Jan. 4, 2005 Disturbing Things in the Middle East
I should start by saying "Happy New Year!" to everyone. I hope you had a merry Christmas. I understand that is not PC to say anymore so I want to say it all I can.
I never finished writing about our return trip from Rome. It was very long. We had to stop in Milan for 2 hours so it was late at night when we got to Dubai. The next day we decided to see if we could get an earlier flight home. We could so we left at 2 pm and arrived in Doha at 2 pm. ;-) Langston and I actually made it to AWANA. I was pretty wiped out.
The next day we had our SIDRA meeting. Unfortunately I ate something that didn't agree with me. It wiped me out the rest of the day. After that I seemed to keep that draggy feeling for 2 weeks. It didn't really seem like a cold but there seemed to be some infection somewhere. I finally drove myself to Doha Clinic - a first for me - and got an antibiotic.
I decided I wanted to be well for Christmas so I better hop to it.
I think I wrote earlier about being in an Experiencing God ladies' study at church. I went about half of the time. But one day we somehow got on the topic of blood money. A lady was sharing about a man she had met that was ruined financially because of it. Apparently in Middle East countries this is a common practice. At the police station they tell me there is a chart of what lives are worth from different countries. People from the "servant" countries wouldn't cost very much. Qataris are the most expensive. If a person is in a traffic accident and someone dies the responsible party must pay blood money. This particular man had been injured severely in an auto accident but a Qatari had been killed so he had to pay the highest amount to the deceased man's family. He wasn't able to work because of his injury and was sent to prison. He eventually was able to go back to his country.
I could not believe this practice existed today. Another lady said she'd read in one of the papers that a Muslim man's two wives were killed in an accident but he wasn't requiring blood money because it actually saved him money. He didn't want the expense of keeping them anymore! A friend who has lived in other Middle East countries said that it could be a danger to your life if you didn't go immediately to a sheik's house for refuge, that the family would come to kill you.
I learned another disturbing practice recently. In Dubai we visited with some of our friends who have moved there. I remarked that there was a group of Arabic men with their falcons who were going through security. The airlines seem to allow them on the flights with their birds in tow. My friend said that they were probably going to northern Africa for a hunting trip. Unfortunately when they go on these hunting trips they have a tendency to go to the villages and have their way with the women. She had read that after such a trip, nine months later a plane had brought a load of babies saying that they belonged to the men. My friend said if the babies favor the father the family may adopt them. They allow them to live with the family in a menial role. If they have very dark skin they are made servants in the palace.
I share those things so you'll understand better the darkness these people live in. Many have all the riches money can buy but they lack the peace that can save their souls. Pray they would have a hunger for the Truth.
Posted by nellie at January 4, 2005 04:56 PM