Kidnapping in Kuwait

I have to warn everyone this is quite a horrible story to hear. I also have to admit that I heard this through a cousin, and I don't know if it's true or not, but I just HAD to do my civic duty as they say.

As many of you may not know. Kuwait is a pretty safe place to live i.e. you can leave your car on and get cash from an ATM, you can leave your handbag on a counter while shopping in a boutique and not worry that it'll be snatched, and you can also hang your handbag on your chair when in a resaurant. When we were kids, you could play in the streets and not worry about any problems such as kidnapping, robbery, murder etc.

Times are changing, and this story spurred me to tell all. But before I tell you this story that I heard a couple of days ago. There's another story you need to hear.

I am a month shy of 28, and yes I have a curfew and yes I still live with my parents, but in our culture you kind of don't have a choice. Anyways, my mother consults for the Ministry of Interior i.e. the Police and she hears all the gory details of women beaten up while trying to get in to their car or a mother who was stopped raped and beaten up by a couple of men etc. and now I am banned from going out after 10:00p.m. without a male escort LOL. It's SO 1900!

Now the real story ... My cousin and I were discussing different topics the other day, one of which was corruption, when he told me that he heard a shocking story a few days ago. A woman was shopping with her daughter in a supermarket, and turned for a few seconds while picking up some groceries. Next thing you know the daughter disappears. A search is done, her name is called out on the loud speaker, and the next thing you know she's found in the men's bathroom. The daughter's head was shaved, a wig and a new set of clothing on the floor. It seems the kidnappers heard the loud speaker and ran.

I was shocked beyond belief. THIS of all things happening in OUR home country. You'd expect it to happen in Brazil, Italy, or God knows where, but not in a country as safe as ours USED to be. For the past 6 years since I've been back from college I am seeing Kuwait become more unsafe every year and this IS due to all the corruption we have here.

My message to all living here .. start watching out for yourself and be careful PLEASE!

FRIENDS

My Mom always says "Friends are there for a reason, a season or a lifetime."



Sure people grow apart, people have lives, they have disagreements once ina a while, but for me friends will always be friends even if it takes me 3 months to call them back. I love them all, I support them all, and hope they all know that.


This poem is dedicated to all my friends:

You're a true friend,
that I want you to know,
Our love for each other has helped us to grow.
We've been through some tough times,
but we've made it through,
The only one I ever trusted was you.

You helped me through anger,
you've chased away fears.
You held me through sadness,
and kissed away tears.

You stayed by my side
when the world turned away.
You helped me see joy
when the skies were all gray.

You were the rainbow
at the end of the storm.
You help me be different
when I shouldn't conform.

You held my hand
when you knew we would fall.
Every heartache,
you saw me through it all.

I'm not sure
I'm always the best friend to you,
I know I'm not perfect,
but this much is true.

When life gets you down,
And there's nowhere to turn,
I'll help you through and
I'll share your concern.

I'll try my best to return every favor,
When you're sure that you'll drown,
then I'll be your lifesaver;
Even if we both go down.

Whether we sink or swim
doesn't matter at all,
Just know that I'll be there
whenever you call.

I'll pull you out
when life pulls you under.
I'll be the sun
when there's lightning and thunder.

And when it's all over,
And we've fought every war,
There's one thing I promise,
Of this I am sure,
When the time comes
that we're put to our rest.
Be sure that you know that,
My friend, you're the best.

And if there is a Heaven,
then I know you'll be there,
That if you die first
then you'll hear every prayer.
And soon I'll join you,
but just know until then.
That I'll miss you each day
'til I see you again.

At the end of the tunnel,
you'll be my guiding light,
You'll lead me to heaven,
away from the night.

We'll be there together,
and we'll never grow old.
And we'll walk hand in hand
On the streets paved of gold ... (Anonymous)

Justice System

I just can't help myself. Here's my latest displeasure ...

Last night (our last day of the weekend for some who don't know), I'm unwinding after a long day of spending time with friends and family. I switch on my brother's TV (shshshsh don't tell him), and decide to watch a couple of episodes of HOUSE MD. I was planning on watching one actually, and then try and go to bed at around 10p.m. I know that's a bit early for some but I had to get up early to go pick up a friend before going to work the next day.

Anyways back to my story. I was watching my first episode of HOUSE when I jump out of my seat NOT because they were giving the patient a colonoscopy while AWAKE, but because people were lighting fireworks in our neighborhood. I let it pass the first couple of times (kids will be kids you know), but then they would re-light 15 minutes later again and again and again.

Now my father sleeps early and I was really worried about him the most.

It was at 10:15p.m. when I got really aggravated. I called my Mom downstairs (No, I did not actually call her. It was on intercom.) and told her that if they do it one more time I was going to call the police. My father has Parkinson's disease, Cholestrol, Diabetes AND high blood pressure, and I wasn't about to let anything rattle him.

10:45p.m., they are at it again and I had finally had enough. I call 777 (that's 911 over here) and give in my complaint. They graciously take all the information and say they are sending a patrol car right over. PHEW! I settle back down and decide to keep watching my THIRD episode whilst I calm down. A few minutes later the noise stopped and I was very proud of myself.

Once the third show was over I called my Mom downstairs again and told her what happened. Guess what, turns out that the police called back a few minutes later . . . I didn't here the phone ring in mybrother's room . . . to tell us that if we wanted something done we had to go all the way down to the police station and make a formal complaint. Can you believe it???

