Picture of the Day: Saudi Arabia & Valentine's Day

A Saudi woman tries to choose a Valentine's Day teddy bears at a gift shop in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Friday Jan 30, 2009 . Store owners know that as Feb. 14 approaches, the feared religious police begin inspecting gift shops for items that are red or in any way suggest the holiday, which is banned in this country. Such items are legal throughout the year. It's only around Valentine's Day that they take on a contraband status. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) 4:27 p.m. ET, 2/12/09

Saudi Arabia welcoming more cultural events

But activities often interrupted by men claiming to be religious police

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Saudi women visit the 4th Riyadh International Book Fair in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday

From the Associated Press - Sat., March. 7, 2009

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - When word spread that Brazil was going to be the guest of honor at the Riyadh International Book Fair, a Saudi official had to reassure the public that the Brazilians wouldn't be dancing the Samba at the 11-day event that opened recently.

The question to Abdul Aziz Al-Subeil, a senior Information Ministry official, at a news conference last week reflected the wariness with which cultural events are viewed by many here. For conservatives, book fairs, plays and movie screenings are a cause for concern because they allow for the mixing of the sexes, the playing of music and the introduction of books that they believe violate religious and moral values.

Still, despite the regular interruption of cultural activities by men who sometimes claim to belong to the religious police, there has been a marked increase in such events in the past few years.

One of the most groundbreaking was a concert held by the German Embassy last year at a government-run cultural center that broke many taboos in a country where public music is banned, public concerts are almost never heard of and the sexes are segregated even in lines at fast food outlets.

The other was the first Saudi film festival, held last year and attended by the information minister in a clear sign of official support for the event.

In a first this year, women have been given more access to the book fair, which opened Tuesday. In the past, female visitors were restricted to only two half-days. Many hoped this move would correspond with less interference by the religious police to stop what they view as excessive mixing of the sexes.

Presence of religious police

But well-known columnist Haleema Muthaffar said she was shocked when the religious police stationed five security guards, six policemen and two religious police agents between her and the men and women who attended her book signing to prevent men from coming forward to have their books signed.

She said the religious police detained three well-known Saudi writers for questioning after she tried to give one of them a signed copy of her book.

"What kind of encouragement for culture is this?" she wrote in Al-Watan newspaper.

She said culture is cordoned off "in a way that scares those who seek it and deters them from getting close to us."

Many other conservatives have made headlines recently trying to stop the kind of cultural opening supported by many Saudis. Last month alone, newspapers reported the following incidents:

• Bearded extremists tried to stop a play in Riyadh. As music blared signaling the beginning of the show, one of the men decided to give a religious lecture on stage. The man was stopped by the stage manager, and following a brief argument, he left with his companions.
• Bearded youths attacked dancers at the Desert Spring Festival in the southern town of Sharoura, forcing organizers to cancel the all-male traditional dance show.
• In the western city of Jiddah, five youths tried to disrupt the screening of movies at a spring festival by urging visitors to stay away from the cinema. There are no movie theaters in Saudi Arabia, but recently films have been screened at auditoriums and other venues.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which runs the religious police, has issued statements distancing itself from the incidents. The police are charged with enforcing the strict interpretation of Sunni Islam followed in the kingdom.

Columnists speak out

Columnist Hamoud Abu Taleb questioned how long such actions by conservatives can continue "since they have become increasingly violent and aggressive."

"Keeping silent about this behavior poses a great danger not only to the cultural institutions, but to society itself," he wrote in Al-Madina newspaper.

Another columnist, Ali al-Moussa, said concerns about the corrupting influence of cultural events have been overblown in Saudi Arabia. He said Brazilians should be able to dance the Samba at the book fair if they wanted.

"Haven't we danced the (Saudi traditional sword dance) at fairs in Paris, London, Moscow and Washington?" he wrote in Al-Watan newspaper. "Why should we dance in others' arenas and condemn their presence in ours?"

For those who want to enjoy shows in peace, there are piano recitals, standup comedy routines and plays performed on embassy grounds or in expatriates' residential compounds, venues that are off limits to religious police and extremists. The shows are not always open to Saudis, though.

One recent event featured Sue Ott Rowlands, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech. She performed Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner's hourlong monologue "Homebody/Kabul."

Rowlands said performing the play in Saudi Arabia "was an extraordinary experience."

Yasmin al-Tuwaijri, a Saudi epidemiologist who attended one of Rowlands' performances, said she enjoyed the show but had one concern in the back of her mind.

"I was extremely thrilled to have such an occasion, but I was nervous that somebody would come and ruin it," said the 42-year-old woman.

