Blue Abaya Interviews

Blue Abaya is on summer vacation in Finland and will be M.I.A for a bit. In the meanwhile here are some interviews I recently did for anyone interested in reading them.

An interview I did a while ago that was featured on Jeddah Blog was done by Naima Rashid called "A Bonny Blithe Blue" check it out here: http://jeddahblog.livejournal.com/73868.html

Here's an excerpt from the interview: The blue of 'Blue Abbaya' is a shade apart, merging a spirit of deep inner freedom and an infectiously positive attitude. Jeddah Blog chats with Laylah of Blue Abbaya, investigating the meaning of her blue, and generally, a lot of this and that.

I loved how Naima Rashid described my blog and she really has a way with words, she's an excellent writer and her questions were very interesting too!

"The blue abbaya is both a symbol and an attitude for Laylah’s blog. It’s a posture of being respectful to local traditions while setting oneself apart from the crowd through personal taste."

"Reading her blog, one traverses two regions equally mysterious to many – Finland and Saudi Arabia, and her blog pierces the mystery of both lands to offer us a window into both cultures through the eyes of somebody who embodies them both to some extent."

"Scandinavian ice and deserts of Arabia are physical reliefs, but like all environment, they become landscapes of the mind at some point. In ‘Blue Abbaya’, blue is the colour of the Finnish sky, and the abbaya is a cultural norm of Saudi Arabia. In its name and its nature, the blog is defined by the richly opposed but co-existing worlds that the author is part of, and the best and worst of which peppers her real and virtual space."

Here is my interview by Anna Sierant on the Polish women's magazine OnaOnaOna (SheSheShe in polish):
http://www.onaonaona.com/styl-zycia/kto-kryje-sie-za-zaslona-czyli-kobieta-w-arabii-saudyjskiej/

Since the interview is in Polish here is the original interview:

            How did it happen that you came to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? 

After I graduated I knew I wanted to go work abroad and Saudi-Arabia always fascinated me as a country plus I heard of all the benefits western employees receive there so it was not hard to make the decision.

 Can you describe an ordinary day of Saudi woman?

Actually, I can't! Mainly because it's like asking, what is the ordinary day of a Polish or Finnish woman like? It all depends on the person. Saudi women are just like us, some work, others are stay at home mothers. They have very similar lives to us. The main differences are they can't drive so they must arrange transport by taxis, relatives or their own drivers. Saudi women spend much more time with their close family (meaning their parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles) than we western women do. They see these relatives weekly! Another difference is many of them have maids so this enables them to have more time to spend with family and friends.

Do Saudi woman think that they are treated worse than men are? For example, do they want to have the possibility to driver a car, to work without a mahram’s permission? Or it depends of womans’ education, origin? 

Again this depends on the woman. Some are very actively trying to change these things and have equal rights as citizens. One such amazing woman is Manal Al-Sherif who is not only campaigning for women to be allowed to drive, but for women to have the same rights as men because religion gave  them that right hundreds of years ago but only recently have humans taken it away from them.

On the other hand there are women who are genuinely happy with the way things are now, they see it as a privilege to be "taken care of and protected" by the men of their society.

I’ve read that a Saudi woman must have mahram’s permission if she wants to work, study, go abroad? Is it true, how does it look? Must he sign some papers?

Yes the mahram, also called a guardian is the one who ultimately gives legal permission for a woman to work, travel, admit to hospital, study and marry. This comes from culture, not religion. Yes he has to sign some papers of approval.

What shocked you the most in male-female relations in Saudi Arabia? Are Arabian marriages always dominated by a man, the head of the family?

I guess initially what shocked me was how men would not talk to me directly or not look me into the eyes. My culture tells me to react to this by taking it as an offense and a disrespectful act. But when I learned about Islam I understood that in fact those men were being very respectful toward me by lowering their gazes because Islam advises men to do that when talking to women so that she does not become embarrassed or feel awkward. For a person that's not used to that sort of thing of course it does have an effect and I still sometimes miss the "normal" straight forward western interaction between men and women. I've noticed some Saudi men that have studied abroad do change their behavior to suit what the western person is used to though. I would say many Saudi families are actually dominated by the women, behind the scenes J

What would you change if you could to make women’s life in Saudi Arabia easier?

I would abolish the mahrem system as it is because I see it as the number one cause of difficulty and harm to women in this country. Most women are not lucky to have an understanding, flexible and fair guardian, who agrees to everything she wants. Even adult women need a guardian, she may have given birth to her guardian! Women are not children, but fully capable human beings, just like their male counterparts.

And naturally, allow women to drive!

In the opinion of the West KSA is like a prison for women. Isn’t it a stereotype? Could you point out the benefits of being a woman in Saudi Arabia? Something that they can do, have, something that a typical American, European woman could envy them?

