Today I took a trip down to Camp Arifjan in southern Kuwait. It was a couple of hour bus ride on a coach with big windows so I was able to take in the the countryside as we rode along.
What was so incredible to me at first was just how much Kuwait is built around oil while maintaining their heritage. Now I knew it was an oil country, but I had not idea just how much. As you travel Kuwait you will see two things: oil industry and Kuwaiti tents.
The desert people of Kuwait live part of the year in tents scattered across the landscape. There you are driving across a vast expanse of desert and smack in the middle of it sits a group of tents. I was notified that these people have homes nearby but to stay connected to their customs and traditions they live in these tents part of the year. Next to the tents is a water trailer, and more often than not a Me
rcedes Benz or a BMW.
As we got south of Kuwait City the presence of the oil industry intensified. I remember as a child as we drove through Ashland, KY there was a large oil refinery there on the banks of the Big Sandy River, but the ones in Kuwait go on for miles. Miles and miles of drilling platforms, refineries, and burn-off towers. The later was much more interesting as I was returning "home" to Ali al-Saleem tonight. The evening sky appeared on fire, with towers of flame lighting the horizon. It seemed that all of Kuwait was on fire. Remarkable.
It is a strange relationship we have with Kuwait. They are a muslim nation with a large population of radical Islamic believers, yet as was proven in 1991, they need the protection of the United States from their neighbors even as they protest our presence in their country.
What was so incredible to me at first was just how much Kuwait is built around oil while maintaining their heritage. Now I knew it was an oil country, but I had not idea just how much. As you travel Kuwait you will see two things: oil industry and Kuwaiti tents.
The desert people of Kuwait live part of the year in tents scattered across the landscape. There you are driving across a vast expanse of desert and smack in the middle of it sits a group of tents. I was notified that these people have homes nearby but to stay connected to their customs and traditions they live in these tents part of the year. Next to the tents is a water trailer, and more often than not a Me
rcedes Benz or a BMW.As we got south of Kuwait City the presence of the oil industry intensified. I remember as a child as we drove through Ashland, KY there was a large oil refinery there on the banks of the Big Sandy River, but the ones in Kuwait go on for miles. Miles and miles of drilling platforms, refineries, and burn-off towers. The later was much more interesting as I was returning "home" to Ali al-Saleem tonight. The evening sky appeared on fire, with towers of flame lighting the horizon. It seemed that all of Kuwait was on fire. Remarkable.
It is a strange relationship we have with Kuwait. They are a muslim nation with a large population of radical Islamic believers, yet as was proven in 1991, they need the protection of the United States from their neighbors even as they protest our presence in their country.
2 comments:
Sir, Please do your homework before you call the people living in those tents Bedoins. It is a Kuwaiti tradition to put up a tent during this time of year and spend a few days each week living out of it. The idea is to reconnect with the rich heritage that the Kuwaiti's have- so that the luxuries you refer to of modern society do not strip them of the memories of thier culture, and the traditions that they hold to as people of the desert. The people in those tents live in homes not more than 5 miles away from the tent site, and all of the tents will be gone by the end of March.
Sorry about the error. I wish we were able to meet with the local population more so we could better learn of their culture.
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