Homeward Bound to Middle East
- Community
- Aramco Brats
Author: Santa Barbara News, January 23, 2004: By Mike Trap
Released 2 February 2004
Visiting the Middle East amid heightened terror alerts has become routine for Chris Dumville and Sam Laughlin, who are teammates on the Cate School boys basketball team.
It's simply a trip home for the American-born teenagers whose families relocated to Saudi Arabia to work for the world's largest oil company, Saudi Aramco.
While other local prep basketball players were preparing to compete in holiday tournaments in mid-December, Dumville and Laughlin were heading home despite warnings from the United States government.
Security concerns prompted the U.S. Department of State to issue a travel warning on Dec. 17, recommending that U.S. citizens defer travel to Saudi Arabia. Private American citizens were asked to evaluate their own security situations and consider leaving the country.
On Dec. 18 Dumville began his journey home. Laughlin followed the next day.
"My parents sent me those warnings and said not to worry because everything was still fine," said Dumville, an 18-year-old senior who was born in Dallas, Texas. "I wasn't really nervous because I've done it so often. We fly back there three times a year."
Dumville and Laughlin are two of 14 Cate students who live in Saudi Arabia. Pete Mack, the boys' academic adviser and basketball coach, said he's always concerned to some degree when his students are flying into dangerous regions.
"But there's so little you can do about it," Mack said. "All you can do is hope the appropriate precautions have been taken. And it would be more difficult for me if the kids acted like they were worried. They really treat it like it's not a big deal."
The boys' families live in Udhailiyah, which is composed entirely of a residential compound owned by Saudi Aramco.
Laughlin's father works for the company as a chemical engineer while Dumville's dad is a production engineer. Laughlin's family moved there 14 years while Dumville has called Saudi Arabia home for eight years.
"It's really the only home I've ever known," said Laughlin, a 17-year-old junior who was born in Baton Rouge, La.
They said Udhailiyah is about a three-hour drive from Riyadh, where residential housing compounds for foreigners have been targeted by suicide bombers over the past year.
The Associated Press reports that Islamist extremists have also been blamed for detonating four car bombs in Riyadh in 2003, killing 52 people including the assailants, and wounding more than 100 others.
"We're really out of harm's way. There's nothing nearby that's too overly dangerous," Dumville added. "But on the big holidays, like Christmas and New Year's, there are machine guns set up outside of camp, which is kind of interesting."
The compound provides schooling up to the ninth grade, then Saudi Aramco pays for its employees' children to be sent to boarding schools throughout the world.
When they tell other people where they're from, they then end up spending an entire conversation attempting to disprove stereotypes about Saudi Arabia.
"Usually the first question is, 'Do you own a camel?' Then it's 'Do you live in a tent?' " Dumville said. "They'll make complete generalizations about Saudi Arabia that couldn't be less true. But I get a laugh out of it." Laughlin admits that sometimes he won't talk about his home just to avoid the questions that follow.
"They can't get over the fact that we have a back yard with grass, flowers and trees," Laughlin said. "We even have a fountain that's being installed in the middle of the compound."
Dumville added: "Our home is like any other town you'd find in America, except ours has a barb-wire gate around it."
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the U.S., a negative stereotype has also been attached to people of the Middle East. "I don't like how some people assume just because a person is Arab or a Muslim that means they're going to hate Americans or hate white people," Laughlin said. "That really bothers me."
"There's a feeling out there that all Muslims are extremists, and that's not the case," Dumville added.
Dumville and Laughlin live about a block away from one another in Udhailiyah, which is also home to people of varying cultural backgrounds. Dumville said being exposed to different cultures on the compound has been a gratifying experience.
"It gives you a different perspective," he said. "It's such a diverse community and you get so many different points of view. It's really broadened my horizons."
"And almost all the Saudis I've ever encountered in a shop or anywhere else have been the like the friendliest people ever. They're very welcoming."
Dumville said his experience has helped him contribute in classes at Cate, especially his course in international relations. But his parents also want him to excel in another subject: current events. "My mom and dad give me a lot grief for not knowing what's going on," he said.
Laughlin said he doesn't make an effort to watch the news, or any other type of programming. "I really don't even watch TV anymore," Laughlin said. "I'm not really up to date with what's going on."
When his parents' give him too much grief, Dumville, who's also taking advanced placement classes in statistics and English, eases his parents with a valid excuse. "I tell them, 'But I really don't have time,' " he said. "There's a lot of work to be done."