I don't know about the envying other women that's not healthy I think J But what I can say is Saudi women have lots of spare time because the domestic help is cheap and easy to find here. So they have maybe more free time at their hands. Also they have very close family relations and in general never have to worry about financial or most other practical issues, the men take care of everything. Those are things that money cannot buy.

For me as expat woman I feel lucky to be able to travel and explore the region and the world so much. Working here has many benefits and it enables easy travel throughout the year.

What do you find the hardest thing of being a woman in the Kingdom?

Not being able to drive because it limits my movement so much and I hate being so dependent on my husband and having to nag him to drive me somewhere. Luckily we now live in an area (Diplomatic Quarters) where I can walk to the store, parks, spa, gym and restaurants and so on so it has eased my life tremendously.

What is like to come to Arabia and see the ocean of women dressed in black abayas (do you really wear a blue abaya? I've read on Polish Umm Latifa's blog that it was forbidden or "not right")  How the Saudis react when they see a woman in non-covered face? Do some Saudi women show their faces or it happens very rarely?

When I first arrived I must admit that it was a little bit shocking. But you get used to it and start seeing the little differences and details and everything starts looking more colorful instead of just black and white.

I have two blue abayas, mostly I wear them to special occasions because I like to save them and not have it ruined because it's so beautiful! I never had any issues with it and on occasions have seen colored abayas in Riyadh but they are much more common in the more relaxed Jeddah or Khobar.

In Riyadh most women wear niqab (face veil) but there are much more women nowadays who wear head scarf only than when I first came.

Again Jeddah and the Eastern province cities have much more uncovered faces and sometimes Saudi women there don't even cover their hair.

Did KSA surprised you positively of negatively? What were you most scared of before you’ve came to Arabia?

I would say definitely positively! The people have been so welcoming and nice and there's been amazing places to discover and explore that I never even dreamed of. I didn't think the desert could be so interesting.

I was most scared of wearing the abaya correctly and not exposing my skin too much and not offending anyone by doing something wrong in public and also being able to communicate with patients. Now that I think of it that abaya part sounds really silly!

Most of non-Arabic people consider Saudi women as passive persons, without any rights, that they can’t fight for these rights. Isn’t it just another stereotype?

I think it is. There are so many active women out there but we just don't hear about them! Why? Because what the western media likes to tell us (and what sells stories) is about abused, oppressed, veiled, helpless Saudi women. So of course that's the image most people will have.

Is the situation of women in Saudi Arabia changing for better? Or is it still worse and worse? What about the mahram system – does the society want to abolish it? Do they think „my mahram knows better what’s good for me” or, like Rajaa Alsanea, the author of „Girls of Riyadh” they say: „we must change some cases”. 

It's much better but change happens slowly. The King is very supportive of women's rights and he recently granted them the right to vote and participate in Shoura Council. He has done numerous other changes you might not have heard of as well. They might sound like small things, such as allowing women to work as cashiers in grocery stores and lingerie shops, but it does have a huge impact on Saudi society as a whole. Women are becoming more visible and a part of the public life, which will eventually give them more and more rights.

What people think of mahram system varies a lot, some people are against mahram system, some think it should be changed a little, others think it's fine as it is (mainly religious hardliners).

How do young people meet in Arabia? By parents, the Internet? Or by giving an unknown woman the phone number in the malls?

If you mean how do young people meet the opposite sex, then I would say online, at malls and through friends, and yes in the most desperate rare cases, by randomly giving out phone numbers!

            What do you miss the most in Saudi Arabia? Do you miss your homeland?

             Of course I miss my homeland a lot, especially my family. Funny thing is I actually see them more often and more at a time since I moved here. They've visited us here in KSA many times and like it. I miss the sea, fresh air, that things are so organized and the food the most from Finland!

I will leave you with this image I captured last night around midnight, this is the enchanting midsummer night light!

Muttawa And Learning Disabilities

After my last post on the Saudi religious police aka muttawa, a friend of mine suggested I make a poll to see what people really thought them. Many it seems are afraid to express their disapproving thoughts on the moral cops publicly, even anonymously on blogs. Judging by the comments to the posts, I often get the impression that most people are very supportive of the concept of Hai'a in Saudi-Arabia and wish they will continue terrorizing advising people.

That's why I was very surprised to see the result of the poll I kept running for a few days on the blog. Here are the results:

Do you think the Saudi religious police should:
Continue operating as they are now: 11 votes (7%)
Continue but with complete reform:  36 votes (25%)
Be abolished altogether: 84 (58%)
Be granted more power and authority: 12 votes (8%)

Over half says good riddens to the muttawa. I was expecting the second option of complete reform to have the most votes and only a few to say they saw no need for the religious police whatsoever. Of course this is a poll everyone around the world can answer. If asked from Saudis only I bet the result would be different. But still interesting to see. Most hilarious I thought was how many said Hai'a should be granted more power, I mean seriously? Someone must have clicked on that just as a joke, right?

