Should I go? The UK and Qatar are equally safe and secure places. Ultimately, it is each student’s choice. This dilemma has brought to my mind the work of the eminent French psychologist and sociologist, Gustave Le Bon. He wrote about how the behavior of an individual changes when he or she is part of a group. 2 It seems that many students are just not able to decide what to do and want to base their decisions on those of the majority. To help solve this problem, I create a small questionnaire to use when they call me. Are you afraid? What does the university say? Where would you feel most comfortable being in case you caught the virus? If the airports were to close in the UK or Qatar, where would you prefer to be? We are trying to help them think about all of the possible scenarios so their decisions are well thought out and based on their rational thought and emotional reasoning. I lose count of the endless daily phone calls. Hundreds per day. Myself and my colleagues receive them with pleasure and with a deep desire and willingness to help our countrymen and women. The Qatari community is small and we are all we have on this side of the world. We start to identify those with underlying health issues. I make the suggestion that we are of course fortunate the UK has one of the world’s best healthcare systems yet people in this category might wish to consider returning to Doha as the population there is smaller: God forbid, should they need care, the number of dedicated hospitals would be under less strain and could potentially better meet their needs. Some students heed this advice, some do not. Ten percent of our students decide to stay in the UK. I call each one of them individually to assure them that they are not alone. We have group calls and
2 Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind , Dover Publications, 2003
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