Day 16: Amricani & Kuwait House of National Works Memorial Museum

!مرحباً

We switched things up today and had site visits in the morning, class in the afternoon. We toured 2 museums this morning: first, Amricani Cultural Center, the American Mission Hospital founded in Kuwait City in the early 20th century. It was without a doubt the nicest museum we've visited so far. The first exhibit was called Treasures of the World and displayed jewelry, weapons, and more, mainly from the Mughal Dynasty. Everything was intricately designed with emeralds, rubies, diamonds, and gold. Even the daggers, which were actually used in battle, were studded with thousands of jewels. 

Our next stop was the Kuwait House of National Works Memorial Museum, which was entirely dedicated to the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait from 1990-1991. Personally, I think the exhibits gave me a much clearer picture of just how horrible and heinous the invasion and occupation were. Because Kuwait hadn't expected the invasion, they were incredibly unprepared. One of the most striking points: 25% of the military was on vacation (makes sense in the heat of August - the invasion took place on August 2, 1990), including military officers. At the very end of the exhibit was probably one of the most unbelievable things I've ever seen. We all remember this playing endlessly on the news during 2003, correct? : 

This statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down and
shattered in Iraq

Well, they gave the head of the statue to Kuwait, and I saw it with my own eyes today. 

Statue head of Saddam Hussein - I touched it

It was a bit of a shock to all of us when we realized what we were looking at. I remember watching the news so clearly, as that scene of the statue being pulled down became a sort of symbol during the first few months of the Iraq War. I guess it almost makes sense that they would give this to Kuwait.

Later in the afternoon we held class in the hotel and talked about oil and its affects on the Kuwaiti state. It was a very interesting lecture. One thing in particular I want to share is a study that was done in 2009. It asked Kuwaitis to rank their priorities, in terms of what they wanted the state to spend its budget on. They were given choices such as education, improving infrastructure, stock market reform, getting rid of corruption, and new foreign direct investment initiatives. What was the number one response? Paying off consumer debt. I think that just about says it all. 

Another interesting point we discussed was domestic energy use. Domestic energy consumption in Kuwait is about 16% of what is produced. This is a fairly low number, especially compared to Kuwait's neighbor, Saudi Arabia, which uses nearly 30% of its own oil. However, for Kuwait this is a 70% rise in only 10 years. If this trend continues, in 2022, Kuwait will need the price for one barrel of oil to be $320 in order to break even. This is probably the definition of unsustainable. 

For dinner some of us walked to a nearby Asian restaurant called Noodle House. It was such a nice change of pace from what we've been eating lately (although I do really enjoy the food here, it can get a bit repetitive). Tomorrow we leave very early for Dubai; I'm so excited! We have a full weekend, so I'll do my best to keep my daily blogging streak going!