CULTURE CORNER
Claudia Farkas Al Rashoud | Author and Photojournalist
(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to Promenade Culture Center. This is Culture Corner. We bring you the authentic stories of creative individuals. Today with us, Ms. Claudia Parcash-Alrashoud, author, photojournalist and Kuwait cultural consultant. Claudia, welcome to Culture Corner. Lovely to have you here today. - Thank you so much for having me. - We're really glad to have you, especially because we like talking to people who document Kuwait's presence and past and you have done so much in that regard. Now, a lot of these stories of how people became what they became actually start in their really early childhood. So we're very curious to learn or whether anything, any path that you took later in life was actually ignited in your childhood. - That's such an interesting question. You know, looking back on it now, I think that my mother had a lot to do with it because she instilled a love of doing research in me at a very young age because my father's work took him all over the world. And as soon as he got a new assignment to another country, she and I would go to the library and we'd check out all the books about that particular country. And it would be so exciting, you know, to go home and to just, you know, read about this new place that we were going to and to look at the pictures and to learn as much as we could about our new home. And that made it always so exciting to go somewhere and I never felt sad to leave home. I just felt like, oh, this is a new adventure. And so looking back, I think that, you know, that really, you know, gave me a love of research. - And traveling with your family, that was so extensive at times, that showed you diversity of the world and of languages and cultures. And that must have helped again your path as a journalist. - I think so, yeah, I think so because I always felt like, you know, there was so much to record. I mean, when I was a child living in Thailand on the Lao Cambodian border, I wasn't recording in words and photographs, but I was recording in watercolors. And I always felt like, you know, this need to somehow record these wonderful, strange, different things that I had the, you know, the opportunity to experience. I felt incredibly lucky. - How was going to school in those early days when you would be actually moving countries and were you going to different schools, were you, was this early, very early on before school, this whole traveling adventure with the family? Or it went on throughout your youth? - It went on throughout my youth. Actually, in Thailand, I was in sixth grade and there was no school because it was the combat zone. And technically, you know, the American military couldn't have people there, but my father was a civilian electronics engineer. So I was doing homeschooling, which was also a nice experience because I could do like three, four days of class in one day and then, you know, take the rest of the time to go out exploring with my family. And then other places I was going to American international schools. And I had to say the only time that was really difficult for me was in my own country when I moved from California to Kansas in middle school. - And everyone had known each other since kindergarten. It was very-- - It was a smaller community. - It was, that's the only place I really had culture shock. - Unexpectedly. I think that sometimes moving schools gets really difficult on children because specifically different classmates and different groups and little friend groups, but it ends up with so much richness in experiences that we are not able to see immediately perhaps. And nowadays we are very much against, we don't like going around and moving, reorganize our vacations with children's vacations, but it sounds so lovely to be able to freely, you know, leave something and go with the family and continue either homeschooling or different schools somewhere else. - Right. - Was this easy on your parents as well, taking you and your sibling away? - Now that I look at it, I just see how incredibly easy my mother made it for me as a child, I had no worries. And she was the one that must have had a huge burden to sort out the house and to pack everything up. And, but we did come back to California every other year. So I did have some continuity. And I would come back, Riverside, California, everyone was doing the same old thing. Not much had changed. And I had my old friends. - So I did have that continuity. - And you were an adaptable child, right? In all of this, how did you feel that? - I easily adapt. - Yes, yes, I did. But I, you know, thinking again, I really have to give my mother a lot of credit for putting such a positive spin on everything. She was always optimistic. She was always adventurous. - We mentioned that you are a photojournalist and that meant something in the past and meant something potentially quite different today. When you first started, how did it look? Was it very unique? Was it a rare occupation for a person at a time? Given that nowadays everyone feels like a photojournalist with a camera in their hands. And what are the differences that are the biggest in your opinion? - Well, that's a great question too. Because yeah, things really have changed. Back in the day when I studied photojournalism in university, I think one of the main criteria for being a good journalist was to be objective and to do your research. And to really, you know, research thoroughly and not to put yourself in the article. And now if you look at the news, all these journalists are personalities. It's not supposed to be about the journalist. You're supposed to be in the background and what you think doesn't matter. And of course, you know, you say, okay, be objective. I mean, everyone may introduce a bit of their own slant, but you really try to present the facts, pro and con, even if you disagree with somebody's position. You try to put pro and con. And now everyone has an opinion. Everyone is an instant expert. I think it's really scary now that people are getting there and news from Instagram, from TikTok, from different platforms, and who are these people? I think now like, I don't envy the young people going into journalism. I was at the first high school journalism conference at one of the British schools in Faheel. And I said to them, you know, you have such a tough job because you really have to see check out which is the fake news, who really is an authority in your subject, you have to check your sources. You have to