Saudi-Arabia Suffers from ADHD

According to an Arab news article Saudis "suffer" from a high rate of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, also know as ADHD. The rate in Saudi was found to be an alarming 15% (globally 3-5%).
ADHD is typically 4 times more common in boys than it is in girls. An estimated 50% of the children diagnosed with ADHD continue to have symptoms in adulthood. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002518/


The exact cause of the disorder is still unknown. The etiology of ADHD is a combination of multiple genetic and environmental factors such as: genes (estimated 70-80% of cases), food additives and preservatives, excess sugar, watching too much TV, discordant family relationships, mother's cigarette smoking and alcohol abuse during pregancy, infections in childhood and formula-feeding of infants. .http://www.jpands.org/vol8no2/ottoboni.pdf

The high prevalence of ADHD in Saudi-Arabia does not surprise me one bit.
In fact I think it's more of a miracle the rate is not even higher considering the circumstances children are brought up in the Kingdom.


In some places it could even be assumed the ADHD prevalence in Saudi is somewhere around 90%.
Just entering any malls children's entertainment area at midnight and a typical scene is revealed:


A Saudi kid is frantically running around in the almost deafening noise of the fully-packed amusement area. He goes from one place to another screaming from the top of his lungs holding onto a bag of chips on one hand and an energy drink in the other. His maid has told him already 10 times they must leave but he does not seem to have heard anything. She is chasing after him while trying to feed  formula to a crying baby in her arms. The kid races over to the next machine pushing over three other kids with Bebsi-colas in their hands because he could not wait for his turn. They start hitting each other and calling each other donkies while the Bebsies go flying on the floor. No ones says a thing. The father comes to pat the kid on the shoulder offering an ice cream.

It's not the kids fault that he became this hyperactive- out-of control- junk-food eating-high on sugar- monster. It's the parents, the environment and the society. Saudi culture has a very relaxed outlook on child upbringing. In general the child will be allowed to do most things that in the west people might see as irresponsible or might even report as child abuse. The children are not usually given strict boundaries or rules but rather left to explore and find out for themselves. High activity levels, displays of superiority and pompousness, loudness and aggression in boys are perceived as desirable traits rather than problems in the Saudi culture.
Many cases of ADHD will go undiagnosed or their conditions will get worse due to this attitude.


Factors in Saudi society that contribute to or exacerbate the exceptionally high rate of ADHD:

• inbreeding and genes (most marriages are between cousins)
• consuming foods containing high amounts of additives and preservatives 
• diet rich in sugars
• children consuming energy drinks and cola drinks
• lack of sleep at NIGHT
• having maids (absence of parents)
• lack of discipline
• high prevalence of formula-fed babies
• large family sizes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19302773

http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/CG72FullGuideline.pdf

http://www.cspinet.org/new/adhd_bklt.pdf

Back to the article, it raises the importance of early treatment of the condition for better prognosis. Early diagnosis and treatment of ADHD is crucial for the affected person to be able to lead a normal and successful life.

However this news article tells us that there are currently only approximately 40 specialist doctors in the Kingdom for the treatment of the one MILLION Saudi ADHD patients. 

In the article, Prince Saud bin Abdullah "urged all sections of society *pay attention* to this problem and understand how to deal with it adequately".

He did not disclose how that would happen though.

What would you suggest, how to help solve this problem?

Support group for ADHD in Saudi:http://www.adhd.org.sa/en/

Facebook support group:http://www.facebook.com/pages/ADHD-Support-Group-Saudi-Arabia/118757624872903

Ramadan- Favorite Month For Saudi Religious Police

Ramadan, the busiest season of the year for the members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) aka Saudi religious police force. I like to refer to them
more familiarly as the muttawa.

DISCLAIMER: This entire post is written in a sarcastic tone, tongue in cheek. For those readers that suffer from over-sensitivity and lack sense of humour, I recommend you don't read any further, because you might get offended :)

During Ramadan malls all over Riyadh will fill up with Saudis shopping until they drop (which would be around 3 am). What a better opportunity for the moral cops to get some serious moral enforcement done! If you don't know what Saudi religious police are read more here and find out some of my previous encounters with them here and here.

