Good Morning!
Greetings from Umm Qasr (Umm Qasr – which I believe is Arabic for “…..where the sandwiches are made with REAL SAND!”)
I hope you have had a good week. Here (as most people like to ask) the weather has been “cooler” – mostly in the high teens (that’s 100+teens – like 117 or 118) – but it is still a “cold spell” compared to a few weeks ago when we popped over the 120 mark and had some very humid days as well.
I hope you have had a good week. Here (as most people like to ask) the weather has been “cooler” – mostly in the high teens (that’s 100+teens – like 117 or 118) – but it is still a “cold spell” compared to a few weeks ago when we popped over the 120 mark and had some very humid days as well.
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| There is no story with this…. I just wanted to show you what the guys from the Iraqi Navy brought me the other night….. |
This story has nothing to do with the food above. I just wanted to “rub it in” that I (occasionally) get some REALLY good food. And the rest of the time, I eat at the DFAC.
Okay, I am not sure how to take this, but here is what happened. Do you remember the interpreter (Haleem) who got a cake for his little girl’s (Zaeban) first birthday party (the one that said United States Army – and he told everyone it said Happy Birth Day)? Well, his little girl got really sick and she wound up in the hospital. At first, Haleem took her to the hospital here in Umm Qasr (where the hospital is “free”) – but she wound up getting sicker and sicker. So finally, he took her out of that hospital and took her to a private hospital in Basrah. It will cost him a lot more money now (and no, this is not a plea for money…) – but – she finally started getting better – but she was in big trouble there for awhile.
Well, any rate, Haleem’s wife (Sopha) was feeling really depressed (even though her baby was getting better) – but she was thinking about the bills and how the air conditioner is not working (due to power outages, etc.) and taking care of the other two young boys. But she was getting into a real funk. So Haleem told her he has a solution to make her feel better.
Next thing I know, I get a call on my “haje” phone – it is Haleem. He says to me, “Mr. Wade, you talk Arabic to my wife.” And he hands her the phone.
So we talk in Arabic for a few minutes and she is laughing hysterically. I wish it was because I said some funny things…. but, I think it was because I said some things funny. I said your typical Arabic greetings such as “hello” and “how are you” and “I am very hungry for rice and chicken and soup” and “please bring me Iraqi flatbread.” You know….. standard greetings. So we hang up and the next day, Haleem tells me how his wife is doing great thanks to me.
“She laugh so hard at your Arabic…. she say ‘why he want to learn Arabic?’ But you make her feel real good.”
Yep. So thanks to me, there is another happy Iraqi somewhere. Yep – another satisfied customer… that is why I came here. As long as I can help…. don’t care how – don’t care why.
Another thing we are getting ready for is Ramadan. Now, just because some “stupid-heads” want to start violence and cause trouble during Ramadan – that is not what most people here think about. This is a religious festival – it is the ninth month of the Islamic Calendar and it is the most holy or sacred period of the Muslim year. If you are interested – Muslims believe that this is when Allah revealed the Quran to the prophet Muhammad. And REAL Muslims – do NOT believe in killing people or hurting people in the name of God. Just like REAL Christians (or Jews or Hindus or whomever) don’t believe that either.
Here is some of the interesting stuff about Ramadan - from sunrise to sunset, Muslims are expected to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, and having sex…. in America… we call this….
“GETTING MARRIED…”
Okay, okay – stop yelling! I was just kidding. But basically, the period of “fasting” is called Sawm (and you can get “waivers” if you are ill or if you have a baby and are nursing, etc.) – but mostly this is a period where during the day, people are to put more effort into following the teachings of Islam (and become closer to God). Ramadan is “moon-based” (i.e., don’t know the exact date). But this year it is supposed to start around 1 August and end around the end of the month. Now…. I know you are all dying to know – how does this affect Mr. Wide?
Well, the biggest issue is that “fasting” includes all water (I have ZERO problem with the other stuff) but, it is so hot here, that for the workers to go all day without water – is pretty tough on them (again, we are in the 110+ temperatures) and to go from 5 am to 7 or 8 pm without water is VERY stressful on anybody. So we make certain allowances…..
