Which Kuwait?
During a recent visit to Kuwait by a friend of mine, I was asked to describe Kuwait to her. I started out with the typical explanation of the oil wealth and the desert and traditional society like most people would. Then I stopped. Which Kuwait was I describing? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Kuwait is not just one place. It's actually many different things to the many different communities who live here.
Kuwait is for Kuwaitis first and foremost. It's a land and a nation and a people and one of the oldest continuous countries in the region. It's also a culture and a society rooted in this land, a demographic that has incorporated the wealth of oil, the changes of modernity while struggling to retain its traditions and values. Even in the midst of social and political evolution, Kuwaitis remain distinct in their areas and their mode of living.
But Kuwait is also a land of expats. A work camp or amazing opportunity, depending upon your salary and how you look at it. It's a place of (mostly) expat Arabs and Asians and each of these have their own distinct Kuwait.
From weekend hangouts and restaurants to grocery shops and neighborhoods, Kuwait is divided firstly between locals and expats and then between expats themselves. Go to the shisha cafes of Hawally on Thursday nights and you'll find Little Egypt. Visit LuLu Hypermarket on a Friday and you'll see throngs of Asia Kuwait. Most areas, like Salmiya, are mixed but in even there a block or two will be known as predominately Arab or Indian.
The sad fact is that each community keeps mostly to itself. There are hundreds of Asian cultural and social societies here and their members are kept busy on weekends holding events and meetings at Indian school auditoriums to Filipino badminton clubs. Alternatively, each Arab expat community has social groups that meet at hotels and restaurants.
In fact, Kuwait is so segregated that there are only a very few places where you'll see all the communities mixing together. Check out The Avenues on a Thursday evening or Friday and you will see pretty much every nationality represented in Kuwait – shopping or strolling or sitting a restaurant and café. It's like our United Nations.
This is pretty much common in any major metropolis, I guess. Go to New York as a tourist and you will no doubt find your way to China Town or visit London's Arabian thoroughfare, Edgeware Road.
The problem is that the segregation carries over into almost every aspect of life. Even in a multinational, multiethnic offices, the Arabs and Asians seldom mix and the cliques and mafias that form strangle merit, creativity, efficiency and cross pollination of ideas. I get that this is how the mafias survive here but it's also a lost opportunity for us all. How much more interesting and wise and eloquent we might be if we took the time to get to know each other rather than just keeping our distance?
By Jamie Etheridge
etheridge@kuwaittimes.net
Posted by: "Sunny" <ambon@tele2.se>
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