check people's qualifications, not just, you know, oh my gosh, forward, forward, forward. - And it's an in depth check that actually has to happen. The fact checking and one of the things I remember learning at school was you have to be well informed. And at the time, it didn't mean a lot. Of course we have to be well informed, but nowadays we very well see what well informed means. Responsible, getting informed responsibly. - Yes, that's the key word, I think, being responsible. - Yes. - Do you remember some of the first stories you've covered as a photojournalist, either amateur or an actual photojournalist? - Well, I was writing for the university newspaper and at the same time I was doing an internship with a magazine as part of my university work. And then the internship ended and they hired me. And it was a magazine called Inland Empire magazine. It was for three cities in Southern California. And I became the lifestyles editor, which was great fun out of last. And sometimes it was just something like, you know, the best pizza in the Inland Empire. A guide to the spas of the Inland Empire or horseback riding in the Indian canyons in the Mojave Desert or something like that. But sometimes it was more serious. Like I look back on an article that I wrote. I was just checking my files yesterday, like 1978, about the Vietnamese refugees that came with the fall of Saigon in 1975. And thousands of them came to Southern California and how did they settle and what kind of county and state programs were available for them and what difficulties did they face? So I did do some, you know, serious reporting as well. - What topics interested you at the time? What did you like writing about? If you had a choice of course. - I always loved history and culture. I liked roaming around, you know, the old downtown and finding the old, dilapidated buildings and what was the story behind them. I found an old theater that was falling to bits that had been the home of some of the great vaudeville acts. Even like Harry Houdini had performed there. So kind of like obscure little known corners, forgotten corners of culture. - But that's the curiosity you must keep as a photojournalist, I guess, when writing. - Well, that's the wonderful thing about the job is that I've had the freedom and also in my later years working for the Arab Times, I could just say, would you like an article on this or that? And most of the time, I got the green light. So anything that I'm interested in, I can go in research and I can go to, you know, meet complete strangers and ask them all kind of questions and find out, you know, lots of interesting information. - Did you realize while writing or while studying that there are some people who heavily influence what you're doing positively? Now, did you have role models mentors at the time? - Okay, well I said, one of my role models was the author, Tom Wolf, and he wrote, he did sort of this new age journalism. Like he had books called "The Electric Kool-Aid Asset Test" about the hippie movement, "Radical Chic" and "Mow Mowing the Flat Catchers." He was an observer of contemporary culture. And so we did a unit on him and then he came to the university and we actually got to meet him and a select few of us, you know, got to interview him. And he did a wonderful book called "The Right Stuff" about the astronauts and the space program and how the test pilots actually were the pioneers of the space program. And then in my later years in Kuwait, when I was working for the Arab Times, I met one of those astronauts that he had written so extensively about Charles Conrad, who came here to promote an airliner, an airplane. And no one else knew who he was at the press conference. So I got to sit with him for an hour on this. The press conference was inside the airplane circling around Kuwait airspace. And so I was so excited to meet him and interview him. And I had this exclusive interview. So, you know, it's sort of sometimes things come full circle. That's just what I wanted to say, yes. That's lovely. I know that you have, but please correct me if I'm wrong, you have followed your parents to Kuwait. They were the first ones to come on the job, I guess. Right, right. At that time, you were just finishing college. Yes, I had just graduated. And how come you decided to come here? Now you're starting in a way your own life. Right, right. And opportunities are plenty, I guess. Our paths are different, but you come to Kuwait. How did that happen? Right, well, I was looking for a job as a photojournalist. And my mother used to cut out articles about Kuwait and send them to me by snail mail, imagine. And she sent this clipping, and it said the Arab Times was looking for reporters and photographers. But at the same time, I had been chosen by the University of California to be the Los Angeles Times intern in Washington. And that was also a great opportunity. So I had to decide, am I going to go to Washington and work for the Los Angeles Times, or am I going to come to Kuwait? And I thought, well, I may get another opportunity to go to Washington, but I don't think I'll ever get another opportunity to go to Kuwait. So I chose to go to Kuwait, and I'm really happy that I did. So you arrived in 1979. Right. And you immediately-- you've already actually started working for Arab Times at the time. Yes, yes. Yeah, I started freelancing for them when I was still in university. And they said, we would like you to interview some Kuwaiti students studying in Southern California. Also, it was the time of the Iranian Revolution. They said, talk to Iranian students. See how are they managing? They've had their funds cut off. What's their situation? What are their feelings? So I started freelancing straight away. And you come to Kuwait, and you continue this job with the Arab Times, right? And I wasn't exactly sure how things were going to go. Was I going to remain in Kuwait? And I thought, well, I'd like to maybe have a little vacation. But I called them after a few days, and they said, where have you been? Get to work. That was it. Did you have an office? How did those first days look? I've heard some of your testimony at the time. Some of them are very hilarious. It was. I'd like you to please, if you would be willing to share some of those first experiences at Arab Times. Oh, sure. Well, I had to bring my own typewriter. And I had this cast iron, Olivetti, very heavy typewriter that I had lugged all the way from California. I'd done all my university work on it. I brought the typewriter. And when I would arrive