Okay, okay – stop yelling! I was just kidding. But basically, the period of “fasting” is called Sawm (and you can get “waivers” if you are ill or if you have a baby and are nursing, etc.) – but mostly this is a period where during the day, people are to put more effort into following the teachings of Islam (and become closer to God). Ramadan is “moon-based” (i.e., don’t know the exact date). But this year it is supposed to start around 1 August and end around the end of the month. Now…. I know you are all dying to know – how does this affect Mr. Wide?
Well, the biggest issue is that “fasting” includes all water (I have ZERO problem with the other stuff) but, it is so hot here, that for the workers to go all day without water – is pretty tough on them (again, we are in the 110+ temperatures) and to go from 5 am to 7 or 8 pm without water is VERY stressful on anybody. So we make certain allowances…..
1st. The work day is from approximately from 7 am to 2pm
2nd. If we have meetings – we will try to schedule them in the morning
3rd. You DO NOT eat or drink in front of anyone fasting (that is considered EXTREMELY “tacky”)
4th. For manual laborers, we let them rest a lot more than usual.
So you may be saying to yourself, ”Hey – how can they basically stop – or do very little work for almost a full month – and get away with that??” I would reply….”go to any government office between Thanksgiving and New Years.” Except instead of fasting – we do the exact opposite and see how much food we can eat. (BTW, I do not mean to insult or slam government workers – as 90 percent of those that I have known and worked with are hard workers. But, my (hopefully humorous) point is that we tend to do this around our holidays – and it is no big deal – so I think we can cut the Islamic workers a little bit of slack as well.
Now, I will also say this – for those of you who are saying, “Well, I know Muslims are violent…yadda-yadda-yadda.” Remember when I started all of this – I told you – I am going to tell you what I see – NOT what I read in the newspapers or watch on TV. I have met MANY Muslims since I have been here. And sure, this may not be a representative sample of all of the Muslim population – but the ones I have met love their families, love to eat and laugh, and are so generous – it is embarrassing. Even the “rich” here are not much better off than the average person in America. And that is what I see.
Now, I will also say this – for those of you who are saying, “Well, I know Muslims are violent…yadda-yadda-yadda.” Remember when I started all of this – I told you – I am going to tell you what I see – NOT what I read in the newspapers or watch on TV. I have met MANY Muslims since I have been here. And sure, this may not be a representative sample of all of the Muslim population – but the ones I have met love their families, love to eat and laugh, and are so generous – it is embarrassing. Even the “rich” here are not much better off than the average person in America. And that is what I see.
Any rate, I thought you might enjoy a little bit of “my perspective” about Ramadan. Okay, on to my week. Well, one “unusual” thing happened. Most of the people who work for me know that I am a fun guy – but certain things can and do “set me off.” And I try to control my irritation – but it gets hard when I am tired or really busy. From the Iraqi perspective – the one thing that sets me off is when they are lazy or take a “lackadaisical” attitude (and btw, luckily I had spell check – as I would have never gotten up the energy to go find a dictionary and look up that word to see if I spelled it correctly……)….(think about it…..) Yeah…I know – hysterical….I crack me up!
So, I had a project to move these big, old containers (CHUs) that we live in – and I had to coordinate with the Iraqi Navy (IqN) – as I was taking the electrical power down to the IqN base. So I arrange for this large (50 Ton) crane and flatbed truck to be here at 7 am - and work until about lunch time (that way the power was off only during the morning and we could get the AC units back working before it got REAL hot…)
So I have my two engineers and these two local boys (to help me move concrete blocks around) – but they are at the IqN front gate at 7 am. No crane or truck. So I email the company (they didn’t answer their phone) and they write back about 7:30, “Crane and truck are at front gate – please get someone to escort them”. Now, this is a typical “ploy” as it usually takes us awhile to get someone out to the front gate. But they didn’t know I had people “staged” there.
So I wrote back, “I have two people out at the front gate – they found two other workers for today. I think they would be able to spot a crane and a flatbed.” (BTW, the “front gate” is about the size of a small parking lot – so it would be pretty hard to “get lost”).
No response from that email – they finally show up at the gate at 8:30 – and now I have to get them through all the searching and other stuff. By the time they finally get ready to work, it is almost 10 am. The IqN group is asking when we will turn off the power – and I send one of my electrical engineers to go turn off the power. The driver of the crane comes up and says, “We want lunch in an hour – and by the way – we go home at 4 pm.” (I again invoke the Pastors, Mom and Granddaughter clause in this writing as to the exact terms of my reply). But needless to say, I was a little irritated.
