They have names: Qatar’s foreign construction workers, seen queuing for a bus in Doha in this file photo, have stories that are no different from other blue-collar workers anywhere in the world.

Qatar is a nation on the cusp of change, and some native Qataris are keen to see that the foreign labour class does not go unnoticed in all this.

AFTER her daughter began school, a bored Hend Fakhroo was having coffee at Starbucks.

Looking out into the parking lot, she saw two Indian men washing cars, enthusiastically greeting everyone who passed them.

Sadly, she noted, not many people bothered to respond. She observes, “It really struck me how invisible the foreign workers were to some people.”

She then thought about a man she had known for seven years, if not longer. It was natural for her to greet him or occasionally give him some money.

“I thought of him as my friend, as I cared for him, but I realised I didn’t know his name,” she explains.

This relationship with a foreign worker who swept her neighbourhood streets bothered her because, “After all these years, why don’t I know anything about him even though I see him more than so many other people in my life?”

Thus the premise for her first film, His Name, was born. This four-minute short film will premiere at the fourth Doha Tribeca Film Festival scheduled for Nov 17-24. In her film – one of 19 accepted from among 70 made-in-Qatar entrants – she explores a hitherto unaddressed, class-division aspect of Qatari society.

“There are three classes of people here: locals, expatriates, and the labour class that no one talks to,” sums up a Malaysian quantity surveyor who has just moved to Doha after six years in Dubai.

He adds: “When you take the trouble to talk to the blue collar workers here, their stories are no different from those anywhere else.”

Preferring to remain anonymous, he says that even if a sense of isolation exists among the three classes, it is the native Qataris who would feel it more acutely. “Their country has grown too fast – from having no drinking water in the 60s to all that money.”

For numerous foreigners like himself, however, their lives have certainly become more enriched, and not only financially.

With fewer than 300,000 native Qataris in a population of 1.7 million, this tiny Gulf state hosts almost 150 nationalities. Earlier this year, Forbes ranked Qatar as the world’s richest country per capita, fortified by its proven reserves of oil and natural gas. Formerly a British protectorate, Qatar became independent in 1971 and has developed from a pearl-diving and fishing village into a visionary, ambitious and progressive state.

When Madhu, a driver, first arrived in Doha 30 years ago, there were no skyscrapers, no 4x4 Land Cruisers and not much visible wealth.

The Keralan native kept his head down and worked hard, all his efforts focussed on supporting his family back home.

He is not bothered about being isolated or by the fact that his life only revolves around his peers. “Everybody is here for only one thing - money.”

However for Anna G, an Italian with a PhD in Architectural History, it is not the money that makes the city attractive.

“It is so full of potential, unlike Florence, and I am so excited about working here,” she enthuses.

In Doha, she finds her ideas flowing freely and being accepted in the tidal wave of forward-thinking development, without being constrained by past works, as in Italy.

Doha’s rapid construction is not just limited to infrastructure. Despite the transient nature of many of the city’s relationships, residents like Anna welcome the independence and the new lease of life to build their own families.

“Living here is an opportunity to re-invent my career and my own family, away from my extended Italian family,” she laughs. “As everyone else around us passes through our lives, my husband and son keep it real and grounded for me.”

Doha may have been built from scratch, from arid ground, but right now, life is blooming in this desert – and the future looks just as promising. Artists’ impressions of the 2022 Fifa World Cup football stadia are beguiling, combining Qatar’s traditional dhow fishing boats and Arabian tents with imaginative, futuristic facilities.

Earlier this year, Qatar’s royal family bought the world’s most expensive artwork, Cezanne’s The Card Players, for more than USD$250mil (RM766mil). This acquisition was carried out by Qatar Museum Authority, headed by one of the royal family’s daughters, leading the charge to revitalise the country’s cultural institutions.

Qatar is clearly on the cusp of change. Not only do oil and gas businesses thrive here, but education, the arts and culture are also progressing very well.

And citizens like Hend, globally educated and well-travelled, are beginning to play their role with a gentle, subtle nudge. Although Hend, who is expecting her second child, lives in Bahrain with her husband, the ambassador’s daughter of mixed Qatari and Egyptian parentage reveals that surprisingly many of her school friends have now returned to live and work in Qatar.

Her film, a sensitive piece shot mainly in black and white to signify ignorance, questions her society’s divisive, clannish culture. In the traditional Qatari way of life, she grew up among family and friends who never spoke to their help. But her mother didn’t raise Hend that way, and she wants to do the same with her own children.

If only one person, after viewing her film, goes on to wave at someone who cleans their streets, she’ll consider her film a success. “That’s all I want to do, to make a difference.”

This could just be the new wave.

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