Nigerian AIDS Patients Marry Each Other

From the Associated Press - March 7, 2009

 

Newly-married couple Hauwa Idriss, right, and Umar Ahmed, both living with the AIDS virus, smile as they pose for a photograph shortly after their wedding in Bauchi, Nigeria, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008. Bauchi State, in Nigeria's heavily Muslim north, has recently begun playing Cupid with its HIV sufferers, encouraging them to marry by offering counseling, and cash towards their big day. The goal: to halt the spread of HIV in the non-infected population. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) (Sunday Alamba - AP)

 

Nigerian AIDS patients marry each other

By KATY POWNALL
The Associated Press
Saturday, March 7, 2009; 2:17 PM

BAUCHI, Nigeria -- With her golden dress shimmering in the sun and ornate henna tattoos covering her hands, Hauwa Idris is the picture of a radiant Nigerian bride. But her betrothal has hardly been typical: Both bride and groom are infected with the deadly AIDS virus and have been encouraged to wed by an unusual government program.

Bauchi State, in Nigeria's heavily Muslim north, has recently begun playing Cupid with its HIV sufferers, encouraging them to marry by offering counseling and cash toward their big day. The goal: to halt the spread of HIV in the non-infected population.

"We live in a polygamous society where divorce is common and condom use is low," says Yakubu Usman Abubakar, an official working with the Bauchi Action Committee on AIDS, which runs the program. "If we can stop those who have the disease spreading it to those who don't have the disease, then obviously it will come under control."

The plan had seen 93 "positive" couples married since its inception about two years ago. Idris, aged 32, and her beaming husband, 39-year-old Umar Ahmed, are couple No. 94.

"I'm very happy to see my wedding day," laughs Idris shyly. "I never expected I was going to marry because of my (HIV) status. But now I am happy and thank God that now we have a solution ... we can marry within ourselves."

Idris and Ahmed's eyes met across a crowded clinic waiting room as they queued to collect their anti-retroviral HIV therapy pills. They exchanged phone numbers and the courtship began.

Two months later, Ahmed asked Idris' parents for her hand in marriage. It was granted and a dowry of $68 agreed upon. As an incentive to carry it off, the Bauchi group contributed $225 toward the cost of the couple setting up home together, no small amount in a country where over half the population live on $1 a day.

The outreach program won't be formalized until 2009, and no budget figures exist yet. The state doesn't seek to introduce HIV-infected people, since that would entail revealing private medical data, but when officials hear of HIV lovers, they step in quickly to encourage a legal union.

Around 4 million of Nigeria's 140 million people are living with HIV _ the second largest HIV population in the world, according to Britain's foreign development agency. And although prevalence rates have dropped slightly in the past three years to around 4 percent, health experts warn the country still has a lot of work to do to bring the epidemic under control.

Bauchi is the only one of Nigeria's 36 states known to have such a program. In a society where HIV sufferers are stigmatized, these "positive marriages" provide more than just companionship.

"We have such a close bond," says Usman Ziko, 42, of his relationship with wife Hannah, 32. Money from the Bauchi plan allowed them to marry in October, after an 18-month courtship that began in the corridors of the clinic.

"It was a flamboyant affair," Hannah recalls of the wedding with a smile. "Lots of people and dancing and we snapped pictures to remember the day."

"When I first found out I was positive I thought it was the end of the world," explains Ziko. "I was depressed and became isolated from my friends. Now I have a partner who understands everything. We share our problems, remind each other to take medicine and are free with each other."

Bala Garba, a 40-year-old soldier, married Rabi Ibrahim, a 24-year-old teacher, with assistance from the plan after they met at their clinic.

"Making this marriage will make our lives easier and help us to keep the secret (of our HIV positive status)," Garba explains. "It is normal to be married in our society. This keeps people from thinking there is anything abnormal about us."

The pair have just had their first baby _ a little boy named Musa.

With assistance from the Bauchi Action Committee on AIDS, the couple received treatment and advice to help prevent Rabi from passing the virus to her baby, although the child is still too young to be tested. According to health workers, they have every chance of having a healthy child. "He is a strong boy and he's growing fast," laughs Garba, visibly delighted.

Ziko and Hannah, following strict advice and recommendations from the organization, have also conceived.

"I'm so excited to be a mother," says Hannah, now three months pregnant. "I have been eating a special diet and having medical checkups. I never imagined I could live such a normal life."

Not everyone is so encouraged, however. Some health experts have criticized the plan, saying that if HIV positive couples are encouraged to have babies, more children will end up orphaned.

According to the United Nations, Nigeria had 1.2 million AIDS orphans in 2007. While some may be adopted by relatives or find care with charitable or church organizations, many will end up on the streets begging and taking care of their siblings. Bauchi's health officials remain convinced of the plan's benefits, however.

They point out that in Nigeria, life expectancy is just 48 years in any case.

"Here you can't assume that someone with HIV will die sooner than someone else," says Abubakar, of the Bauchi program. "Especially if they are taking care of themselves, receiving good advice and proper medication."

Ziko certainly has no intention of leaving his unborn child to fend for itself.

"It's the start of a fresh, new and happy life," he beams. "I plan to live another 50 years."

Picture: Saudi Arabia Increases Cultural Events

Saudis visit the 4th Riyadh International Book Fair in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, March 3, 2009. 3:46 p.m. ET, 3/3/09 Related Story.