Kuwait: Our History Runs in our Blood (Mohammed Ali Dashti)
Kuwaitis showing new interest in the past; Traditions, culture wiped out by ‘change’
From today’s Arab Times; you can read the entire interview by clicking here
A born artist makes it his life’s mission to chronicle the past of Kuwait using his artistic skills and his academic erudition. His brush strokes have brought to life scenes from a Kuwait straddling a dying hidebound order and a modern state taking birth. His passion drove him beyond the pale of his canvas to physically revive some lost traditions for posterity.
Read on to find out more about Mohammed Ali Dashti’s enchanting four-decade long mission and some of the precious values from the past which we have now lost and which he fears we may never recover.
Q: You are involved in a rather enchanting profession of recreating the past. What is your goal?
A: When oil was discovered in Kuwait, the state underwent a rapid transformation. The change was very sudden and very fast. In a short span of time, Kuwait leapt from an ancient system to a very modern state. This change wiped out many elements from our traditions and culture.
Until sometime ago, the people of Kuwait were disposing of the antiquated paraphernalia from their homes. But now, there is a sudden interest in these items, and now they are buying them back to preserve the past. It is the only way of holding fast to our roots and knowing how our forefathers, not from a distant past, conducted their lives. Kuwaitis are buying doors and furniture used in the old Kuwaiti homes.
We, as an organization, are working to preserve our history for posterity to learn and know. We produce ancient household items like the Mubkhar (incense stand) with which our grandparents used to scent clothes and fan fragrant smoke around the house.
In the old days, we had no airplanes or cars. The only way we were connected with other places in the region was the sea. Kuwait, owing to its geographical advantages, became a center for shipbuilding. Kuwaitis were experts in making dhows for different purposes. Boats were built in a variety of sizes and designs based on their use. There were cargo ships, fishing boats and vessels for pearl diving. The size of boats ranged from a meter to up to 6 meters. This is another aspect of history that we are trying to preserve and we have been recreating many of the original models our ancestors voyaged in.
We showcase our creations at universities, malls, schools and other places. Thus we have been able to generate interest in our past. We take our craftsmen along and explain to the present generation about Kuwait’s history.
Q: What do you think has created this new interest in the past among Kuwaitis? Can this be read as a reemergence of old traditional values?
A: Our history actually runs in our blood. It is very difficult to detach ourselves from our cultural roots. And so whenever any nation travels too far away from its true origins, at some point of time, it stops and tends to recall the past. History is what gives our existence contextual relevance. And we often try to find it by clawing back into our past, by remembering the way we came through.
Q: You said you make old-model boats. Aren’t you specialized in Warjiyas, the simplistic fishing boats from the past? Which is the biggest boat you have ever built?
A: The biggest boat I have ever built so far is 6 meters long. I make Warjiyas because it is most symbolic of our old fishing traditions. These boats were very famous among the people on Failaka Island. They used it for fishing and it is very easy to construct.
The specialties of Warjiya are: it is wholly made of palm tree to the last detail. The body is built with spines of palm leaf, which are trussed using ropes made our of palm fiber. It is very light and so easy to carry.
Warjiyas sort of became extinct about 60 years ago with the advent of oil and the independence of the state’s economy from fishing and pearl diving. We can’t return to those ancient livelihoods, and so we are now planning to start an annual Warjiya race to keep the tradition alive. The first race will be held in September this year.
Q: Do you have any plans of reviving even the tradition of fishing along with these boats?
A: No, as I said, we can’t actually go backwards to keep our original traditions alive. So, these things can only happen in a token manner. The aim is to keep the future generations aware about how their grandfathers and people before them lived. We don’t have to make our children live a similar life to make them appreciate the ancient way of life.
Q: All over the world there is great demand for antique items. Is what we are seeing in Kuwait a similar trend — a fascination for antique pieces — or is it more than that?
A: No. It is not just a fad in Kuwait. The people really care for the past and there are efforts at all levels to preserve relics from the past or have their duplicated versions. These efforts have been sincerely undertaken by Kuwait National Museum and other private museums in the country, and between them they share a vast treasure of valuable relics and information about Kuwait’s past.
The government is also giving due encouragement to all of us to help us in our endeavors. The ministry of information is doing everything within its means to promote our traditional and cultural heritage in other Gulf countries and beyond.
No Darkness at all . . .
It was wonderful waking up this morning – no alarm, just waking when I was ready. No wonder, I was falling asleep over my book by 9 last night, and around 9:30 I just gave up – sometimes sleep is just too inviting. I slept wonderfully, it feels so good to sleep well and soundly and wake up because you are ready to wake up.
