Yesterday was a unique day. We, along with Amal, our partner-in-crime, and friend Ranjit headed to a Qatar camel race in al-Shahnniya, some 40 km outside Doha. What we saw and experienced there was quite memorable.
When we first arrived at the racing complex, we were a bit early so we wandered about and ran into some of the camel jockeys. I was shocked to see how young and tiny they were. Mostly they were Sudanese and between maybe 7-10 years old. We talked with them and took some pictures. But then things started getting tense. Some organizers or security for the facility approached us and asked us — quite angrily — not to talk with the jockeys or take pictures of them. They were very tense and kept following us around to make sure we didn’t come near the jockeys.
My analysis is that since Qatar recently banned camel jockeys and is now working on robots to replace the young kids (now being copied in the UAE), officials are feeling uneasy about giving the kids any extensive exposure, especially this being their last season. It might reflect badly on the Gulf state of Qatar since it has now been established that the use of child camel jockeys is really a form of child abuse.
After the encounter with the officials, we drove around and found ourselves in a huge camel market. I have to confess, I had never seen so many camels in one place in my life. Jeff and Ranjit, the two shutterbugs of the group, immediately embarked on taking pictures while Amal and myself busied ourselves talking with the vendors and asking them about the camels and how much they cost. Man, camels are expensive!
Amal also rode a camel for the first time in her life! I was shocked to know that she had never done it before. Apparently, there are no camels in Lebanon! Anyway, we headed back to the racetrack and caught the fourth round of the race. It was so surreal. People here follow the race by driving their SUV’s around the outside of the 2-km long track beeping and hollering. We did the same. All packed into Rajnit’s SUV, we chased those racing camels. We did that for the following rounds as well and believe me when I tell you, it was exhilarating. I have never seen anything like it in my life.
There were many young men -– mostly from neighboring gulf countries — following the race that were so passionate about what was going on. I even saw a Qatari guy, who I assumed was an owner of one of the racing camels, talking to his jockey via walkie-talky, coaching him I guess.
I’m so glad we got to see this while we are still here. It was a fascinating experience. I wonder if the passion among the young men that own and watch the races will still be there when the camel jockeys are replaced by robots, which will supposedly be implemented next year. [More pictures coming in a photo album]
!!!! i love that picture of the camel, it is so awesome!!!
glad u had fun!
The conversation was spiraling downward with users assuming identities and generally getting ugly with one another so comments were closed for a bit to let things cool off. I’ll delete your request above, then move your second comment into that post, while opening things up again. Although we reserve the right to shut things down if it continues to be uncivil.
(I’m going to comment onthe last article, hope thats ok!)
Nas, the thing that still troubles me is that those verses are still present, and if your take on ‘daraba’ is so they have obviously been REALLy stretched to accomodate what is practiced in the Islamic world.
(doorbell rang, more late)
[This thread transferred back into topic. Please continue discussion there. ~Admin]
Everyone knows how i feel about child slave labor from the whole union/strabucks discussion so you can only imagine how i feel about this. I do not even want to get started.
Im surprised as well your firend has not ridden a camel. Im in L.A. and i have rode a camel before. Look forward to seeing the rest of the pics.
I’d look into it to see if it was true. I am not a Christian btw, not really dogmatic about people either. I don’t know how you can think objectively about someone you hold holy and untouchable.
To keep on topic, here’s a piece about camels: Camel journeys
We agree with your sentiment and thank you for your praise. We hope you’ll continue to make us a regular read 🙂
And Dervish, I’m sort of with you on this. As the wife remarked in another post about the quick nature of the West to jump on all things “Without My Daughter,” I wonder if the same might go on here. I’m not condoning the action either, by no means actually.
But there is a tendancy to get all high and mighty on these tradtions, right or wrong, and throw down judgments that really need a bit of cultural sensitivity. I’m of the opinion that any real serious critique should ideally come from a local, working towards the idea that change is best worked from the inside out. Mandates from on high are rarely accepted with real heart.
And in the case of Qatar, they are actually doing something about this, recognizing the problem. The UAE was the first to implement the robots, but it was Qatar’s initiative and design.
That was extremely offensive. When debating relgion in a civilized and educated manner, you should refrain from making derogatory remarks about someone’s Prophet. Not only does it detract from your credibility, but before making such distasteful remarks you should ponder how it would feel if the tables were turned- that is, someone of a faith that didn’t revere Christ made statements that Christ was corrupt.
Also, Natasha (and Jeff), I wanted to say that I really enjoy reading your journal. I am a 25 year old American woman (of South Asian descent) residing in Atlanta, Georgia. I stumbled across your wedding webpage a year ago and was subsequently hooked onto reading your journal. Absolutely beautiful wedding by the way!
MashAllah, what a great experience! The races I have seen have been at dawn, but I haven’t seen any of the “big” ones, are they racing in the afternoon now?
I have heard tales of kidnapping regarding the jockeys too, but only from the American press (the same folks who said that Saddam had WMD’s and they knew exactly what and where they were).
The same sources claim the kids are Bengali and Indian. The kids I have seen are either Sudani, Somali, or Bedu. They come in groups I am told, from the same villages. Camel racing and training runs in families. They do get an education, the school is on the ground floor of the stadium, and clearly marked. Check it out during the day and see if they aren’t there.
Maybe some claims by the Qataris are not true, I don’t know, but the evidence on the ground suggests that the Qatari version is closer to the truth than what the Americans say. I am not defending the practice by any means, I am glad to see it stop, but it’s funny that every chance the west gets they slander Arabia with exaggerations and baseless allegations. I would need to see proof of kidnapping before I believed it.
God I hope that the UAE and Qatar are serious about replacing these kids with robots. This is probably the worst example of expat abuse in the Gulf. I really hope things will change soon.
Since I’m in a theological mode today I should let you know that not all gambling is haram. They allow bets for horseracing in Iran. They say it was one of the three sports that Muahmmad liked (along with swimming, and archery). I don’t see the logic either btw.