volunteers and the in-country partners.
04:37There is so much to learn from the close relationship
04:40between the people of Navidad
04:42and the natural history that surrounds them,
04:45which is also apparent down by the Pacific Coast.
04:48For centuries, native inhabitants have lived in harmony
04:52with resources brought in by the waves.
04:55While seaweed is considered a new superfood
04:58in many parts of the world,
04:59it's been a staple in the diet
05:01of many indigenous peoples of South America,
05:03especially those living near the Pacific Ocean.
05:07Here in Navidad,
05:08collecting seaweed has been a livelihood for generations.
05:11Through initiatives like Algeras,
05:13the tradition of seaweed harvesting,
05:15which was born out of the need to survive,
05:18has taken root as a living heritage.
05:21Seaweed has been proven to contain more calcium than milk,
05:22while some species have been used in the water.
05:24It's very important because we have managed to work
05:29together in a united way,
05:31processing a product that has allowed us
05:34to sell directly from the water to the consumer,
05:38eliminate the intermediary,
05:41and place a very good quality product with great nutrients.
05:45Seaweed has been proven to contain more calcium than milk,
05:49while some species have been used as meat alternatives.
05:53What started out as a small space in her garage
05:56has now turned into a factory,
05:59cleaning, processing, and packaging seaweed for the market.
06:03And Cecilia hopes that her participation in the years of culture
06:06will help open doors internationally.
06:35She's also sounding the alarm about a looming threat
06:38to the livelihood of the seaweed gatherers,
06:40which, if not protected,
06:42could even put the existence of Navidad at risk.
06:46Todos tenemos que jamás romper nuestro ecosistema,
06:52porque es el sustento de hoy y de mañana.
06:56Nuestra obligación de proteger, cuidar, ser responsable,
07:00porque la naturaleza es el que nos permite vivir cada día.
07:04Gracias.
07:09Well, another similarity between Arab and South American culture
07:13is their love for horses.
07:15For generations, the two cultures relied on the gentle animals
07:19as a mode of transport and a source for survival.
07:22While horses have now become a symbol of status or sport,
07:26the art of taking care of the majestic creatures
07:28is still a precious tradition.
07:31My name is Benjamin Overti.
07:33I'm a senior clinician at the Equine Veterinary Medical Center
07:36in Doha, Qatar.
07:37This hospital caters exclusively to horses.
07:39In it, I specialize in internal medicine,
07:42which means that I take care of horses with colic,
07:46babies with neonatal problems,
07:49respiratory problems, endocrine problems,
07:52in all ages of horses and in every breed of horses.
07:57I do my diagnostic investigation.
07:59I can do blood work, I can do ultrasound,
08:01I can take radiographs with patients.
08:03And then, based on that, I reach a diagnosis.
08:06Then I can decide on the appropriate treatment,
08:08be it surgical or medical.
08:10And patients either stay in the hospital if they need to,
08:13or they go home with their medications.
08:16At EVMC and around Qatar,
08:19about 80 to 90 percent of the horses that are out there
08:21are Arabians, show Arabians.
08:24Show Arabians are beautiful.
08:25They're an exceedingly ancient breed,
08:28thousands of years old,
08:30and they're very valued here culturally.
08:33In my home country, we have lots of Criollo horses,
08:37which are riding horses, working horses,
08:39and also Polo Ponies.
08:41And they are horses that are adapted to survive in the Pampas
08:46or in Patagonia, on either side of the mountains,
08:49and they're very hardy breeds.
08:51I was born in Argentina, I grew up in Buenos Aires,
08:54but I was lucky enough to travel a lot,
08:56to spend all my holidays at my uncle's farm.
08:59They always had cattle and horses,
09:01and I was able to grow up riding.
09:03I was maybe 14 or 15 years old,
09:06and this horse was just new.
09:07It had just come into the house,
09:08and it cut its leg.
09:12I remember the vet coming in and cleaning, disinfecting the wound,
09:16and putting a bandage on it and giving it antibiotics.
09:19I was helping him out and holding the horse
09:22and then giving him the bandaging material,
09:24and to me it felt profoundly exciting,
09:27you know, helping out a live being.
09:30We share what we know with younger generations
09:33in many different ways.
09:35My children are Latin American,
09:37and so we make a point of going back home as often as we can
09:41to make sure that, first of all,
09:43that they stay in touch with their grandparents,
09:45uncles and cousins,
09:46but we're also always taken home riding.
09:49We just came back from holidays in the mountains,
09:51and they spent, I don't know,
09:53about three weeks riding a horse
09:55morning, afternoon and evening.
09:58My job as a Doctor of Horses is just a blessing for me.
10:03It's what I really enjoy doing.
10:07Another South American contribution to Qatari Society
10:10comes in the form of a future,
10:12modern and contemporary art museum.
10:15In 2016, the Chilean architectural studio Elemental
10:19was awarded with the task of designing the Art Mill Museum,
10:22set to open in 2030.
10:25I spoke to Alejandro Aravena,
10:27the Pritzker Prize-winning architect
10:29and executive director at Elemental,
10:31about the progress so far.
10:34We're not starting from scratch.
10:36We're starting from existing port, the silos.
10:39In industrial architecture,
10:40the structure is the architecture.
10:42The DNA is already there.
10:44In these eight years,
10:46on the one hand,
10:48you keep on adding technical data.
10:51You need to be very rigorous
10:53to make sure that whatever you do
10:57will last physically, culturally.
11:02And at the same time,
11:03you have to evolve
11:05in what are the latest trends
11:08in exhibition spaces,
11:10but also in city design.
11:13Qatar has been in a dynamic
11:17in which shaping the form of public living
11:22or where people will live together.
11:25And we hope we will contribute
11:27with this specific project
11:30that is in a very special location
11:31at the end of the Corniche
11:33to expand that public realm
11:36in which people will be able
11:38to come together in a nice way.
11:43Long after this edition
11:44of the Years of Culture concludes,
11:46through lasting partnerships
11:47and yearly events,
11:49the legacy of the countries
11:50will continue.
11:52That's all the time we have for now.
11:53Thanks for watching Qatar In Motion
11:55and see you next time.
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