More on Hai'a matters, the new boss Al-Sheikh commented on the "nail polish girl" incident which happened a few weeks ago in Hayat Mall. Again, we can see from the comments to my post and all other forums how the public opinion was mostly condemning this woman. Surprisingly and sadly, many of those negative judgmental comments were coming in from women, fellow Muslims calling her the worst of names.

In the past when there's been incidents in the news (and there has been MANY) of Hai'a officers harassing women, the official response has been either completely lacking or then supportive of the officers. This time around was different though, and you can read what Al Sheikh had to say in full here: http://arabnews.com/haia-chief-asks-staff-be-lenient. 
"The way the commission member behaved was not right, even if the girl had gone too far. He should have offered her advice and left instead of arguing with her and causing the situation to escalate.”
I wonder what all those evil tongues have to say now? Al Sheikh is clearly condemning the actions of his field officer. This was not the first time he said the muttawa should be lenient toward citizens and "kindly remind or give advice, then leave". He was even moved to tears when talking about the issue.

This might be a good indication that change would really be around the corner for the religious cops. Ahmed at Saudi Jeans had this to say about it: http://saudijeans.org/2012/06/14/commission-makeover/

Despite their leader's appeals and demands for a more lenient, friendly approach, it seems the field officers are either not listening, not registering or blatantly disobeying the orders.
I wrote about how one of my friends had an incident at the Riyadh IKEA with two Hai'a officers, ending in a shopping cart tug-of-war between her and one of the muttawa. Just after I wrote that post I saw this very same lady two times. On both occasions we went out for some shopping and she was again harassed.
For this woman and many others this is an almost every-time occurrence when they go out shopping, to be attacked by vicious muttawa.

The first incident happened at Diira souq in the old area of Riyadh, close by to the infamous chop-chop square. My friends were walking ahead of me pushing the stroller and a muttawa approached them aggressively, loudly shouting "cover your head, you are in Saudi-Arabia", as if they had not noticed that little detail. He did not just say it once, but three times and aggressively, without an ounce of kindness or leniency in his tone of voice. The officer pointed his finger at them and I snapped an epic pic of this very moment.

This Hai'a guy was in a hurry to go check that all the shops were closed for prayer and moved along.
A few days after that we were in Riyadh Gallery and spotted a pair of muttawa patrolling the mall. My friend and I separated from each other for a while and when I called her, she had been forced to leave the mall because those very same religious men had actually harassed her so bad she was compelled to leave.

Later I saw them at H&M checking that the newly appointed female cashiers were not working anymore. Funny how religious police are demanding something which is now mandated by law to end, that female sales personnel need to be present where women's lingerie, make-up etc is being sold. Just because the muttawa officers have come to the conclusion women shouldn't be working there (or anywhere in public), they think they have the right to actually go AGAINST the law and ban the women from working.

At another H&M in Granada mall I was glad to see the Saudi women and men working side by side in harmony, at least on that day. And guess what? The world didn't come to an end. In fact, it continued like it normally does all over the world where women work in such positions. Here's a quick snapshot of this historical moment:

So is there really a need for a commission whose members seem to enforce the law quite randomly, according to how they've interpreted religion in their own minds, not necessarily by what's been mandated or requested by their leader? Why is there seemingly no change to the rude behavior of the field officers despite the pleads from their chief? 
Some food for thought from Saudi Jeans article: "the Commission employs 4389 men, 60% of these employees do not have a college degree, and half of those did not even finish high school. It's safe to assume that most of them are field officers, the ones you see in malls and patrolling the streets"

In other words, every third muttawa out there has not even finished high school. How on earth are these people allowed to make citizen arrests based on erm..what qualifications or education actually? Will they ever learn from their mistakes?

The only hope I see is that Al-Sheikh is serious about reforming the CPVPV, but how is he going to achieve any kind of change in his ranks when the field officers seem to stubbornly ignore him? Seems very complicated, if not almost impossible. As the saying goes, if you give a dog a bone, it's very hard to get it back without being bitten.

How I Met My Saudi Prince

Exactly four years ago my shift at the Saudi hospital had started out like any other night. The allocated patients kept me busy and life seemed to be rolling on as usual. Little did I know that night would change my life for good.

I was thankful to have my friend "Katherine" working on the same shift, it was always a relief having another westerner and English speaking person to talk to during the night shift. We had again agreed to exchange our patients over to each other to enable a break in the middle of the shift.

