Here There and Everywhere

10 Comments »

1. I would guess this is in a different league from your water aerobics class–LOL!

   Comment by momcat | February 1, 2012 | Reply

2. You are SO right!

   Comment by intlxpatr | February 1, 2012 | Reply

3. Intlxpatr :

   Just in case you didnt get the news from Kuwait by emails from your Kuwaiti friend ,

   we had an early election here in kuwait on 2nd of Feb , All female candidates about 23 women , lost including the Four MPs .

   Comment by Daggero | February 4, 2012 | Reply

4. No kidding! I knew there was an election, I didn’t know who was running, I didn’t know who won or lost. Wow. All four sitting female MPs lost. Why is that?

   Comment by intlxpatr | February 4, 2012 | Reply

5. Intlxpatr :

   The story goes that women voters in kuwait who by the wayare the majority( 54 percent women vs 46 percent for men) , did not vote for women candidates or the incumbent female MPs , because of lack of trust in the women running for office

   Comment by daggero | February 6, 2012 | Reply

6. Oh Daggero, that is so sad. We women are too often our own worst enemies. What does the new Parliament look like? Will they be united? Are they moral – uncorrupted?

   Comment by intlxpatr | February 6, 2012 | Reply

7. The new parliament doesn’t look promising ;

   it has a majority of Islamist opposition , two parties , the Muslim brotherhood and salafi (wahabis)
   .No women ,

   Less Shia who were the supporter of the Last government

   .Less the 13 ex MP’s who were on the take ( only good thing)

   Plus two SOB’s who were elected on racist basis .

   I think the new parliament is going to be a rough ride .

   Comment by daggero | February 8, 2012 | Reply

8. Oh Daggero, poor Kuwait. I am so sorry.

   Sounds like ‘rough ride’ just about covers it. I am so sad for a beautiful country. Kuwaiti friends would tell me that there was no “Shia or Sunni?” in the old Kuwait, that everyone worked together and lived together in respect. Women didn’t cover, except for the very old women who wore a beautiful, spider-web fine veil you could see through (I have one, so fine I have to keep it wrapped in a scarf so it won’t tear) but I can’t remember the name of it.

   They tell me most of the recent turmoil came about as a response to the double whammy of the Iranian revolution and the Iraqi invasion, that many became much stricter in religious observance because they felt God had punished Kuwait for immorality.

   A beautiful country, fabulously rich, with smart people . . .

   It’s a good thing to get rid of the officials on the take. Not such a good thing to have two with an agenda of hatred . . .

   When we pray, every Sunday in our church, we pray for leaders in every land, and I pray for Kuwait and Qatar. You may not know that the Anglican church has been in Kuwait over 50 years, and they pray for Kuwait and the leaders of Kuwait every Friday morning and every Sunday night. 🙂

   Comment by intlxpatr | February 8, 2012 | Reply

9. Intlxpatr

   First of all ; thank you for praying for Kuwait leaders every Friday and Sunday and for so long , it is nice to know and appreciated .

   The veil you have is called Boushiyah ( sounds like Bush Yeah , if you are a republican ) بوشيه ,

   There is an old Kuwaiti song that refers to this veil , it talks about a man who asks a woman , his love , to stop and lifts her veil so he may quench his longing for her . it is a slow rhythm song type , called Samree and Kuwaiti women love to dance to it because it is an elegant dance.

   Here is a link to a modern rendition of the song , i think you may notice the suggestive lifting gesture at the beginning of the song

   I don’t think only old Kuwaiti women were wearing traditional abyah and Boushiyah, in the seventies ,yes your friends were right Kuwaiti women were wearing western dresses and clothes.

   But it slowly changed after that because of the government sided with the Islamist in the late sixties to stem the tide of the Arab nationalist ,basically followers of president Nasser of Egypt to the point where the government cofiscated the buildings of the nationalist called Istiqlal club as offcially we are not allowed to form political parties ,and gave the buildings to the Handicap society to this date

   The government gave the reign to the Islamist parties to run the education system in Kuwait and coupled with the Iranian revolution influencae ,the country turned more conservative especially with the increase of the number of tribal people in society .

   So that more than forty years of indoctrination and the government looking the other way got us were we are now .

   Comment by daggero | February 10, 2012 | Reply

10. First, lest you think I am particularly special, it wasn’t just me praying for Kuwait and her leaders, Daggero, it is a part of the liturgy, part of the prayer cycle, where we pray for the nation and the world, and the leaders, but in Kuwait, they name Kuwait especially, and the leaders. So there are many non-Kuwaitis praying for Kuwait twice every week. 🙂

    Bushiyya! Yes! Yes! That is what my friends called it! I bought it in a women’s cooperative, where abandoned women made these gorgeous things to try to help create a living for themselves. It has hand hammered silver pieces every few spaces. It is so fragile, and so special, it is a special treasure.

    You know, when friends explained what had happened in Kuwait, they left out the part about Egypt and Arab Nationalism, and Pan-Arabism. Thanks to you, I understand now, a little better, how it impacted on Kuwait, and the reaction, and how that led us to the situation today.

    God willing, God willing, the newly elected parliamentarians and the rulers will work together in collegial harmony and hammer out a pathway the majority of Kuwaitis can live with, so that the machinery of infrastructure can start humming once again, and those who seek and accept bribes and kickbacks will gnash their teeth impotently.

    Comment by intlxpatr | February 10, 2012 | Reply

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