Category: Kuwait

The weather is great!

I love interesting stories about Kuwait and this one is particularly fascinating because I was able to get so much information, photos, and newspaper clippings to go along with it. Last week I got an email from someone telling me that their dad back in 1970 became the first and only Kuwaiti to ever be drafted by the NFL. They wanted to know if I’d be interested in telling the story and obviously, I jumped all over it! I really wanted to know how someone from Kuwait in the 60s ended up in the NFL so I met with his two sons and managed to get the full story.

Back in the 60s, their father Maher Barakat graduated from Shuwaikh High School for boys and received a government scholarship to attend the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. When Maher was in Kuwait he used to play soccer with his friends and family and he was known to be a powerful striker who was accurate and usually scored a lot of goals. It was soccer that got him into the NFL, and it was also soccer that ended his NFL career.

During one of his PE classes in college, Maher was given an opportunity to Punt (kick) a weird-shaped ball into a U-shaped goal. He hadn’t played American Football before but apparently, it was very easy for him to kick the ball as he used to when playing soccer. The coach then asked him to do it again and Maher scored the ball again. The coach then moved him to different points around the field and kept asking Maher to try and score from there and Maher would keep kicking the ball through the posts. After completing the assessment, Maher was given an offer by the coach to join the college football team as their starting punter and Maher accepted the offer.

Though his punting style was unconventional (leaning more towards a soccer kick), Maher Barakat became a star at South Dakota. He ended up breaking college and division records, which is most likely how he was spotted by NFL scouts. Maher became really well known in his college town and earned the nickname Bear-Cat.

Maher was officially drafted by the NFL in 1970 and became the first football player from his college as well as the first Kuwaiti to ever be drafted to the pros. Bear-Cat was approached by a number of NFL teams such as the Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, and St. Louis Cardinals but ended up choosing to sign with the Broncos.

In the summer after signing his NFL contract, Maher Barakat flew back to Kuwait to see his family and share the good news. Once back in Kuwait he was eager to play soccer with his friends just like he used to in the old days and that’s where the story takes a turn. Unfortunately while playing soccer with his friends, Maher ends up fracturing his toe. Even after healing, he couldn’t kick the same anymore and that was the end of his American Football career.

Maher eventually graduated and moved back to Kuwait where he worked in the Ministry of Electricity until the early 80s when he decided to leave to start his own business. He ended up opening what eventually became the popular video store, Blue Belt (حزام أزرق) and held the rights to WWF (now WWE) for the GCC (that needs a whole separate post). In the 90s he also became the partner in IVC, the video store located next to Fanar Mall.

Maher had kept all the newspaper clippings and photos from his college years and his sons passed them to me to share. There were a lot but I chose to share the ones I thought were the most interesting and informative. I’ve shared some in this post but you can download the PDF with all the articles, photos and letters I scanned by clicking this link Maher-Barakat.pdf

There is very little information about Maher online so I really appreciate that his sons decided to share this with me. According to them their dad doesn’t like talking about himself and so very few people know of his story and accomplishment. Hopefully, after today he’ll get the recognition he deserves.

Back in 2014, a German documentary on used tires aired and Kuwait was featured prominently in it due to having the world’s largest used tires mountain. Recently the documentary made its way to YouTube and in English with no region lock and I just watched it now. Although a few years old I think the documentary is still worth watching although some things have changed since then.

Since the documentary aired I believe at least two tire recycling facilities have been set up including Green Rubber Recycling whom I posted about last year.

When I visited the tires graveyard back in 2012, the tires were all piled together in one large pile (pictured above). Due to safety issues and the continuous number of fires that take place there, the tires are now compartmentalized into smaller piles so that if a fire breaks out it’s contained in one area. Fires happen so frequently that it even shows on Google Maps.

While watching the documentary above just be aware that the info is not up to date. YouTube

Thanks Syed

Last week I was looking for something on Google and ended up stumbling across an old picture of Salmiya which I hadn’t seen before. I started digging around looking for a higher resolution version and turned out I had actually posted the photo on my blog back in 2009 with a bunch of other old photos.

My memory is terrible and I’ve published over 12,000 posts so there is no way I can remember everything. I tried to find a higher resolution version of the photo online but everyone else had taken it off my blog so I couldn’t find one. So I decided to go through my emails to see if the source had originally sent me better quality scans. Turns out he had scanned the images in high res but because they were over 160MB he only sent me low res versions. I decided to randomly reply back to that person’s original email 12 years later asking if he still had the high res images. Turns out he did! He sent me a link to all the photos and I downloaded them and just put them up on Flickr and you can check them out here.

Anyway, I wanted to do a before and after comparison of Salmiya and you can view that in high res here. It’s impressive how many old buildings are still there but sadly they haven’t been maintained and are all in a state of disrepair. The whole neighborhood honestly is disastrously mishandled with no sidewalks or parking spots and loads of large open garbage bins that stink up the neighborhood. My neighborhood has so much potential and it’s sad I can’t do anything about it.