The moment that would change my life happened very randomly. I was looking for Katherine to ask her which coffee she wanted from Starbuck's. It was my turn to fetch that night's caffeine dose and I was on my way down to the coffee shop. I saw her nurse presence light on in one room and decided to pop my head in quickly.

As I peaked in, Katherine was chatting inside with the patient and his relative. The Euro Cup football match was playing loudly on TV. She excitedly motioned me to enter the room further so curiously I did, at the same time asking what her Starbucks order was going to be.

As I glanced at the patient sitting there on his bed, something strange happened. As if time had stopped, like a missing piece had fallen into its place. A handsome young man looked back at me, equally baffled by the moment. For just a few seconds our eyes met and then both of us shyly looked away. I greeted the men with salaams and smiled. They replied back politely, not even looking at me for long but eyeing the floor or the TV. I had learned by now this was a sign of respect, not disrespect as my own culture would tell me. They did not want to make me feel awkward.

I felt a rush of blood going to my head, I was blushing now. Oh how I hated when that happened! I wanted to leave, but then I felt a certain curiosity of this man who I thought was probably one of the most handsome men I had ever laid eyes on. He had a certain sparkle in his eyes that intrigued me and his smile seemed to light up the room. I didn't want to leave anymore.

I lingered for a moment, asking about the game on TV. The truth is I knew nothing about football, the only thing I cared about was the Italian football team, for other reasons than their skills. He made a joke about the Italians and we all laughed. I told him I was rooting for Italy and more jokes were thrown around. Secretly I was thinking to myself how the patient actually reminded me of an Italian football player with his long black hair brushed up in a ponytail and his smiling dark chocolate eyes.

When I couldn't think of any more excuses to stay in the room I left to fetch the coffee. I kept thinking about the patient and wanted to ask Katherine about him. I felt drawn to go talk to him more. Later that night my chance came when Katherine and I swapped patients for her break.

Katherine had informed her patients she was leaving for an hour and meanwhile nurse "Layla from Finland" would be taking over. As she was leaving she teased me, "he will call you for sure, something tells me he wants to see you again. When you walked into the room it was like something made a "click" sound! I swear I could hear it!"

About five minutes after she left, the call bell rang. Room 42. It's him! I was nervous to enter and felt my heart racing. The young man asked if he could get a pain killer. Sure, I said and left to check his files. When I returned he thanked me for the medicine and shyly asked a few questions about me.

I was amazed how it felt so easy to talk to him, his English was perfect and I forgot he was even Saudi. It was as if we already knew each other somehow. It became apparent that we had actually lived in the same area in the U.S as kids. What a coincidence! We talked about Finland and at some point I mentioned how we have so many moose there but I couldn't remember how to say the plural. What was it, perhaps mooses? He laughed and told me it must be meese! To this day I remember that silly joke and how it made us both laugh so hard.  His smile filled my heart with joy.

Thinking back to that day and where I was in my life I realize how fortunate I was meeting this remarkable man. From that night shift, it has been a long, sometimes extremely hard but rewarding journey to where we are now. We have had to overcome so many obstacles on the way. No one believed in us in the beginning, except us.

Never in a million years did I think something like this would happen to me when I landed on Saudi soil. When I left Finland for Saudi people used to taunt me, you will find a Saudi Prince there, fall in love and stay forever! I told them, in your dreams only! I guess sometimes fairy tales do come true.

The Royal Morgue

People often ask me how is it to work with the members of the Saudi royal family, what are the Princes and Princesses like? To put it short, they are just like any of us, but with some financial and social benefits :)
I wanted to share this interesting incident that once happened to me at work.
The Saudi royal family is huge, estimated to consist of around 15,000-20,000 members. The royals have their own specific services in some of the Saudi hospitals, read more about them here: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2010/10/saudi-arabia-and-vip-patients.html

Although they're not designated to accommodate the Saudi royal family, there are the occasional royal patients admitted on the regular wards. Many of them actually request to be assigned a bed on these wards to be under the specific medical service rather than the VIP service, thus getting care more specific to their condition, not status. That and some want to avoid the VIP ward like the plague because of rumors within the extensive royal family. A patient will have many visitors and the other royals will recognize which family it is and there will be talk.

So the incident happened when I was relatively new to the Kingdom and not fully familiar with all the VIP protocols and hassles. It was a regular night shift until the charge nurse received a phone call for an admission from the ICU. I heard her screaming on the phone informing them we didn't have empty beds, then shaking her head in disbelief and putting the phone down. The other Asian nurses gathered at the nursing station starting to speak loudly in Malay and Tagalog. Since I had noticed this was common occurrence I thought nothing of it.