My mother said no thank you. The gentlemanly police officer said eventhough we weren't going to file an official complaint that they were still going to tell those people to stop.

As my older sister always says "What the Help!" I told Mom that I was shocked at this kind of attitude from our justice system as I know that fireworks are illegal in Kuwait. Mom disagreed, but the detailed journalist that I am, I called my sister (a corporate lawyer) and asked her if it was or wasn't illegal and she confirmed not only is it against the law to USE fireworks in Kuwait, but that it is also illegal to SELL fireworks in Kuwait. So there!

Now you know the whole story ... I think our justice system needs a few lessons from NYPD or Scotland Yard right about now.

Now tell me, don't I have a right to be aggravated at the sheer stupidity of what they said?

Personalized Items

I don't know about you, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE personalized items. Whether it's my name carved on a wooden plate on my desk, or the gold chain around my neck (just like Carrie's from Sex in the city but mine's in Arabic), or even my specially designed paper bags and cards for when I have gifts to giveaway!

If you're a lover of personalized items, or you want to get them as a gift for someone (hint hint), or if you're just a beginner and want to try it out, check out these sites and products I'll be mentioning or just check out the stores nearest to you.


My biggest catch, thanx to my friend Anthony, is shopintuition.com. They have a full personalized items section, and below are just some of the pieces they do.

DEESH personalized tote bags for $60, and guess who already owns one TERRI HATCHER!










DEESH Personalized Hoodies @ $99










Personalized Baby Bib and Hat Set $38

You can also order personlized baby burp cloth sets, baby onesies, and baby hoohded cuddle towels.

There are so many things to find at shopintuition.com. Have FUN!

A EID GODSEND!

Hello Everybody! I know I haven't been writing for a VERY long time and I got a lot of beef for that from my friends, but I had two very reasonable excuses: 1) I was out of the country for a month and 2) I was so sick of writing negative things about what is going on around me that I decided to stop until I found things that I am positively proud of, and I am proud to say I found them. YAY!

Now as per the subject of this article I came across this site while surfing through facebook I think. The add caught my attention and I found the most amazing tops and accessories you can imagine. Clutches as low as KD 11, tops or dresses as low as KD 6, and adorable accessories as low as KD 5! I immediately told my cousins about this site and they started shopping. Two days later my cousin shows up dressed up in items all bought from nafnofy.com.

Ladies AND Gentlemen! Don't waste time. Click on Nafnofy.com and start buying! EID is JUST around the corner ...

My Embarrassment!

This post is related to my earlier article Water & Electricity. Since that post the Energy Ministry has launched a full scale media campaign called "Tarsheed" meaning conservation. There are billboards, flyers, MUPIS, booths at malls, even people calling you at home asking you to turn the AC up or switch off your lights when it is no longer needed. This is NOT the embarrassing part. The embarrassing part is when other countries, international medias AND emails are sent out making us look so bad I am actually embarrassed to call myself a Kuwaiti. I just got this joke today and I felt like Carrie at the prom with pig's blood all over me.

"A Man dies and goes to hell. There he finds that there is a different hell for each country. He goes to the German hell and asks, "What do they do here?"He is told: "First they put you in an electric chair for an hour.Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour.Then the German devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day." The man does not like the sound of that at all, so he moves on. He checksout the American hell, as well as the Russian hell and many more.He discovers that they are all more or less the same as the German hell. Then he comes to the Kuwaiti hell and finds that there is a long line of people from all nationalities waiting to get in. Amazed, he asks, "What do they do here?"He is told, "First they put you in an electric chair for an hour, and then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the Kuwaiti devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day." "But that is exactly the same as all the other hells. Why are there so many people waiting to get in?"The answer goes: "Because maintenance is so bad, there is no electricity so the electric chair doesn't work. Some Bengali has stolen all the nails from the bed. And the devil is a retired Government employee, so he comes in, signs the register and then goes to have tea and eats his falafel."

For once I want to say, KUWAIT YOU MAKE ME PROUD! and shout it from the rooftops.

Instead, I say Kuwait you make me sad! And all of you who think it's funny to make fun of us.

Stop being bullies and GROW UP. There are worse things going on in the world.

Ramadan eeesa comin'

We've heard it mentioned in TV shows and Hollywood movies when people have lost their "Christmas Spirit."

In our country, I feel many have lost the "Ramadan Spirit."

Ramadan, Islam's month of fasting, used to be a gathering of family, of funny and dramatical tv shows, of Gergean (the Arabic trick or treat), of peace and spiritual relief, and it still is to some.

However, I've noticed a shift lately, or perhaps it's the fact that I'm "still growing up."

I was booking a business trip and I unfortunately have had to push it so that I show up a day before Ramadan, and there were no empty seats on the plane back as people are returning to Kuwait last minute.

I also know and heard of many people who leave Kuwait during the Holy Month of Ramadan as to not partake in this ritual.

So my question is, What's happened to the "Ramadan Spirit"? I know it's not a lack of faith, as many Kuwaitis seem to be more religious then when I was a child. Is it such a bother to fast and pray vigorously for one month?

The whole point of Ramadan is to thank God for the good things he has giving us in life, and to remember that there are poor people worse off than us.

Are some people in a state of denial? Do they not want to remember that there are other people suffering in the world, or do they just not believe in God anymore?