Moline Teacher Learns Saudi Traditions
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Author: Kristina Gleeson
Released 10 February 2006
MOLINE -- On Christina Shelton's November trip to Saudi Arabia, she had a constant entourage of men protecting her and her peers.
The Moline High School social studies teacher traveled through the country with 20 U.S. social studies teachers and library media specialists. Only two of her peers were from Illinois, both from Chicago.
Saudi Arabian women are required to wear traditional Islamic dress, called the abaya, in public. Generally black, it usually covers everything but a woman's face, feet and hands.
The women in the teachers' group had to wear abayas in public too. The oil executives the teachers toured the country with didn't require the women to cover their hair in public, but warned they would have to if the "religious police" were near, Ms. Shelton said.
Saudi Aramco arranged the three-city tour Nov. 18-29 in coordination with the Institute of International Education and Aramco Services Co.
The teachers visited schools and science and technology sites. Photographers, generally for the English-language newspaper Arab News, took pictures of the group as they traveled, Ms. Shelton said.
Their hosts were "warm and hospitable," treating their guests to extravagant meals and flights on private jets, she added. In one photo from the trip, a butler chases Ms. Shelton up a sand dune with bottled water.
The group learned a lot about oil. "They predict there are 80 years before" the world's oil supply is pretty much tapped out, Ms. Shelton said.
She estimated that 90 percent of Saudi government ministers, as well as many business executives the group came into contact with, were educated at prestigious U.S. universities. "Because of that, they love the United States," she said. Those who had visited America told stories of being taken in by families on Thanksgiving.
"They want to make sure we rebuild that relationship" between the countries, she added. When the United States "shut down visas" to Saudi Arabians after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, parents started sending their kids to universities and colleges in Australia and the United Kingdom instead, she said. "Slowly but surely," more U.S. visas are being given to Saudi students again, she said.
Many of the teachers' hosts have seen American democracy at work first-hand. "We want a democracy of our own," Ms. Shelton remembers them saying, " but we don't want a Western democracy."
Saudi Arabia's absolute monarch, Crown Prince Abdullah, allowed the first national elections in the country last year, a baby-step toward democracy. Men were allowed to vote for certain seats on new municipal councils, but women were not allowed to vote or be on ballots. Political parties are still banned.
Executives Ms. Shelton spoke with said they expect women's rights to become strengthened in the next five years.
Before the group left Jeddah, the city was abuzz with excitement about the first election that women could vote in and run in as candidates. It was for the city's chamber of commerce.
Ms. Shelton brought back to America an Islamic prayer rug with a compass in the middle to always align with the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia's version of the Barbie doll -- called "Fulla" -- and stories she hopes will create more cultural awareness in her students.