After a while the admission was to arrive and I saw some nurses getting a room ready. They had transferred one patient onto another ward to empty the room. I was busy with my own patients and because I was not the nurse allocated to receive the new patient, continued to ignore the racket the Asian nurses were causing over the transfer. I was the only western nurse on duty and they usually didn't bother to tell me what was going on so I thought it was insignificant.

When the patient finally arrived from the ICU on her bed suddenly all the other nurses, including the charge and the allocated nurse suddenly disappeared like samboosas on Ramadan. I saw the western ICU nurse pushing the bed with some five male relatives. The patient was totally covered with a white sheet, which is normal in Saudi for the female patients. When they get transferred on their beds around the hospital, for privacy reasons they pull the white sheets on top of the whole patient resulting in a going to the morgue-look.

So as the only nurse around I received them with a friendly greeting and directed them to the room. Next we had to transfer the patient to the ward bed. We turned the patient and placed the sliding board underneath pulling her to the other bed. I thought it was odd they still hadn't wanted to remove the covers, but had gotten accustomed to seeing all sorts of things and again thought nothing of it. I took notice of the pristine white crisp thobes and strong perfumes the men were wearing and assumed they were of upper class status.

Next the male relatives started to fuss about the A/C. The most common immediate complaint the patients have when they come to the rooms is the air conditioning is too COLD. Saudis are afraid the cold air will worsen all illnesses. So I assured them I would adjust it to make it at hot as possible. The looks on their faces were as if I'd said something to the likes of " I will give the patient heroine".

The oldest one replied now clearly upset in English, "no we want cold! And bring ice! We need lots of ice." I informed them of the ice machine we had in the patient kitchen which they could use freely. The men looked at each other and I got a feeling they weren't liking my services so I excused myself and left the room.

I had the patients file now in my hands but did not have time to look at her details, rather I wanted to find the allocated nurse to hand over the file to but she was nowhere to be found. Next a myriad of black clad women started entering the ward. They were all dressed in designer abayas, wearing high heels and had covered their whole heads with the ends of their shaylas (scarves) thrown over the faces. The smell of expensive bohkoor and perfumes filled the ward. I felt a sense of curiosity now and checked the patient name. Al-Saud. And the two names before that made me gulp.

Now it started to make sense why all the Asian nurses had vanished and were still hiding in the patient rooms. I was still the sole nurse visible on the ward, standing like a statue now at the nursing station not knowing what to do. The female relatives asked for the room number and inquired what would happen. Some were weeping frantically and waving their hands in the air chanting something I assumed were prayers. Others were being walked by two Ethiopian maids on each side. One needed a wheelchair. I had seen all the drama Saudi women could create but nothing to this scale before.

Finally the frightened charge nurse emerged from her hiding place. I asked her what was going on and the whole insane truth was revealed. The patient was indeed a royal Princess. As a matter of fact, she was also deceased. They had just admitted a dead body. I had unknowingly been transferring a deceased royal Princess. I gasped at the thought of not only handling a dead body like one that was alive and thought back at everything I had told the relatives. Why didn't the nurses inform me? It seemed I was the last to know again.

Naturally in Saudi like all other hospitals around the world, the deceased patient will be washed and prepared and then transferred to the morgue. According to Islam the body should be buried as soon as possible and any decaying of the body should be avoided. The process in Saudi is very swift compared to what we are used to in the west, where the bodies might be in the morgues weeks at a time for example. Very seldom are autopsies carried out in Saudi-Arabia. Once the patient dies, the families take it as a decree from Allah and the reason of death to them becomes insignificant, unless they suspect a gross violation from medical staff which is extremely rare (that they would suspect or care).

So why was the dead body of a royal Princess occupying one the beds on our ward, not the morgue, or the VIP ward which has huge rooms complete with separate guest rooms? Well the reason is simply that is what the family wanted and because of their status, they could make it happen. They wanted for all the relatives and especially the King to be able to say goodbye to her before she was taken away, and the morgue would not be a place fit for a Princess as high as her. How could the royal relatives visit the morgue anyway?

So ice was brought in by the truckloads, the AC was adjusted, gigantic flower arrangements and golden chairs fit for Princesses to sit on were brought in from the VIP ward and when there was no space left inside the room, the hallway leading to the room was lined with them. Expensive bokhoor was burned in the room (it is forbidden normally) and the "royal morgue" was up and running.
Relatives kept coming in and out causing quite a lot of confusion in the other patients. There was hysterical crying in the hallways, maids coming in with trays of chocolates, pastries and other foods serving Arabic coffee from the intricate golden dallahs, drivers and guards were hanging around the hallways.

One of the younger princesses couldn't handle the stress and Her Highness was brought to me to measure her blood pressure. I took the moaning and groaning princess to sit in a quiet area and took the readings. They were slightly elevated but nothing to worry about, I said. The male relative strongly disagreed and demanded to see a cardiologist at once. He ordered me to give blood pressure medication on the spot.