When I pulled open the curtains, I gasped with delight! A glorious sunrise, a sunrise with sparkles and shadows and glints and rays. There is a fresh morning breeze, it is a little cooler today and the air is sweet and cool. The morning readings I do contain a line from 1 John: “In Him there is no darkness at all . . ” a line I love, and a line that I thought of immediately when I saw this amazing sunrise:
Now, over an hour later, the sky is full of heavier clouds, still sunny, but the glorious moment has passed, and I thank God for the small mercy of allowing me to see this beautiful new dawn and to capture it to share with you.
Have a great Monday, Kuwait! 🙂
Better Late than . . .
This morning’s sunrise, around 5:30 or so, dim and grey but sharp. Not much has changed. The sky is white with haze; you can’t see any blue, but there are also no clouds, it is all opaquely white.
I’m having a busy, and disconnected day. Lots going on. Sorry to shortchange YOU, but it is what it is.
Filtered Dawn
It’s not that haze we have been having that magnifies the radiance of the sun into a huge, pulsating ball hanging over the Gulf; today is a much more muted dawn, filtering through the grey layer of haze lying far out on the horizon. There is no surf, but minute wave action, visible but not elevated . . . it is a Saturday morning sunrise, no drama, respecting those who get to sleep in . . .
For those Kuwait students who check in, missing Kuwait, it is the time of year when people are picnicking in the local parks, dining outside at the Marina and Kout malls, and enjoying the pleasant warm nights while they can, before all is breathlessly hot.
At six o’clock this morning, it is lovely:
And this is what the week is going to look like:
Have a great day, Kuwait.
“Kuwait Will Work it Out”
Some ambassadors, in my humble opinion, are just weenies. They go to all the dinners, they shake hands with important people, they mouth polite phrases and the party line, and some barely connect with the country where they are assigned. No one can accuse the current American ambassador to Kuwait, Deborah Jones, of being a weenie. This woman is a lion. And you get the feeling she loves what she is doing, and that she is truly connected with issues and activities in Kuwait.
”Kuwait will work it out”, stresses U.S. ambassador
Dina AlـMallak
Al Watan; you can read the entire article by clicking on the blue type, here.
KUWAIT: “Kuwaiti people are wellـeducated and know themselves well enough …. They don”t need someone coming from outside to fix their machine. We look forward to the lively debate that is to come,” said U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait Deborah Jones on Wednesday.
In a roundtable open discussion with a group of journalists from the Kuwaiti media, U.S. Ambassador Jones underscored the U.S. relations and aims locally and in the region. She also discussed such topics as the local elections, President Barrack Obama”s goals, and the Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Excerpts:
How does the U.S. administration view the recent political developments in Kuwait?
Jones: Obviously Kuwait is a sovereign country; we take that word, “sovereign,” very seriously. Kuwait is not one of the 50 states. On the other hand, I don”t think that it is a big secret in the world that the United States is a big believer in democracy ـ representative democracy ـ and participatory governance.
The best way to ensure peaceful transition and growth, as countries grow, because governments are organic and we think that democracy ـ representative democracy ـ is what helps countries to grow and develop, and avoid violent transitional episodes.
We have always supported Kuwait”s democratic traditions, which we believe are deeply embedded in your diwaniya tradition and others, such as participatory governance. We describe the process here as being vibrant and a little bit complicated. We support that, given the alternatives. Politics is about building capacity and ensuring that there is growth and access to resources.
When political gridlock leads to stagnation, no one benefits of course. So, democracy is about a couple of things ـ it”s about representative government. It”s also about respectful rule of law and respect for institutions.
We feel pretty confident that Kuwaitis are going to work (it) out. There is a lively debate and you all have an important role to play as a free press, in responsibly reporting on what you hear, and contributing to that democratic dialogue, which is often noisy. I was going to use the word cacophony, which means a clash of sounds. We are used to this in the United States; we are used to having a lot of noise that comes when the various branches of government interact.
You can read the entire article HERE
Rape in Kuwait – the flip side
By now you know a lot about who I am – what I laugh at, what I treasure, and what makes me break out in a storm of fury. Rape is one of those issues; the sheer entitlement that goes with stripping another human of choice and violating flesh as if the victim were nothing more than a piece of meat, it energizes me to a white rage, whether the victim is man, woman or child.
And then . . . and then . . . there are very strange cases of reported rapes in Kuwait that I have a hard time imagining exactly what happened here. I am not being flip, in a flippant sense; I am perplexed. We sometimes get so little of the story, and once you have a key piece of information – which we often never have – things make sense.
This is from today’s Kuwait Times:
Minor Raped
Police said a minor girl told Salhiya police that while she was sitting on the beach, a young man approached her and told her that he belonged to a well-known family. He then took her to an apartment in Sharq where he raped her before returning her to the same area. Later, another man approached her and took her to another apartment and raped her as well. She provided police with their mobile phone numbers. The case is under investigation.
