21.5.04
Kia ora from Kuwait
Finally, I have got around to something I should have done a long time ago - a means to keep family and friends all around the world informed on what we're up to, and give them and others some of the daily fun and hassles of living in Kuwait. (And to tell it like it is).
Kuwait has got to be one of the weirdest places in the world. This is a country (or in effect one city) of 2.5 million where the rich/poor divide could not be more pronounced, and where the oil-induced riches have been able to pretty much corrupt a people in the space of a few decades. I know this is a gross generalization, and I know Kuwaitis that are educated and have lived in other parts of the world and see Kuwait for what it is - a pretty screwed up country - and wonder what can be done to change things for the better. Mostly though, educated Kuwaiti's resign themselves to the fate of their country, and using their material wealth, manage to escape for several months of the year to more pleasant places.
The institutionalised religion in these parts gives an outward appearance of piety, but there is an internal moral corruptness and the absolution of responsibility for external circumstances. (You could probably say the same thing about those from the West though). As my Muslim Palestinian colleague says to me in a taxi the other day after a rant about how screwed up Kuwait is (he has only recently come back, having lived here in its heyday, the 1980's, pre-Iraq invasion ... "You know, Kuwait and Saudi have the highest concentration of mosques per capita." I don't think he got the connection that I immediately made in my mind. Unfortunately, Kuwait and Saudi are not very good advertisements for Islam.
Kuwait has got to be one of the weirdest places in the world. This is a country (or in effect one city) of 2.5 million where the rich/poor divide could not be more pronounced, and where the oil-induced riches have been able to pretty much corrupt a people in the space of a few decades. I know this is a gross generalization, and I know Kuwaitis that are educated and have lived in other parts of the world and see Kuwait for what it is - a pretty screwed up country - and wonder what can be done to change things for the better. Mostly though, educated Kuwaiti's resign themselves to the fate of their country, and using their material wealth, manage to escape for several months of the year to more pleasant places.
The institutionalised religion in these parts gives an outward appearance of piety, but there is an internal moral corruptness and the absolution of responsibility for external circumstances. (You could probably say the same thing about those from the West though). As my Muslim Palestinian colleague says to me in a taxi the other day after a rant about how screwed up Kuwait is (he has only recently come back, having lived here in its heyday, the 1980's, pre-Iraq invasion ... "You know, Kuwait and Saudi have the highest concentration of mosques per capita." I don't think he got the connection that I immediately made in my mind. Unfortunately, Kuwait and Saudi are not very good advertisements for Islam.
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