I tried to explain to him how first of all since the woman was young and not on any medications I could not just go and get a blood pressure medication randomly, and second there are maybe hundreds of medications and doses to choose from and third, I could not even get it out of the machine without a doctors orders and her being listed as a patient on this ward, and fourth no doctor would even prescribe to her any medication based on these readings. I told him it's best we let her sit for a while and drink some water and try to relax, she will be just fine. He was clearly upset at what I had suggested and acted as if the woman was going to have a heart attack.

But as is common with demanding Saudi patients my explanations were not good enough and so I was forced to call the cardiologist who in turn had to come from the cardiac surgery unit down to the floor. He was extremely angry at me for calling him, even if for a royal princess. When he saw the readings which were by now even better, he simply laughed and left. The male relative (could've been her husband, brother, father or grandfather you never know here) was upset at the lack of service and took the faint princess elsewhere. I was relieved.

It was now nearing Fajr prayer time and the worst traffic to the newly established morgue had quieted down. The Asian staff were all mostly hiding in the staff room or patients rooms, trying to avoid any contact with the royal family in fear of saying or doing something to upset anyone and as a consequence, loosing their jobs.

There was still no word when the King would make his appearance to say his farewells. There were guards placed on all the entrances and all of the staff was anxiously awaiting his arrival. I was actually excited to have the opportunity to at least see him.

By the time night shift was over the ward had started to have a distinct deathly smell to it. Especially around the room turned morgue the stench was getting almost unbearable despite all the bokhoor and flowers. To my diappoinment I never got the chance to meet the King.
Eventually the King had arrived for a quick visit that afternoon and only after that was the body taken to the cemetery for burial.

This is one of the stories from the hospital I will never forget. And it could only happen in the Magic Kingdom!

Summer Is Here, What To Do?

Many expats and locals find themselves "stuck" in Saudi for the summer with nothing to do, fearing death caused by boredom. Not everyone is lucky enough to escape the Saudi heat. With the schools now closed, children and youth (and housewives) get very bored! This causes frustration in parents, what to do?
There ARE other options than shopping people!

Here is a quick list of suggested activities for the summer mainly for families and women:

Kids Summer camps
Try: My Little School , Creative Hands Preschool, Dragonfly School, SPLASH summer camp at Intercontinental Hotel, Crayon's International Activity Center
Summer Camps Riyadh FB page:  http://www.facebook.com/groups/363357090388129/

Horseback riding
Dirab Golf course and recreation center http://www.dirabgolf.com/
Al Aghar Equestrian club Diplomatic quarters both have lessons available for children and women

Swimming
Equestrian Club inside Diplomatic Quarters has outdoor swimming pool for ladies and children
Al Manahil also in DQ  has indoor pool
Diplomatic Quarters Sports Club has large outdoor pool complete with slides and a wave pool ladies/men's days alternate (membership required)
Water Splash waterpark exit 9 Eastern Ring rd.
Dirab Golf course outdoor pool (membership required)

Rent an istiraha with pool
There are countless istirahas spotted around the outskirts of Riyadh. One of the bigger ones is Yamamah Resort http://www.gtandalusia.com/yamama/yamamaresort.htm

Check Out Maison Bo-M
Inside Nojoud Mall next to Intercontinental hotel. Ethnic fashion, art exhibition, cafe lounge, delicatessen, books, gifts etc..Women only
Special Exhibition "Themar Ramadan" – June 4th-July 31st 2012  
http://www.maisonbo-m.com/

Try Family Bowling
Intercontinental Hotel
Alkhozama Bowling Center
Universal Bowling Center http://www.ubcriyadh.com/aboutus.html

Spend the day relaxing at a women's center
Al Multaka http://www.almultaka.com.sa/overview.htm
Al Manahil http://www.almanahil.com.sa/english/index.html

Visit Dinosaur world
Inside Al Othaim Mall, on the third floor. Also in this amll a large indoor amusement park area with 5D movie theatre on the 4th floor. http://imagesofsaudi.blogspot.com/2012/05/dinosaur-world.html

Cool off Ice Skating
Ice skating rinks I'm aware of: Royal Mall (also for females), Othaim Mall exit 15, Hayat Mall, ChinaMart Mall upstairs (can be reserved for private functions as well)

Play Paint Ball
Riyadh's only paintball operator allows only men on site but they can be booked for private functions and women can play too http://www.facebook.com/groups/68469925659/

Visit King Abdulaziz Historical Center & surroundings
Visit the National Museum, Murabba Palace, the historical buildings, Public Library, King Abdulaziz mosque and Memorial Hall and browse the surrounding beautiful parks complete with fountains and picnic areas. Nearby also the water tower with a viewing platform and a small amusement park located next to it.

