Posted on 04/08/2007 10:22:33 AM PDT by Nachum
With food, dance, art, and most important, a good dose of personal interaction, the Quad-City’s Arab community provided people at the Bettendorf Family Museum a good look into the Middle Eastern world and its culture.
About 100 people attended the event Saturday that was part of the Museum’s monthly Explore the World presentation. Featured countries were Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq and Egypt. But other Arab countries, such as Lebanon, also were represented.
Education was what it was all about, and it was effective for both the children and the adults.
Chris Migiel of Bettendorf said she had no idea that the people from the Arab world, from Jordan to Syria to Lebanon, spoke the same language, Arabic.
“I just learned it,” she said. “I can’t believe how ignorant I was about that. It’s sad. I know so little about them.”
Migiel said she understands she is not alone in that.
“We assume anyone from the Middle East is like what we see on the news,” she said.
Nizar Elkhatib of Bettendorf, a native of Palestine who has lived in the United States for 22 years, said that Migiel’s observation is all too common.
That is why events that bring the cultures together are so important.
“It’s important for the population to understand other cultures, particularly when their government is making policy decisions without knowing about the history and culture of the people those policies affect,” Elkhatib said.
“Without understanding the culture, the policymakers are very likely to make a wrong decision,” he said.
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all world,” said Moutaz Kotob of Bettendorf, who is originally from Lebanon.
Elkhatib turned his attention to a child wanting her name written in Arabic. He explained to her, “Arabic is written and read from right to left, not left to right as in English.”
He also said that Arabic is spoken by about 300 million people, with some colloquial differences depending on the region from which they come.
Hannah Burt, 8, of Davenport, said she really liked the event. But her mother, Lesa Hadley, explained that, “we actually lived in the Middle East, teaching English in Abu Dhabi. We just came back.”
Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates.
Asked if she is fluent in Arabic, Hadley laughed. “I can talk some to the taxi drivers.”
Khawleh Elkhatib, 32, of Chicago, was born in Kuwait before her family brought her to America when she was 4 months old.
She is thankful that her father made sure she grew up informed about her culture and being bi-lingual.
“He told us if we don’t learn it at home, we’re not going to learn it,” she said.
And it is important for people throughout America to take the time to learn about the many cultures that make up the country, she said, adding that it is the diversity that gives the United States its strength.
Mindy Alsheikha, originally from Detroit, and whose husband is Davenport physician Walid Alsheikha, said she married into the Arab culture.
“I immersed myself in it willingly and I love it,” she said. “The people embraced me completely.”
The face of the Arab people depicted by the news is wrong, she said. “They are warm and embracing,” she said. “It is my pleasure to know them.
“It ends up being such a small, little world,” she added. “It takes a little effort to understand.”
People filing through got a chance to taste authentic Arabic food supplied by Dewey’s Copper Café, Moline, including homemade baklava.
People also got to shop for authentic Arab artifacts, such as prayer rugs and jewelry as well as clothes and other items.
Julie Anderson, community service coordinator for the museum, said that the Explore the World events have been a huge success.
“These events have brought a lot of people together,” she said, adding that they started in November with Bosnia, Israel, Africa, Mexico, Ireland and then the Middle East. The next scheduled event is May 5 will focus on American Indian cultures.
“We want the kids to understand that there are children all over the world just like you,” she said.
Thomas Geyer can be contacted at (563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com.
Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
Didn’t see mention of anything the muzzies learned. But they surely learned one thing. too many Americans are stupid, naive boxes of rocks who can easily be hoodwinked, even by throwbacks to the dark ages.
My guess is that she had to convert to Islam before marrying.
I wonder if any of these numbnuts think about whether Iran or Syria would allow a cultural display of American values in their countries, before yammering on about the wonders of “Arab culture.”
Yuppers, lots of educating going on.
(Wonder if they sold out of prayer rugs and burkas?)
And another: And it is important for people throughout America to take the time to learn about the many cultures that make up the country, she said
No. It is important for people to learn about America's history and culture. Well, when we had our unique culture.
But for their food and music, every last arab should be kicked out of Eretz Yisrael unless they’ve signed a loyalty oath to the Jewish state. The liars can be taken care of by and by.
It was a total fraud unless it included...
Beatings for showing ankle.
Mutilations.
Explosive vest demonstrations.
Home made rockets.
IED classes.
How to assemble explosive shoes.
101 destructive uses for a cell phone demo.
Airliner takeoff classes...
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