New toys for the bearded boys
Before the Holy Month the muttawa have been busy preparing their fleet of white GMC Suburbans in anticipation of making many new arrests. CPVPV recently received some (about 53 million dollars) bribery ahem sorry support money from the royal family and they were able to pimp their 600 rides with hi-tech anti-immorality gadgets. The GMC's now contain laptops, scanners, fax and copy machines and I bet a coffee machine and a plasma TV too.

Why is Ramadan such a fruitful time for muttawa?
Firstly because the pure numbers of immodestly dressed women and men at malls nearly triple compared to normal months. Uncovered faces, male-leggings (meggins), pink shirts on men, shorts, flashy abayas, high heels, t-shirts with the highest button left unbuttoned.

You name it- surely the muttawa will find it.

During daytime the religious police will be on the look out to catch foreigners secretly taking a sip of water or chewing gum in public places which is viewed as forbidden during Ramadan daylight hours (but only in Saudi-Arabia!)

Ramadan also enables easier entry to malls for single men who are normally unable to enter malls without a female (guardian). They might try to sneak into crowded malls by infiltrating into groups of women as fake brothers.

Special opportunities 
Food courts are another place of interest for the religious police since lots of haram mixing happens if the food court counters are not separated by screens. Women tend to remove their veils partially when eating in the closed family sections. This poses great potential for eager officers who've specialized in terrorizing dining females.

Women's clothing stores might have hidden dressing rooms in the back rooms and if found the muttawa have really hit the jackpot!
Another point of interest for muttawa are mirrors. Some shops for women's clothing actually hide mirrors behind the racks.

Religious cops are also keen to check on the abaya shops for anything with too much color or bling-bling on it. In other words, anything other than ALL BLACK is a big no-no. There is no point of going to the abaya shops when the CPVPV members are present at the mall (if looking for anything else than the standard all black version). Abaya salesmen are clever enough though and often manage to trick the muttawa by hiding the flashy abayas and scarves. Even the catalogs for the embroidery and sequins have magically disappeared.

Muttawa field trips
Just the other day the Saudi religious police force were having a blast at one their favorite hangouts Granada Mall, known to locals as "Gharnaata Moll". As my husband and I entered I noted the presence of not one but two CPVPV vehicles parked outside the entrance. I made a remark to my husband betting we will run into them inside the mall. I counted a staggering seven muttawa apprentices in addition to the Big Boss donning the black cape (bisht), all accompanied by one or two security officers. They were armed as if going into war.

We actually went to this mall specifically to check out the Saudi Cancer Society Photo Exhibition held there. Funny how they allowed that btw.

I took some pictures of the expo and before I could say "maashallah" I spotted the muttawa.

The commission members didn't seem to have any interest in the exhibition itself (although images of living things and art by Saudi women were on display and there was no segregation of sexes) but instead they were going in and out of stores checking for above mentioned forbidden things.

The bearded bullies enter a kids clothing shop 
The store we were in was packed with women and children when the joyous mood suddenly changed to silence and wary looks when a religious police officer entered with a mall security guy.

The bearded threat naturally did the most important thing first and went around telling all women to cover (all had niqab on). He then picked out one of the salesmen and took him to the back room with the visibly awkward mall security officer. Everyone in the store was quiet and the atmosphere was like being in a horror movie, will he return alive?

After they emerged (the clerk looked very pale) the commission officer approached my husband. He started interrogating him; name, family, tribe, workplace and so on. The muttawa had an issue with my husband's shorts, which were below the knee length and should be OK, but nevertheless were deemed inappropriate. The muttawa told my husband to immediately leave the mall! 
My husband did not take him seriously but politely promised not to wear them next time.

During this grilling session the security guy stood nearby looking extremely squirmy and embarrassed trying to motion for the commission member to leave to the store.

The muttawa ignored his request and then shifted his interest to me, asking my husband: "Why doesn't your wife have a niqab (face veil) on? Her face is exposed!" My husband replied: "What she is wearing is fine. What is your problem?"

The muttawa replied "Saudi men should keep their jewels hidden."
Hehehe. How nice to be called a jewel ;) And what was this exposed jewel doing during all this? Laughing to herself and snapping a pic of this silly situation.

So what happened to the salesman they harassed? The highest button on his T-shirt had been open and muttawa had given him a long lecture about it in the back room.

