My First Omani Wedding . . . A Distinctive Arab Experience

The Bride’s Love Seat

The female security guard discretely slips me through a side door and gestures for me to sit at the table in the corner. The Arabic music is pulsating and the room is reverberating with the nervous energy of 400 women. Suddenly, the lights dim and everyone turns to watch. A bride, dressed in a Western-style long white wedding gown with matching trailing veil has a death grip on her bouquet of roses as she takes very slow measured steps down the center aisle towards the “Bride’s Love Seat.” Her unsmiling face is devoid of emotion.

Following the bride are several bejeweled “bridesmaids” moving en mass like a swarm of bees following their queen. Rising above the pounding music, warbling female tongues emit the zaghareet, the high-pitched ululation made by Arab women to congratulate the bride. The level of noise is deafening but I am not going to miss a moment of this.

Ramadan Iftar Dinner . . . A generous gesture of mutual respect

The Camp

The stark compound is bathed in the fading sunlight.  The cream colored containers blend with the sand into a monochromatic landscape. It is very still on the island with only the movement a mild gulf breeze breaking the searing heat of the day.  

I see a few men dressed in shalwar kameezs (baggie trousers and long tunics) and lungis (sarong like skirts) waiting around the gate entrance with wary anticipation as we position our cars full of food and gifts just up the hill from the camp. My welcoming wave receives no like response.  I admit that this makes me apprehensive. What if we don’t have enough for everyone? What if we've brought the wrong food?  What if they don’t come for our gifts?

Volunteer Farooque Rao assists the men to
 line up to receive their Iftar dinner and gifts. 

It is the last Friday of Ramadan and the Al Reem Ramadan Charity Project is delivering its first Iftar dinner and gift package to the 250 men living in a labor camp on Al Reem Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE.  Just three short weeks before, through emails and flyers, I began gathering generous souls to help. My goal was to fund one Iftar dinner (the celebratory evening meal during Ramadan) and give the men a gift bag of 5-6 essential personal items and food. (The team so over achieved this goal!)

11,000 Volunteers Being Human for Every Human Being – Adopt A Camp Ramadan Care Package Project in Dubai

What do you do when 11,000 volunteers show up?

Saher with her "adopted" boys
from the labor camps

I believe that one person can make a difference in the world. What starts with a small act of compassion can become so powerful that thousands of people join in the crusade.

That is exactly what happened with Saher Sheikh’s random act of kindness one day as she stood in the checkout line at her Dubai grocers  watching a laborer carefully count out his coins for a meager meal of bread and laban (a yogurt drink). Seeing the distress in the man’s face, she steps in, pays for the sparse meal and tells him to go get anything else he wants – he simply gets a strawberry drink.

From this small act AdoptA Camp was born. Adopt A Camp is a grass roots organization that today brings assistance to 43 camps helping more than 32,000 laborers in the Dubai area.

Ramadan 2012 Adopt-A-Camp Project. . . Join me in a small act of charity

Please join me during the 2012 Ramadan holy season in a simple act of compassion to support the Adopt-A-Camp Care Package project. 

The program will provide 5,000 large “care packages” of personal hygiene products, clothing, bedding and food items to help improve the lives of laborers, some who have been abandoned by their employers. 

This effort is organized by the non-profit Adopt-A-Camp organization and the DubaiChamber of Commerce.

The goal is to raise enough money to cover the cost of 5000 pillows @ AED12.

If I can find 200 people to donate 300 dhs each ($80) we will succeed. Thank you for anything you can do.   Please feel free to ask your friends to help. Contact me email: katiefoster46@gmail.com or
cell:055-525 6619

Travel to India - The Ultimate Elegant Journey . . .Oh my! The Oberoi Hotels

Jani, Kathryn, Paty & Katie at the Taj Mahal

As an voracious traveler, arm chair and otherwise, I have many beautiful memories of extraordinary trips – a romantic sunset camel ride in the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan; a dreamy interlude in an idyllic inn in the small village of Sirince near Ephesus, Turkey; flying falcons and eagles in the desert of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE; a harrowing transatlantic crossing from Lisbon, Portugal to Miami, USA; and superbly simple Corvette road trips exploring Florida’s back roads.

But I have to say that now I have one that tops all of these. India!

This was not just any trip to India – this was the ultimate Elegant Journey (EJ).

