The First Gift of Christmas

“I knew that I could have any gift I could imagine. But the thing I wanted most for Christmas was not inside Santa’s giant bag. What I wanted more than anything was one silver bell from Santa’s sleigh. When I asked, Santa smiled. Then he gave me a hug and told an elf to cut…

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Goodbye, Dubai

This is a familiar scenario: we are sitting in an airport lounge waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more. No matter how meticulously you plan, it cannot be avoided, but it’s a good time to go through the cameras and cull lousy pictures. You know, your basic blurry camel photo or the night sky shot…

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The East African Slave Trade and the Kafala System

  “The strangest disease I have seen in this country seems really to be broken-heartedness, and it attacks free men who have been captured and made slaves . . .”  — Dr. David Livingstone, nineteenth century Scottish physician, missionary, and explorer in Africa   Our ship left the port in Al Mananah, Bahrain Wednesday evening and…

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Muscat Musings

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”  — Mark Twain   Thinking of making a career move? Open a car wash…

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