Interesting to see what the priorities of the CPVPV members seem to be during this Holy month.

Saudi Dating Scene

Dating? In Saudi-Arabia?

It would appear that there is no such thing as dating in Saudi-Arabia. The countries strict laws on gender segregation make sure all contact between the sexes is minimized. There are no movie theaters, restaurants and cafe's are segregated by gender and single men are denied entry into malls and even parks.

This makes dating in the western sense practically impossible, driving young men and women to meet online in forums where the virtual dating scene is flourishing. Nevertheless young Saudis find ways to go around the rules. Where there is a will there is a way as the saying goes. Sometimes dating and flirting attempts from young Saudi males tend to go a bit overboard though.

Here are some examples of my observations of the Saudi ways of dating.

Going grocery shopping.
Tamimi supermarket seems to be a popular place to go looking for girls/boys. Some Saudi girls go here "grocery shopping" usually with a friend or a maid in tow. She will be donning her flashy abaya and most likely have very strong make-up on.
Any interested guys (all of them) will then have a chance to give her their numbers. This happens by standing close by and repeating the number over and over. She may or may not accept the offer. Some guys think the uninterested girl might not have heard him and keep following her in the store.

A couple that takes interest in each other must seem like they are casually picking up groceries while doing this to avoid getting thrown out by the security. It's sometimes hilarious watching these things going on in a grocery store!

Role playing
Another tactic is pretending to be husband and wife. The interested guy goes to the girl, grabs the cart and starts walking next to her as they were a couple. They can chat freely while pretending to shop together. The guy will pay for the groceries. This way they could also leave together in the same car and drive to a house where the parents aren't home.

This happened to me once, a guy just came and grabbed my cart and started pulling it from me despite my protests. We were yanking the cart back and forth for a while. First I imagined he thought that it was his but when I pulled out my mobile to call my husband the guy went nuts. He started frantically repeating his number to me while still hanging onto my cart. By the time he realized that I was in fact calling my husband and not eager to hear his phone number he ran like the wind out of the store!

Bluetooth and Blackberry Street
Tahlia street is a popular place for men to sit outside at its numerous cafe's and restaurants. Women or families are not allowed to sit outside, they are all  male-only singles sections. The boys will have their toys parked on the street waiting to attract the girls attention. This street gets very congested with traffic in the evenings, especially on weekends. Some girls go driving around with their drivers putting their Bluetooth on looking for guys with nice cars. Read more details here: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/03/12/meaw_pm3_saudi_dating/

 

Boys cruising in expensive rides can try to attract girls to contact them by putting Blackberry PIN number stickers on their cars. Sometimes the guys can be seen hanging out of car windows waving papers with their numbers on the.

Mall madness
Another popular place for meeting people are the shopping malls, particularly Kingdom and Faisaliah mall. Although it might be tricky for the single guys to enter because security guards don't allow them inside. But there is an easy way around it. Either the men take their sisters or try to enter with a group of unknown girls as fake brothers. Some women are known to take advantage of the guys desperation and will walk in with the guy for a charge.

The napkin technique
Group of  two or more guys stroll around the mall searching for girls they like (all of them). They make sure to have their expensive watches and phones on display. If a girl sees a guy she is interested in, she will walk past and subtly drop a napkin with her name and number on it. The guys then rush to pick it up. They can continue strolling the mall and Bluetoothing or chatting on their Blackberries while flirting with each other from afar.

Desperate loosers
Some guys are so desperate they even resort to calling random mobile numbers hoping for a girl to pick up. When they do reach a young female, the game is on. The calls will keep coming constantly, usually in the middle of the night. Shouting, name calling and slamming the phone on them will only make the guy more enthusiastic.
These guys simply won't take no for an answer. I've found that having my husband answer the phone and have few words with them is the only way to stop the phone harassement.

Fair game
Naturally not all Saudi girls are looking for a date or to have some fun flirting with guys. In fact I think the majority couldn't care less for these types of guys. But whether the girl is in a grocery store, a shopping mall or happens to be in a car on Tahlia street they seem to be viewed as prey to some men. The certain type of Saudi male views all girls in any of these places as fair game.