Trip to Normandy Beach Sparks Memorial Day Remembrance . . .

“To these we owe the highest resolve that the cause for which they died shall live.”

                                                                         Omaha Beach Memorial, Normandy France

A big salute to all our USA military war veterans on this Monday’s Memorial Day.

Because of the sacrifice of our military personnel and the sacrifices of their families, Americans and the people of many other countries now live in freedom and peace.

Blogging Boomers Blog Carnival #260

This has been such a special month astronomically speaking.  First we had the super moon on May 5th, and then an annular solar eclipse. Don’t miss these pictures, because we won’t see another until 2023!

Midlife writers: Have you heard about Midlife Collage yet?  It’s a website where anyone age 40-60 can share their stories for everyone else to enjoy.  The story chosen to be the best each week by readers, wins the author $50 plus bragging right!

Big news!  My story: “AMBUSHED BY LOVE!” was the big winner last week!  Thanks to all of you for your votes.  

On to the business at hand! What have my fellow midlife bloggers been talking about this week?  EVERYTHING!

14 REASONS WHY MOM IS ALWAYS RIGHT . . . FOR TEENAGERS

Brooke & Nanny

With Mother’s Day in the USA coming up this Sunday, I am digressing from my regular Arabian travel stories and posting a special message to my teenage granddaughters Brooke and Lindsey.

I just want to impart a little grandmotherly advice to you as you travel the uncertain paths of the tumultuous teenage years. 

Love and miss you Brooke and Lindsey. 

Lindsey & Nanny

For my readers, let me know if I missed any important points! I am certain these translate into any language. Please also share with your teenagers. I would love to know what they think.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!   


Everyone, don't forget to call your Moms and Grandmothers on Sunday!

1. Mom is the Queen  . . . and ruler of the Kingdom! 

BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY AND PEACEFUL 2012

The music is “Tomorrow-Bokra,” an Arabic re-adaptation of Quincy Jones’ Grammy-award winning song entitled ‘Tomorrow (A Better You, A Better Me). Collaborating with Emirati social entrepreneur Badr Jafar,  Quincy produced this Arabic charity single involving 24 leading Arab Artists from 16 nations across the Middle East and North Africa singing with one voice for a better tomorrow.

Funds raised from the sale of “Tomorrow/Bokra" finance educational arts and culture scholarships and projects for children throughout the Middle East and North Africa. All proceeds generated will be placed in a dedicated Tomorrow/Bokra account under the Quincy Jones Foundation (http://qjfoundation.org)

“Tomorrow/Bokra” can be downloaded from ITunes.

Personalize a free digital greeting

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UAE . . . A Proud Nation on the Move

Forty years ago, on December 2, 1971, six tribal leaders gathered in Dubai. Surrounded by throngs of their people they pledged their allegiance to a new country. A seventh leader would join the allegiance a short time later.

Faced with the prospect of the loss of British protection, these brave men banded together and set a new course for their small bit of ancestral land on the southeaster side of the Arabian peninsula. Reaching from the Arabian Gulf coast encompassing parts of the vast Empty Quarter desert, over the rugged Hajar Mountains and ending on the Oman Gulf coast, this small seemingly insignificant piece of land became the United Arab Emirates (UAE).  At that time, their only resources were sand, dates, camels and a proud heritage.

I wonder if they guessed what an amazing future they were going to have.

STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES AND BE GRATEFUL … as seen through the lens of Louise Schwartzberg’s amazing time lapse photography.

It is the day after the American Thanksgiving.

For many people in the USA and around the world it means the start of a frantic period that traditionally gathers friends and family together to share special meals and exchange gifts.

Sometimes the activities become so hectic that we risk losing sight of the true meaning of “the season.”

So I have a gift for you!

RAMADAN . . . A SIMPLE ACT OF CHARITY – Adopt-a-Camp Care Packages

Ramadan is the Muslim holy month; a time of spiritual renewal, fasting, family gatherings and alms giving. As a Catholic living in a Muslim country during Ramadan, I see much emphasis placed on the restraints imposed on ones daily schedule. But rather than ruminate on the restraints, I decide this Ramadan to embrace alms giving and do simple act of charity as a gift to my adopted home town, Dubai.

Adopt-a-Camp (AAC), which provides “care packages” to the men who live in Dubai’s labor camps, is my choice.

Merry Christmas from Dubai and the Middle East!

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