Thanks Khalid!

The Kuwait Society for Human Rights issued a statement a couple of days ago on the recent decision not to renew work permits for people over 60 years old. The statement was done with Google Translate and not edited so a lot of it doesn’t make sense, but the gist of it is there. One of their main arguments is that some people have lived all their lives in Kuwait with only a passport connecting them to a different place and so it would be inhumane to force them out especially since a lot come from countries that are unstable.

They also share their recommendations on what needs to be done including the need to abolish the kafala system which I’m hearing a lot of support for. I’m not sure how influential the society is in Kuwait maybe someone can let me know in the comments, but I feel like they lost an opportunity here to get support from international media outlets by not editing their Google Translated statement. Maybe someone could volunteer to edit it and send them an updated version.

If you can read Arabic then I’d recommend you check out their Arabic release here, if you don’t read Arabic then here is a link to their English statement.

This new project by Mabanee (the same people behind Avenues) looks like it’s going to be pretty cool located within Jaber Al-Ahmad City.

The comprehensive development will include a modern, architectural design in a community feel, with several components including 276 residential units and facilities and services to accommodate its residents and visitors including parks, schools and a retail component consisting of international retail and F&B brands. Aventura is expected to open during the first half of 2024.

Going by the video it looks like a neighborhood you’d find in Dubai or Europe with proper sidewalks, bike paths everywhere, and lots of greenery. Ah sidewalks, how I wish we had them in my neighborhood.

Thanks Lovelykuwait

I picked up this book online not knowing what it was or the year it was published, but it was selling for around 500fils so figured it was worth checking out. Turns out the book was published in 1964 by the Ministry of Guidance & Information, Department of Culture & Publicity, Division of Tourism. If that wasn’t cool enough it also came with three fold-out maps. I shared some pages yesterday on my Instagram but I also uploaded the photos online in case anyone else is interested in seeing what a 1964 tourist guide of Kuwait contained. These aren’t all the pages, just the ones I thought were interesting. Check it out here.

AlMuthanna Complex used to be one of the very few malls in Kuwait when I was growing up and it had some of my favorite places including The Kuwait Bookshop and Hungry Bunny. But for over a decade now it’s been a ghost town of a sort. I heard it had something to do with the fact that the land lease had expired and there was a transition period but that was over 10 years ago. I also heard rumors they were planning to demolish the building as well.

There are just a handful of stores still open in the mall so it’s pretty sad. The complex is located in a great location in the city, it has tons of parking and even the residential apartments are nicely laid out and constructed. If anyone knows what’s going on with the building let me know.

Last year, the government announced that expats over the age of 60 who have a secondary degree or below will have to leave the country. Supposedly this will help solve the demographic imbalance that has resulted in expats currently making up 70 percent of the population. A lot of people didn’t think this decision was that big of a deal and maybe I’m a bit guilty of that as well. But recently I started realizing who those people being forced to leave would be and now I’m pretty pissed about it.

What I didn’t realize or at least took time to realize is that just because you don’t have a college degree it doesn’t mean you don’t have any skill or experience.

A few weeks ago when I was shopping for a sound system I had such a great experience interacting with a salesman who knew his stuff. I hate dealing with salespeople usually because most don’t know what they’re talking about and are just trying to make a sale but this person I dealt with was an older guy with a lot of experience because he had been working in this field for a long time. I then found out he was going to have to leave this year because he was over 60 and they couldn’t renew his visa.

The video on top is a short piece by AlQabas TV on Souq Safafeer, the metal market in the city. If you ignore the fact that the reporter wasn’t wearing a mask and skip to minute 6 in the video, the reporter interviews a metalworker who’s been in Kuwait since the 50s and is now being forced to leave because of the new rule. He doesn’t have a college degree but he has a skill that we’re now losing.

And we’re going to be losing a lot more of these experienced and skilled people that don’t have any degrees. Could be your favorite barber or the best welder in your company, expats who have been working for a very long time and have become the best at what they do and now have to leave because they don’t have degrees.

Forget the fact that some people like the old metalworker in the video above has been living in Kuwait for nearly 60 years and now is being told he needs to start a new life somewhere else. That’s a messed up thing by itself but put that aside for now, how does it benefit Kuwait if we are kicking out the most skilled and experienced people? I don’t get it.

This post reminded me of the old photographer in the city who I posted about years ago. His story was slightly different, he moved to Kuwait in the 50s as a teenager after running away from an abusive father in Lebanon and had been living in Kuwait as a photographer ever since. He never left Kuwait, not even for a vacation. When I first met him he was having anxiety because his residency had expired and he had trouble reaching his sponsor and was worried he would have to leave the country. He was around 80 years old with no family, home, or anything outside of Kuwait. With this new rule, he would have been forced to leave. Totally messed up.