This can lead to a lot of annoyance and even dangerous situations like guys chasing girls in their cars, speeding and violating traffic rules. Perhaps all the strict separation of genders and preventing normal human interactions is what makes many Saudi males so aggressive in their attempts to talk to women.

Cover your hair! Cover your face! Lower your gaze.

I ran into way too many members of Hai'a recently and had to write a post about their unislamic behavior. It seems to me as if it's becoming worse lately. What really upsets me is how ruthlessly they harass women. I've taken a habit now of answering their hateful comments of covering by replying "Lower your gaze". It seems to work because the muttawa get an empty look on their faces and eventually leave. Could it be because they actually feel a tiny bit of guilt somewhere in the deepest corners of their minds? Or perhaps they go into shock because a woman is challenging them? It does seem to create confusion. I guess they don't have a "Lowering Gazes" or "Respecting Women's Privacy" class in Muttawa School.

Check out my previous post on muttawa encounters here.

The Hai'a seem to have picked Hayat Mall as their new favorite place to terrorize people, sorry women that is.
The muttawas in question did not even have the police with them. I saw a few different groups of them grazing the mall. One was a gang of three very young muttawas, the tallest had the Harry Potter cape on. I wonder if their beards were even real, they looked no more than 21 years old to me.

This gang actually had the nerve to start following my friends around the mall, waiting outside stores so they could shout at us again. My friends like most western women here don't cover their hair. So we start hearing over and over "cover you hair". The scarves were wrapped on but the muttawas still didn't leave! They were waiting to get another go at us if the scarves happen to slip off. It's as if they just want to check us out! This really irritates me because I know my friends feel anxious, cornered and even fearful because of their behavior. I wanted to stop it so I ended up having to remind the men to lower their gazes. Why are they staring at us in the first place? Have they forgotten this verse from the Quran:

"Tell the believing men to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts. That is purer for them. Verily, Allah is All-Aware of what they do."

Better that we women remind these poor brothers of their duty to lower their gazes since it seems they have totally forgotten it!I think women should stand up to this kind of madness and not let them treat us like cattle or pieces of meat!

On another occasion a pair of old baba muttawas attack us, a group of women doing some shopping and minding our own business. They shout "Cover your hair" while angrily pointing a finger at my friends one at a time singling them out and approaching us. He then turns to me and shouts "cover your face!" I was like what the fatwa? I've never heard that before, I thought they only said that to Saudi women. I pointed my finger back at him and said "why don't you lower your gaze?" He just looked at me dumbfounded with an empty expression on his face. I thought perhaps he did not understand so I repeated myself in a louder voice please LOWER YOUR GAZE. He hesitated for a second, but then they left.

What does Hadith say about lowering gazes?

"I asked Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) about the sudden glance (that is cast) on the face (of a non-Mahram). He commanded me that I should turn away my eyes." Hadith - Sahih Muslim 5372, Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah Note it says a glance at the FACE. And the solution here, is it for the woman to cover her face? No- for the man to lower his gaze. Now this could lead to a whole other conversation of the niqab and is it compulsory but my point is the responsibilty here is placed on the man.

So why are the supposedly pious muttawa allowed to so blatantly stare at women and not lower their gazes?
That is just absurd. It's also giving a really negative image of Islam to westerners here and when they return to their home countries this is one of the messages that spreads about the country and the religion. I hate it when my friends start saying bad things about Islam that are not true. It all stems directly from the actions of these men.
I try to explain that what some Muslims do is not necessarily what Islam teaches. I have a feeling my words are nothing in the face of the atrocious actions of the muttawa.

I encourage other women being harassed by muttawa to give them a stern reminder to lower their gazes.

Muttawa Encounters

As I promised on a previous post, I will share some experiences my friends and I have had with muttawa.

These are all real situations that have occured within the last 3 years in Riyadh.

My first encounter with the muttawa was at the Janadriya heritage festival held once a year on the outskirts of Riyadh. It's a huge exhibition area that displays saudi culture from all over the country, and this was womens only day. While we were exiting the festival area, there was a muttawa squad at the gate checking that all exiting females had covered their hair. For what reason-I have no clue since only wome were around! So I was wearing a hat like this(that day was hot and women were selling them in every corner):

My hair was covered! But the muttawa insisted I take it off and wrap my scarf around my hair. I asked him, so you want me to expose my hair then? He didnt know what to answer, he just repeated like a robot: you must cover you hair!I still insisted it is covered but after my friends got somewhat uncomfortable I decided to obey him. So I removed my hat let my hair fall open and wrapped the scarf around my head, which actually left more hair visible. Make your own conclusions to what his real agenda was.

