“Travel is … about learning, about crossing boundaries and mastering the fear of strangers, about making the effort to understand other cultures and thereby empowering yourself.” Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan feminist writer
When I took a job in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, my goal was to keep my head down, make a lot of money, and scoot back home. My only impression of Arabs at the time was from the movies – men materializing over a sand dune daggers in hand. Women cloaked in black was the second image. None of this mattered to me. I was desperate to save my land and humble home in Maine and to get my school loans off my back. So I plowed in figuring, I would focus on my work as a nurse. Humans can do anything for a year, right?
The Saudi men I worked beside were not dusty from the surrounding sand dunes but meticulously dressed in white thobes. Their wives lived in beautiful homes; many had servants. Gradually, a whole new culture unfolded before me. I now understand so much more of Arab life: the food, the religion, social manners etc. Their culture is complex as is ours. Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud does not represent the ideals of all Saudis just as President Donald Trump does not represent the values of all Americans.