Harley A New Transportation Mean To Qatar University .

Harley A New Transportation Mean To Qatar University

It’s not surprising to see a young man driving a Harley Davidson motorcycle since many of them consider it as a fun hobby and as a sign of luxury and ostentation. However, it’s surprising and extraordinary  that driving a Harley is the favorite hobby for  a man in his late of fifties and the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Qatar University,  and he prefers  it as a basic transportation mean.

 

Pro.PeterJewesson is a graduate of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University ofBritish Columbia, Canada. He left Canada in September 2006 to start the new Pharmacy Program at the Qatar University in Doha, Qatar. Pro.Jewesson’s journey with the Harley Davidson motorcycles begin in 2002 which is almost ten years ago, when he was a professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada. However, his love for the Harley Davidson started much earlier and did not come from a vacuum as he’s father owned a Harley Davidson in 1945. Thus, he is the second generation in his family to own Harley Davidson.           

Despite the various transportation means in Doha, Professor Jewesson did not get rid of his Harley Davidson when he moved to Doha in 2006, but rather he brought it with him. Among the reasons that drove him to do so as he said “ One of the reasons that I brought my Harley Davidson  to this country is that if I was in this country  and I park my car and I got out of my car and walked in to for example to the Landmark shopping mall nobody will look at me, but if I drive my Harley Davidson to the Landmark mall and I got off of my motorcycle, people would come to the bike and ask me questions like, where are you from ?  Why do you have a Motorcycle? May I have a picture of my son or daughter or myself beside your Motorcycle? So this is a great reason  to bring people together for the purpose of communication and from my perspective to let me learn something about the people that  live in this country.”

Making the Motorcycle as a mean of transportation to go to work is something unusual in Doha specially in Qatar university where all faculty members came by cars. Therefore, there were remarkable reactions from Professor Jewesson’s colleagues and students when he drives his Harley to Qatar University at the first time, where some students came to him and asked if they can have a picture beside the motorcycle and what surprised him is that those students would not otherwise come up to say hello. Besides, his arrival to Doha in December 2006 coincided with the outset of the Asian Games, where he participated with the Amirs’s nephew who also had a Harley Davidson and they rode their motorcycles in the parade beside each other.

Additionally Professor Jewesson is an ex member of the huge club “ The Harley owners group in Qatar”. Furthermore,  he and his wife go every Friday  on a tour around the country (220 km ) on their Harley Davidson motorcycles for 4 years and until now ,which is a great way to meet people in the country side.   

From Professor Jewesson’s own experience , Qatar is one of the most dangerous countries that someone could drive a motorcycle in, because motorcycles are uncommon in the country, so the drivers of the cars and vehicles don’t know how to drive well with motorcycles around them. Thus, anyone who is planning to buy a motorcycle to drive in Qatar  must drive very cautiously, always stay in the right line and be very careful. In addition, he advice all motorcycle fans  to “  Buy a Harley.  Drive it carefully. Make it clean. Don’t be too loud specially in the morning when people are sleeping. Go out and find other people who ride motorcycles and it does not  matter which brand you buy your motorcycle, the most important thing is the way that it brings people together. Take advantage of it by using it to see this country,  to meet new people and drive it safely.”

 Done by: Mouzdalifa said & Fatima Abdulrehman.