Back in 2017 I posted about how “Old Kuwait is Digitally Disappearing“. The article was mostly about how things are disappearing off the internet, it could be old articles, photos or videos related to Kuwait. Now I’ve realized we have another problem, people who were involved with Kuwait back in the 60s and 70s are starting to die.
There was a photographer I was in touch with last year called Tor Eigeland. He had visited Kuwait back in 1967 according to him although I think it was sometime in the 70s based off the photograph I had found of his of the Kuwait Towers under construction (the photo in this post). Yesterday I messaged him because I had some things I wanted to run by him and his wife replied to me letting me know he sadly passed away this past April at the age of 92.
There is a guy who reached out to me who was part of the team that brought the Marriott Hotel ship to Kuwait. I haven’t been able to get a hold of him for nearly a year now so I fear he’s passed away as well.
Yesterday I got in touch with Keith Wells, a British journalist who was living in Kuwait back in the 70s. I was worried he had passed away since the last time I spoke to him was 10 years ago, thankfully he turned out to be still alive.
But thats basically how things are at the moment, every time I email someone I used to be in touch with, I wonder if they’re still alive. I feel like there are still too many stories that need to be documented, and many will sadly never be told.
22 replies on “Everyone is starting to die”
Mark, I’m disappointed.
People are literally dying, and all you’re worried about is collecting old stories? It feels like your priorities may be misplaced. استغفر الله.
I think you misunderstood the post or maybe I didn’t explain it well, but it’s their stories I want to try and save and keep alive, as a way to honor them for the role they played in kuwaits history.
I see now, it’s just not clear who the complaint “everyone is dying” is faced at.
You have the resources to fund an oral history project based on your own interests, maybe a monetary loss but a net gain culturally.
There are good people already doing that at AUK and doing an excellent job at it.
No idea what students at AUK are doing but if nobody knows about it or has access to it then what’s the point? Also the fact you don’t think their stories a a cultural gain is the very reason it is important and I do what I do. Most people focus on the big stories, it’s all the small ones we are losing.
I agree with your post, and I explicitly said it would be a cultural gain. I think you might’ve misunderstood me.
I wasn’t being snarky. I was just suggesting that you’re one of few people could be part of the solution in this case.
A lot of people feel the same way but don’t have the resources to fund a researcher or two to do substantial work related to their interests.
Nor do most people have the platform, or the experience to turn that work into content. You do.
The shoutout to The AUK faculty was just a shoutout to people who could potentially help out if you were to pursue that.
Their oral history project is openly accessible online, just not many people know about it. And I agree it’s a shame.
https://oralhistory.auk.edu.kw/gallery
Yes I misread your bit about the gain. I just saw the AUK link and it’s really interesting, I wasn’t aware of it. Sadly the software they’re using to share the stories is very clunky and not easy to use, browse or search. Gonna go through it later today, the fact they have Salam Kaoukji on there intrigued me!
There’s so many things relating to Kuwait that just doesn’t exist because no one had the foresight to take enough photos or videos. Like, nobody bothered to take interior photos of Virgin Megastore Marina Mall from its opening to its closing, there’s hardly any photos of Al-Manara Bookshop or when Souq Sharq first opened, there’s almost no photographic evidence of the special offers and promos that only existed in Kuwait’s fast food restaurants, how the magazine section looked like in bookstores, supermarkets and stationery shops.
I know, some of you may not care about these things, but I do, because those things practically defined my child & teen years when I was growing up in Kuwait, and isn’t that what matters the most? How something made someone feel during moments in time?
Yes! Nobody ever records the mundane. I’ve lived on Salem Mubarak Street for nearly 50 years, and I regret not taking photos or videos of the street in the 80s as I was growing up and in the 90s. There are no photos of Swan Lake or Bells even though I’ve gotten in touch with the owner. I did record a video of Soul II Soul https://youtu.be/jl1nkPxSgqY?si=J4K9BWuZjHvNw9zt
Its a random video but I just wish I had many more of these!
….50 years?
You’re not that old.
l
46!
Im from the early 70s & still here. Not going anywhere until i reach my goals. Also, dont email me.
I know precisely what you’re on about. I know that feeling and I live it some of the time. Personally, I like hankering after kinder, gentler times when things and experiences felt more real less synthetic. The 60s and 70s when we had less automation, less mechanization in the day to day, and which lent more to direct person to person exchanges.
You are absolutely right. I had a similar feeling a couple of years ago when we seemed to be losing so many icons—writers, scientists, poets, politicians, professors, and actors—all passing away. At the same time, I would look around at a generation reluctant to read or continue learning, feeling entitled to an easy life and a safety net without much effort. Where individual efforts with no direct personal profit are dismissed as foolish and gain very little traction as opposed to a new coffee shop, burger place, or “farmers” market. I am generally optimistic with the new path the country is taking will shake things up , cut the easy life shortcuts, and reaffirm the importance of continuous education, efficient and effective work, an appreciation of culture, and promoting it as we strive to diversify our economy and in turn attract the world to Kuwait.
You realize *you’re* one of the best curators of Kuwait history, right?
God bless all the Kuwaitis who do it in Arabic on Instagram etc
And God bless you and this blog for doing it on a website in English
Thanks, i like to think I’m curating a very niche part of Kuwaits history so the people who are better than me at this can focus on the more important ones
+1
It’s so sad that everything old in Kuwait is being erased. I just found out that the old Albisher & Alkazemi towers in Bnaid AlGar (where the daawat restaurant is) is going to be demolished. It’s going to be replaced by Oxygen Gym. Eeew!
Reminded me of this quote:
“Death is a strange thing. People live their whole lives as if it does not exist, and yet it’s often one of the great motivations for living. Some of us, in time, become so conscious of it that we live harder, more obstinately, with more fury. Some need its constant presence to even be aware of its antithesis. Others become so preoccupied with it that they go into the waiting room long before it has announced its arrival. We fear it, yet most of us fear more than anything that it may take someone other than ourselves. For the greatest fear of death is always that it will pass us by. And leave us there alone.” ― Fredrik Backman
Welp mark, hate to break it to you. Everyone starts dying the moment they are born. Some just take longer than others.
My father was a physician who established the hematology laboratory in Al Sabah hospital (1968-1971) and then was the head hematology at Kuwait University (1981-1984). He even wrote a book about it (in Czech).I have literally hundreds of photos from our stay there (not digital yet, mostly slides or prints).
Manual transmission cars are dying off too..