In Granada mall, its school vacation time 10 am and we are shopping in a group of three girls. There's alot of teenaged Saudi boys and girls around. We spot the muttawa, they are in a group of 3 muttawas accompanied by two policemen. Thats means trouble, that means they can arrest us! At the time I didnt cover my hair and had forgotten to take my "in case of muttawa scarf" with me. So I quickly tried to find a shop to go buy one. Too late, they already had spotted me! They started following me around and into shops (even lingerie shops), shouting cover your hair! I pretended not to hear and kept searching for a scarf to buy. Finally I found one, put it on and they were gone, so I then removed it again. Later we saw four teenage girls running as fast as they could with the same muttawa running and shouting behind them! It was hilarious, the girls hadnt covered their hair and their abayas were OPEN! Wow how courageous of them. I assume they were about 14 years old. They ran out of the mall into their jeep and werent caught.

In Faisaliah mall: four western girls are having dinner at the family section of the food court which is surrounded by walls and there are no men nearby. Two muttawas come in, the older one is wearing the Harry Potter cape making him look more intimidating to the girls. Muttawas immediately head to the girls in the middle of their meal and ask them to cover. They ask why? Answer: Because you are in Saudi-Arabia. The girls feel baffled, why are they being disturbed while eating alone in a quite corner in family section, obviously sitting there for privacy. In their own language they decide to go in the ladies room, not to cover their hair and just wait for them to leave to continue the meal in peace. But muttawa follows them and waits outside the toilet until they come out.

In Panda: a western couple is grocery shopping. Muttawa comes up to the wife and tells her to cover her hair. The husband gets upset and challenges the muttawa, how dare they speak to his wife in that manner?They have no right to address her or to even glance at her. Muttawa leaves her alone.

In Kingdom mall: A western woman who is Muslim but chooses not to cover her hair and her Saudi husband are shopping. Muttawa approaches the woman: cover your hair! Says to husband: pray that Allah will forgive her! Saudi husband replies: No YOU pray that Allah forgives your behavior and for her want to wear hijab one day, otherwise leave her alone it's her decision!! Muttawa leaves the scene.

Also in Kingdom mall: western man runs into his female colleague from work outside a shop, they start chatting. Muttawa approaches them, asks them are they married. They ignore him. Muttawa starts beating the man on his legs with his stick. Western man looks at muttawa in a bad way and continues talking to colleague. Muttawa whips the western man even harder with his stick. Western man grabs the stick from the muttawa, throws it over the edge down to the first floor and continues conversation. Muttawa leaves the scene to retrieve his stick and does not return.

In Hayat mall: Western man is shopping, it's prayer time and the shops close. Two muttawas approach him and ask why he is not praying. Man replies because he isn't Muslim. Muttawas then drag him forcefully into the shopping malls mosque, and make him stand in the back the whole time watching the other men pray.When the prayer is finished they let him go.

A young western woman  goes to get take-out food with two male colleagues after work. They drive to the shwarma place and the men go out to get the food. Usually she would wait in the car but this time she decides to step out. Her hair is not covered and she has left her handbag in the car. Muttawa drives by, spots them and starts questioning them, how they know eachother and why they are together. She would have been fine if she had only took the bag with her to show her ID and say she is just walking around. The muttawas don't speak english and she doesn't know what's going on. So they are all shoved in the muttawa GMC and taken to the police station. The woman is interrogated and made to strip to her underwear in front of the female staff who are all laughing at her and demanding she strip naked. Nobody speaks english and she still doesn't know what is going to happen. She is given clothing to change to, and only then she realizes that they are putting her in jail! So she ends up spending two nights in jail, until her sponsor comes and gets her out. Its Ramadan so there's obligatory fasting for everyone. There are many other women in the large prisoncell crammed together lying on dirty floors or benches. Some women are crying, some even have small children with them. Alhamdulillah nothing worse happens to her and she gets out of jail because of influential sponsor.

Entrance to Janadriya festival area on womens only day.