My Gym
Inside the Panorama Mall Women's section, has activities for kids and moms this summer. This June
"The Little Artist Competition": http://www.facebook.com/events/164552030341611/

Visit the "Riyadh Corniche"
Newly developed Wadi Namar, 2km long lake complete with promenade and picnic spots off exit 20.

Any other suggestions? Feel free to send me links to events etc that you know of this summer!
Check also: WSB magazine

The Zoo of Horrors

Ever since I heard about a zoo called "Hadiqa Abu Jarrah" in Riyadh where animals are horribly mistreated it has deeply disturbed me. When we finally got the chance to go check the place out it became apparent the zoo was much worse than I had imagined. I've actually never seen animals being treated so bad in my life. Keeping in mind I've lived in the deepest most rural parts of Africa and never saw anything pertaining to treatment of animals that was comparable to this misery. And here we are in Saudi-Arabia, one of the richest countries in the world, a land where people are supposed to hold up to Islamic teachings. 

Places like this zoo and the Muslims who are responsible for it might give some unknowing people the impression that Islam in fact, enforces torture and evil acts toward animals. In reality Islam teaches kindness toward all living beings including animals. There are numerous Hadith teaching good treatment and respect toward animals. Here is one which clearly indicates animal rights are an important issue in Islam and that punishment will follow for animal rights offenders: 

"A lady was punished because of a cat which she had imprisoned till it died. She entered the (Hell) Fire because of it, for she neither gave it food nor water as she had imprisoned it, nor set it free to eat from the vermin of the earth." (Bukhari Vol.4, Book 56, #689) 

The five basic rights of animals according to Islam: http://www.openpaws.org/fly/rights_of_animals.pdf

The actual "zoo" which is in reality only a few small metal cages placed next to each other, is located inside the Fantasy Land amusement park on Thumamah Road. The animals have absolutely nothing in the cages, they can see and hear the others at all times. There were many ill looking, poorly animals there as well. The cages are outside in a hall with no air-conditioning or heating. Most shockingly they had large animals such as a grizzly bear and adult lions in tiny cages. The animals are never let out of the cages and there is only one zoo keeper taking care of them all.

These animals are in urgent need of help! Seeing the the zoo in all its horror and the animals there looking like they lived in hell on earth made me extremely, extremely MAD. There are not many things in this world that upset me as much as mistreatment of animals, children and women. So I decided to write this post to spread awareness of the appalling conditions of the animals held at Hadiqa Abu Jarrah.

We can try and find a solution for these animals and all you readers out there can help to get these animals out of there to a safer and more humane environment. They will always be captive that's for sure, but at least they deserve proper food and places to sleep in, places to walk around in, sleep in peace and shelter from hot and cold. No living being should be imprisoned in this way and kept in inhumane conditions. Read what YOU can do at the end of this post.

The entrance to the zoo shows pictures of the owner "Abu Jarrah" posing next to these animals. From the images we get the impression the animals are there just to show them off. The rest of the time they are forgotten and maintained by a single zoo keeper who we talked to.

The man pictured owns these animals and apparently few years back he decided to set up this zoo and the animals were brought there and placed into the small torture cells for people to come look at for a fee of 20 SAR. Previously the animals had been on the mans farm. There was no information about where or how he had gotten most of these animals but there is clear indication most must have been brought into the country illegally.

The man has had this grizzly bear for 10 years. We were told it was smuggled in as a baby from the U.S. Wouldn't that be an offense punishable by a jail sentence in the States, to smuggle out an endangered species? Saudi-Arabia does not have animal protection laws and the law banning trafficking of endangered animals is clearly not enforced whatsoever, which can be seen by going into any petshop in the Kingdom.

The tigers or the pumas in the pictures were currently not in the zoo. We were told by the zookeeper that the owner regularly takes some of the animals around the Kingdom to display them. The tigers are supposedly on display in Medinah at the moment.
Placing a huge wild animal such as a tiger in a 3x3m cage is utterly disgusting.

This is the male lion which looked like it needed immediate veterinarian attention when we saw it.

His son pictured inside the hyenas cage, WHILE the hyena is having its dinner. Hyenas are such peaceful, mindful eaters right? Anyone who ever watched National Geographic channel hyena programs showing how these ferocious predators normally eat their food and react to potential threats to their meal would know just how foolish and potentially dangerous this actually is.

Back to the grizzly. This must be the world's saddest, most depressed bear. He looks into the eyes of the visitor with such plea it is simply heart wrenching to watch.
The bear never got out of his prison, if you don't count the photo sessions with "Abu Jarrah". The zoo keeper was too afraid to even think of opening its cage in fear of his life. Grizzlies like all bears need to roam around extensively, have activities, social contacts and they also hibernate. I doubt this bear ever had the chance to have any of those things.