So I have my two engineers and these two local boys (to help me move concrete blocks around) – but they are at the IqN front gate at 7 am. No crane or truck. So I email the company (they didn’t answer their phone) and they write back about 7:30, “Crane and truck are at front gate – please get someone to escort them”. Now, this is a typical “ploy” as it usually takes us awhile to get someone out to the front gate. But they didn’t know I had people “staged” there.
So I wrote back, “I have two people out at the front gate – they found two other workers for today. I think they would be able to spot a crane and a flatbed.” (BTW, the “front gate” is about the size of a small parking lot – so it would be pretty hard to “get lost”).
No response from that email – they finally show up at the gate at 8:30 – and now I have to get them through all the searching and other stuff. By the time they finally get ready to work, it is almost 10 am. The IqN group is asking when we will turn off the power – and I send one of my electrical engineers to go turn off the power. The driver of the crane comes up and says, “We want lunch in an hour – and by the way – we go home at 4 pm.” (I again invoke the Pastors, Mom and Granddaughter clause in this writing as to the exact terms of my reply). But needless to say, I was a little irritated.
I threw them off the base – right then and there. I started telling Amjad (one of the local engineers who works for me) – as I have told other Iraqis in similar situations – that they should be “madder than me” as these guys who are being lazy and slothful are representing their country. He looks at me and says, “You are right, Mr. Wade” – and he turns and starts yelling at the driver as well. I have never seen a crane and flatbed leave so fast.
So now, there are two local young men – they were just to be laborers for the day (and, BTW, I pay VERY well…). They just saw me yell at the drivers, they just saw Amjad turn and yell at the driver – and their eyes are wide as baby moon hubcaps. They are just staring – hoping that we won’t start on them. So I tell Amjad to mention to them that I will still give them a full day’s work – so they don’t have to worry. They worked REALLY hard that day.
Now, I am not proud of this, but I have thrown Iraqis off the base before – usually when it involves them coming in and not doing their work and wanting us to give them water or gas (we have actually “caught” one guy saying he ran out of gas – and then we found out he had a kill switch installed under the hood and he was running a scam), wanting us to give them food, sunglasses, or other things. Basically just trying to mess around most of the day and not do what they were hired for.
Well, that gets my “lecture” going – usually to them, the interpreter, their boss, and anyone within shouting distance. I start telling them that they are adding to the “stereotype” of the lazy Iraqi – and that they are doing a dis-service to their country and that if they want their country to succeed, they will quit being lazy and get back to work. People (US Forces and others) walk by and see them screwing around and they don’t want me to hire them any more. It makes it harder for me to ask for more jobs for the local Iraqis – on and on I go – so they are usually happy to be thrown out by the time I finish my lecture.
The interpreters, who usually have to interpret my lectures (my kids always called these “lectures” - “rantings”), but the interpreters LOVE it when I have done this. For one, the interpreters get to be really animated (which they like), two, they are hard-working – so they tend to agree with me…. and three, I think the Iraqis LOVE passion – and they like the fact that I am passionate about what I do and what I believe. And I don’t apologize for being passionate about what I do.
I hope the above stories don’t come across as being too harsh. My intolerance is for a lazy or bad attitude. And do you know what will wreck Iraq quicker than us pulling out immediately? It is for us to “accept that all Iraqis” are like that.
They are not.
I have met SO MANY good, hard-working, life-loving, Iraqis that I don’t want to “cheapen” their ambitions and dreams and goals by accepting the lazy, shiftless ones as “the norm.”
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| Me and a couple of the “shiftless Iraqis” (I am kidding – these are IqN Captains Lefta and Hameed – really good Naval Officers – we are having an “animated conversation about a project I have going on) |
Well, my dear ones, it is time for me to go. Outside my office - it is hot, sandy, windy and there is a “world of need” awaiting me. And yes, I am needed here – I have much work to do before I go. There are many deserving people here and I have to get to work and do my part – so that eventually, there won’t be any little baby girls getting sick because of lack of electrical power. Eventually, there won’t be people dying of cholera, hepatitis or other diseases – because of lack of proper sewer systems and clean water. Eventually, there will be peace and prosperity in this land – and I can only affect that by me getting out there and doing the best that I can – for the Iraqis, for the American people that sent me here, and my country that I love so much.
God Bless America
“Mr. Wide”
مهندس واد بروير
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