Memories of Abu Nicola
our lebanese friend, abu nicola, who has worked in kuwait for many years, made good friendships, taught his children in kuwaiti schools and received good treatment in the country’s hospitals. abu nicola had to leave kuwait when the country was invaded by saddam hussein’s army, but returned after the liberation, worked for a while and returned to lebanon after his retirement. commenting on the recent attack on expatriate residents, abu nicola says, whenever he picks up a newspaper or a magazine, he sifts through the pages quickly and when he comes across any news about kuwait, he leaves everything and takes time to read it in detail. kuwait has been on his mind and conscience for thirty-fi ve years, during which he acquired his identity and his family. he had the privilege of gaining vast experiences and he loved the country so much, that he even named his daughter ‘dana’ after the precious pearls of kuwait. she and her sisters made friends with a lot of kuwaitis and people of other nationalities. mitri (abu nicola) says during their stay in kuwait he remembers several nice incidents, including the day when his daughter dana complained of severe pain in her ear. since he was not in kuwait at that time, his wife took the daughter to their kuwaiti neighbor masoumah to take her to a government clinic because his family doctor did not work on fridays. masoumah obliged and took dana to the clinic in daiya. at the clinic, masoumah registered dana under the name of her father abdulrahman to overcome any ‘complication’. the daughter and the mother visited the doctor on duty that was iraqi. he checked dana and alleviated her pain and brought back the smile on the girl’s face. dana began talking with the doctor and mentioned the arrival of santa claus and the gifts he will bring for her. the mention of santa surprised the doctor and he was obviously unhappy. he protested to the ‘mother’, masoumah who is muslim, for teaching her children alien beliefs and traditions. ‘how santa enters your house with gifts?’, he asked her. masoumah found a way out and told the doctor she was infl uenced by her friends at a foreign school and promised to keep an eye on the child. this happened as the real mother watched in silence because her main concern was the pain of her daughter and was not in a mood to get involved in controversies. when they came out of the clinic, masoumah said to dana: ‘oh, dana, you have a big tongue, what do you want santa claus for? however, after realizing what she had just said, she changed the topic and said to dana’s mother, ‘i wonder if this man is a physician or a preacher’. the reason why i write this is because many people who worked among us have left kuwait forever. their hearts are fi lled either with agony for leaving the place they loved or wasting their time in a place where they were not respected as a human being. it is therefore our responsibility to make the stay of expatriates among us more pleasant so that they keep with them the good memories of kuwaitis and kuwait.
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