I guess this informative sign speaks for itself about the expertise and knowledge of the wild animals kept there.

The zoo also has domestic dogs in one cage.

 The sickly lion didn't have energy to move at all during our visit.

The sign says "do not feed the animals". The zoo keeper told us he feeds the animals every other day. Most of the more active hunting predators such as this coyote were pacing around the cages endlessly in the same monotonous way.

The animals eat, sleep and eliminate in the same space.

A beautiful lioness dreaming of Africa perhaps..The man working there told us he had let some of the lions out to an area in the back of the zoo. I pleaded him to let them out while we were there and to show us this place. He told me absolutely no, that he once had a female reporter there and the lion had tried to attack her wounding her badly. The zookeeper said getting the lion back inside the cage is almost impossible. Wonder why?
Here is a link to the news article of this very incident which happened to a female reporter named Asmahan Al-Ghamdi, a female editor working at the national Saudi newspaper, Al-Riyadh. http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/female-saudi-journalist-attacked-by-lions-2011-07-17-1.408180
http://womensenews.org/story/media-stories/110724/lion-attack-shocker-saudi-reporter-was-woman  


The man also showed me video footage from his phone which had a clip of one of the lions suddenly getting up and attacking the zookeepers friend from behind. He manages to escape the attack barely.

The young male lion seemed fond of his keeper but apparently they are aggressive toward humans.

The zookeeper seemed to genuinely like the animals and his job is surely a tough one. After all, he is only doing his job with the means given to him. He tried to play with the bear but it was not interested and kept looking to the ground.

A few fans were placed here and there around the hall. During Saudi winters the night time temperatures drop near 0 Celcius(32F) and in the summer temperatures soar to the high 40s daily reaching even 53C(127C). This places the animals in great risk of hypothermia or heat stroke and dehydration.

A baby monkey which was placed next to the bear looked pretty much frightened out of his mind and despite being locked up inside the cage had a rope tied to one of its legs.

Here is a video clip I took when I visited the zoo. You can see the following animals: A grizzly, a lioness, a coyote, baboons, hedgehogs or porcupines, eagles and other birds, a male lion, domestic dogs, another fox or coyote, two more lions, hyenas and wild dogs.

Here you can see the two hyenas, very agitated pacing around the cage as if they had gone mad.

                                        
The zoo of horrors has been haunting me. I contacted a Facebook group I knew that rallies for animal rights in the Kingdom. Er7amni Animal Rights Group has been working to help these animals. Some letters were sent out to the Ministry of Agriculture. We have been waiting for results but it seems no change has happened and the animals still remain in their misery. Something more needs to be done, so I decided to write this post and that is why I'm reaching out for YOUR help!

I'm sure many reading this are upset and know that animals just like humans can sense pain and even emotions such as boredom, excitement, joy, frustration and fear. The only thing animals can't do is speak out and tell us. We need to give them our voices.
Certainly people out there like me are worried for the well-being of these poor animals and feel a deep sadness about their current state. The animals are the innocent victims of men who seek only money and fame from them.
No soul deserves such a fate.

PLEASE help these animals by doing one or all of the following:

1. Share this post with your friends inside and outside Saudi-Arabia
2. Sign this petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/minister-of-wildlife-hrh-prince-bandar-and-riyadh-city-municipality-shut-down-abu-jarrah-s-zoo-relocate-and-treat-the-rescued-animals
Then share it!
3.Write an email to the following addresses telling them about the zoo and cruel treatment of animals there:
National Wildlife Conservation, Mohammed Malki: bandar@ncwcd-permits.org
fawaz_albaroudi@ncwcd-permits.org
info@swc.gov.sa

4. Send a letter addressed to Dr. Fahad Balghonaim Ministry of Agriculture, P.O Box 2639, Riyadh 11195, Saudi-Arabia. Tel 401-2777 
You can use the photos from this post and explain how you are worried about the animals in this zoo and wish to see them relocated to a better and safer place.

Some useful links about protection of animal rights in the Kingdom:

Sign also this petition asking for laws to be set up to stop animal cruelty in KSA:
 http://www.thepetitionsite.com/325/618/503/stop-animal-cruelty-in-saudi-arabia/
SPESA Society for the Protection of Endangered Animals in Saudi-Arabia: http://www.facebook.com/groups/165592253458342/

Facebook Group "Saudi Society for the Mercy of Animals" http://www.facebook.com/groups/Er7amni/

Er7amni Animal Rights group in Saudi webpage: http://www.er7amni.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=62 

OpenPaws organization helping animals in Riyadh: http://www.openpaws.org/

Thank you,