Does this not sound peculiar to you? For one thing, is she sitting alone on the beach? Does she know these men? She goes with them – alone? By choice? Twice, with two different men? They give her their phone numbers?? To me, there is a lot of information missing in this report. It sounds like a very strange case of rape. I almost wonder if the minor has a mental incapacity, but it doesn’t say that.
Man, Woman arrested
A police patrol traveling in Sulaibiya recently suspected a young man and woman as they were driving. (Note to self: remind Kuwait Times that you do not use “Police suspected. . ” without specifying which behavior they found suspicious) Police asked to see their civil IDs and discovered that the young woman had run away from home one month ago. During interrogation, she confessed that the man and his three friends had raped her several times in a flat. The case is under investigation.
The following one is not about rape (nor am I sure the above cases are about rape) but is a case that makes you go “hmm. . .. what??”
Runaway Woman
A Filipina woman recently told Sulaibikhat police that she abandoned her sponsor’s home in Bneid Al-Gar before going to her Pakistani friend’s flat in Doha. Two months later, the woman became pregnant. She then reported the matter to the police.
She went to the police and said “I am a runaway, and I am pregnant” knowing she will be charged with absconding AND with immorality, maybe adultery? Knowing she will go to jail? What, exactly, is she hoping to gain? What is she reporting?
The crime news is full of mysterious glimpses, and we rarely know the rest of the story.
Expecting Too Much?
The newspapers in Kuwait have gotten better. Really. They are using fewer hackneyed cliches, their spelling is better, their use of photos is getting better – mostly the captions match the photo.
This, however, is inexcusable.
A headline featuring the Emir of Kuwait – a big story.
Sew, my newspaper friends, is what you do with a needle.
Sow is what you do with seeds, or grains, as in “as you sow, so shall you reap.”
Oh, Arab Times, the shame!
AMIR WARNS IN RUN-UP TO POLL CAMPAIGN; ‘Prosecute bids to sew disunity’
KUWAIT CITY, April 12, (KUNA): His High-ness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Sunday called on the relevant national authorities to take legal action against persons or establishments that target national unity in the run-up to the electoral campaigns. The Amir made the call during an extraordinary session of the Cabinet that he chaired. The meeting was attended by HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. Following the session, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Faisal Mohammad Al-Hajji Bou-Khaddour stated that HH the Amir, during the meeting, expressed his dismay and regret at those who are fomenting discords and hateful factional disputes, as part of their campaigns for the upcoming elections for the ninth legislative term of the National Assembly.
Prison Security Inspectors Attacked by Somali Women
I don’t know why this makes me laugh, but it does. Like if you are visiting a prison, don’t you just take it for granted that your bags, your person may be inspected? Why would you object – unless you are trying to smuggle something in to the person you are visiting? And can’t you figure out that if you ATTACK a security person, you are likely to get arrested? I don’t know why, I guess that life throws you curves and this is a situation that jumped from zero to 100 on the intensity scale in a very short time. You have to wonder – well, I have to wonder – what the participants were thinking?
Staff Writer
Al Watan
Kuwait: Security authorities in the Central Prison arrested two Somali women after they assaulted four female Kuwaiti inspectors and refused to submit to search while they were passing through Gate B in the prison.
The incident started when one of the female inspectors asked the two Somali women to submit to search procedures. However, the two women refused and attacked the inspector. Although the other female inspectors tried to save their colleague, they were also assaulted by the two Somali women. The prison authorities interfered and arrested the two women. The injured inspectors were taken to hospital to receive medical services, in addition to issuing a medical report that described their injuries.
Schools Start Date 23 September 2009 in Kuwait
School year to begin on Sept. 23
Staff Writer
Al Watan
KUWAIT: The Council of Undersecretaries at the Ministry of Education has officially announced the next academic year’s schedule. Intermediate and secondary stage students are scheduled to resume their classes on Sept. 23, while kindergarten and primaryـone schoolchildren are expected to return to school on Sept. 27, while children in the other primary stages are due to resume later; on Sept. 29. In another development, the council has also decided to cancel retests for students of all stages and announced that the new intermediate evaluation system will be introduced from the next academic year.
I am guessing that this is after Ramadan, and after the Eid al Adha?
Last updated on Monday 13/4/2009
Monday, 13 April 2009 Sunrise
Good morning, Kuwait.
Forecast for today – hot – and humid. Aarrgh.
In Florida, this is the weather that makes the flea eggs start hatching. When it hits over 30°C or 85°F, to me, that is hot. I always hate it when I have to close up the windows and have the A/C on 24/7, but I also hate sweating . . .
Early mornings are nice . . .
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