I actually liked this museum because it was old and had random things inside. Sadly doesn’t look like it’s going to reopen anytime soon and I wouldn’t be surprised if they demolished it so they can build something new and shiny. I’m trying to remember the last time I visited and it might have been 2004, back when I had Moblogging from Kuwait (before my Miskan blog, and I think before Qhate).

For more photos of the current condition of the museum, click here.

Al Diwan Al Amiri released a preview video of the new Entertainment City and although I hate the fact they demolished the old one, I think I kinda like this one. I like it because they’ve combined a lot of different things into the place which might actually make it successful. Previously it was just an amusement park but the new version merges a mall, hotel, and sports stadium with the park as well as an aquarium and museum. The new Entertainment City is going to be now called “The City” and contain the following:

Outdoor Theme Park (6 theme zones)
Indoor Theme Park (Envisioned by Ubisoft)
Indoor Snow Park
Waterpark
Aquarium
Dolphinarium
Museum & Planetarium
High Street Retail
A Retail Mall
Luxury District (900+ rooms and apartments)
Icon Hotel (480+ luxury rooms)
Sports and Festival Arena (25,000+ spectators)

The only thing I really don’t like and should be changed is the dolphinarium. It’s 2021, we’re all much more aware and informed on how inhumane dolphinariums are. Even The Scientific Center canceled plans for their dolphinarium so not sure why we’re still trying to build one in Kuwait.

Other than that one issue I’m excited about this project. No completion date was shared in the presentation but going by their previous schedules, I wouldn’t be surprised if the first stage isn’t completed in around 2 years’ time.

Thanks @_M87

Pre-Covid we weren’t known for taking care of our environment and now during Covid with everyone staying here things have gotten worse. People here have a terrible habit of littering be it at the beach or in the middle of the desert and with the increase of kashtas, its become even more apparent. So the EPA launched an awareness campaign in the hopes of making people more aware of the garbage they’re leaving behind.

It’s a great short animation with humor which I think works since more people will end up sharing it. But, it’s in Arabic so not all my readers will get it. @EPA_kw

Kuwait’s Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, has died at the age of 91, state media report. He was expected to be succeeded by his 83-year-old half-brother and crown prince, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmed. In July, Sheikh Sabah was flown to the United States for medical treatment following surgery for an unspecified condition in Kuwait. Source

I was looking for a photo of the Emir, a specific one where he’s hold a bottle of Coke when I came across the photo above and loved it. It was taken back in 1963 and this is the caption that was attached to it:

Kuwait became the 111th Member State of the United Nations when the Fourth Special Session of the General Assembly adopted by acclamation a 17-power draft resolution to that effect. Seen here as he addressed the meeting is Kuwait’s Foreign Minister, H.H. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait, Foreign Minister at that time, who thanked the Assembly for admitting the State of Kuwait to the United Nations. – 14 May 1963 (Photo Courtesy of UN Photo) Source

May he rest in peace.

I managed to get my hands on renderings of Al Shaheed Park 3. The two in this post are final versions but I also have some more renderings and pages which I’m waiting on a confirmation to share. One new bit of information I found, the new phase of Al Shaheed Park will have an indoor skydiving facility that will be part of the Extreme Sports Building.

If you missed my previous post on Al Shaheed Park Phase 3 you can check it out here. Once I get approval to share the other images and renderings I’ll post them here. For now you can check out the larger version of the renderings above with these links:

Park Render 1
Park Render 2

Thanks Dragos and A

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the 1990 Kuwait Invasion, and every year on the anniversary, I like to share some links related to the war. Here they are:

Free Kuwait
This is a website that focuses on the campaign that was led by Kuwaitis in exile and is loaded with photos and information.

Kuwait Invasion – The Evidence
This is a website that contains over 1,200 pictures taken right after the 1990 invasion as photographic evidence to all the destruction caused by Iraq.

Short movie: Hearts of Palm
Hearts of Palm is a short movie set on August 2nd 1990 and deals with Kuwaiti students living in Miami Florida during the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait.

The Class of 1990
This is a short documentary about reuniting classmates years after the 1990 Iraqi invasion.

Homemade video from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
Video clips taken by a Kuwaiti family during the Iraqi invasion

Desert Storm Photos
Photos taken by soldiers during Desert Storm.

Short Animation: Sandarah
A captivating story based on true events that took place during the 1990 Iraqi invasion.

First Account of Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait
Interviews with various Kuwaitis that were in Kuwait during the 1990 invasion.

Iraqi Invasion Pictures
Photos of the Gulf War aftermath.

Politics of War
A tumblr account with some not so commonly seen photos from the Gulf War. (Warning some are graphic)

Magnum Photos
A gallery of images taken during the Gulf War by some great photographers. (Warning some are graphic)

BBC Documentary: The Last Flight to Kuwait
A series of documentaries on Iraq begins with a look at the fate of British Airways flight BA149 to the Far East in 1990. As the plane landed in Kuwait, Saddam Hussein invaded, capturing its crew and passengers.

Photos in this post are by Bruno Barbey