My Sojourns - The People.

Allow me to indulge me in issues of interests in my endless sojourns. I have been a traveller in most of the Middle East and was even a resident somewhere there. I am customed to the way of life and speak the lingo.

In Asia and the Middle East, husband and wife relationships will remind you of apartheid, except that women are fine with it. Each sex grow indoctrinated and mentally inclined in a certain rigid way and they become a club of people who grow to belong to a certain club. Women raise boys to be their superiors and seem to enjoy it.

It is the same with the veil. They seem to be proud they have it and they use it. Some westernised people feel it is oppressive. There is die-hard traditionalists who will not trade the veil for anything. Fighting for their cause is a cause that benefits the fighter and not the female veil lovers of the Arabic world. It's like some parts where women are not permitted to drive. They do not even wish to drive.

Men will usually have nothing to do with young children or babies except they breed them. A woman will walk behind with 3 small children and loads of bags while the man is 20 to 30 metres ahead carrying a lot of nothing and unbothered. This happens with Arabs and Indians. Some Arabic countries have women shops where men are not allowed. They will open and close at given times. Funny enough, men work in these shops which sometimes sell lingerie.

Talking of Indians, they will have a woman pay dowry for marriage, that is a woman paying lobola. (If you have sons of your own, find an Indian family and let them marry the Indian chicks. The boy will be paid lobola and the money you were supposed to pay as lobola will go to the young family. Be money-wise.)

In particular, Omani Arabs are Swahili speaking, mostly. They love to assume that any black person speaks or understand Swahili. It is actually such a sweet language actually. When I become President of Africa, it will be the official language of the nation.

The problem of these guys is their limited idea of Africa. It is Tanzania or Zanzibar. They do not comprehend anything beyond. They will swear they know all of Africa and if you ask which country, they will tell you, "Bemba, Miembeni and ...." Wow.

Libyans are Italians in heart. Their dress sense and style is Italian and speak or understand some French. They are into a lot of fish and pasta and macaroni. They eat a lot of fish. There is so much old cars in Libya. You can't help notice the old 1966 404 Peugeot pick-up models. The country is trying to recover from many years under the embargo, with a lot of construction going on everywhere.

Saudi Arabians are Americanised. They are into belly bottoms and tight shirts and pants. In these lands, you are not expected to attempt to convert anyone into your religion. As expected, pork and beer are a no go area. Narcotic drug consumption or possession is an instant non-negotiable death sentence. Saudi is the only country in the whole world without a public cinema. Like many Arabic countries, they usually get budget excesses end of each financial year due to oil dollars.

If you are  wondering what I will be doing there, watch this space.