there, one of the old gentlemen from the machine shop, he would run out and grab my typewriter and carry it for me. Because he said, if I kept carrying it, I'd end up with one arm longer than the other. And the office was very, very basic. And the dark room had no air conditioning. And so you can imagine, in the summer, you would just go in there and come out hours later, just drenched in sweat and with a face like a tomato and totally chaotic conditions in there. Who were the people working at Arab Times at the time? Who were other journalists or photojournalists? Right. Well, I was the only actual photojournalist doing both jobs as a photographer and a journalist. There was a British journalist named Keith Wells, who wrote some very funny stories, the wizard stories. Some people still remember him. And so he had joined a little while before I had. And so sometimes I would go on assignments with him. I would be the photographer and he would be the writer. And then in the dark room, it was mainly Egyptian male photographers who first wanted to do everything for me because they thought I was some little girl who didn't know what she was doing. But then when they saw that I knew exactly what I was doing, then they were actually quite proud of me. And I want to go just a little bit back in time. How come you became both a journalist and a photographer? OK, good question. It really goes hand in hand completely because when I was writing for the University newspaper and I'd be waiting for one of the photographers to go on assignment with me, well, they're always late and they don't always know what you want. They don't always capture what you have in mind. And so really, you have to do your own photographs, in my opinion, because then you can really express in words as well as images the idea that you're trying to get across. And at Arab times, when did a time come that you started maybe suggesting topics and covering things that you found and you wanted to write about? I had that freedom from early on, actually. If I came up with an idea, most of the time, they would say, yes, go ahead. I had a basket on my desk and there would be-- my assignments would be in there. But then I had a great deal of flexibility. So I could really do pretty much anything that I was interested in. And sometimes I would be sent out on an assignment and things were not what we thought they were. But as long as I came back with something interesting, then they were pleased. Like once I went to Dahra and I went with-- by this time, there was a young Canadian fellow who I was training. And I went to-- I wanted to go to the old market there. They had a place where they sold all old silver, Bedouin jewelry, and I had seen it. And I said, oh, I have to go back there. So we went back there, couldn't find it, couldn't find it. And there were bulldozers everywhere. And it turns out the whole place had been demolished. But near the market, we found some Bedouin tents outside a new housing area. And so we stopped to ask them where was this soup. And of course, they invited us in tea coffee. And we spent the whole day with them and talked to them and did some interviews with them. And I took a lot of photographs. And a lot of those photographs ended up in one of my books then later on. So as long as I came back to the office with something, it was fine. Did you have a language barrier? How did you overcome this barrier at first? Yeah, obviously at first, I didn't speak Arabic. And that was difficult sometimes. Just for the basic logistics, even as to try to find my interview location. I mean, there were no Google Maps in those days, of course. And no signs in English. And trying to ask directions who did have the language barrier. And so I would have to leave maybe an hour ahead of time if I wasn't sure of the destination and just drive around until I found it. So yeah, and then I started trying to learn the language. But first, I started learning classical, but then that was not useful in everyday life. And then I got a teacher and I said, I just want to learn Kuwaiti Arabic. And when you compare that time, Kuwait to so many different countries you have visited, because you've mentioned you've lived in Thailand with your family, I know that you've also spent time in Sicily with family somewhere, end of high school, beginning of college. If I'm not mistaken, probably there have been other places as well. You've moved within US as well. How was this different? Obviously, you were an adult this time. And you came to work. But still, did you ever visit any Arab country before or a Gulf country before coming to Kuwait? No, no, I hadn't. It was completely new, don't you? I knew, yeah. What was it like? You know, I just felt comfortable. And the thing that struck me was how safe Kuwait feels. I mean, I'd be going on assignment. And a lot of times I'd have to do like embassy receptions and then rush back to the office and write my article and develop the film and print the pictures. And I'd finish by maybe midnight and then drive home alone. But I always felt absolutely safe. And of course now, I mean, we have more crime than we did back then. But I still feel really safe in Kuwait. And that's something that I really love. When you write, when one reads your articles in Arab times, older ones or books that you wrote at a time and so on, there is great love for Kuwait. That one concerns from your lines. Also devotion to detail, a lot of beautiful topics that no one else, it seems, wanted to cover at the time. I really enjoy reading all of these. Thank you. Kuwait seems to be, it seems from your texts an absolutely lovely place to discover and visit. Right. Can you share more with us of what was happening in those early '80s when you just arrived? Where, I guess, the development, architectural development, cultural-- Right. --it was almost 20 years into independence. Right. Anything you find interesting to share would like to hear. Right. Well, there was so much going on. I felt like it was a very vibrant place. And at the same time, it was like being in a small town and being in a big international city. And I also love this cosmopolitan feeling. And we still have this. You get 10 people together for a get together, and you end up with almost as many nationalities. I think that's still something really wonderful. But there was so much going on. We used to have a summer festival that was put on by the Ministry of Information, gentlemen named Salisha Hab. And he had the Bolsho Ballet and Caracala dance troupe from Lebanon. And it was all free. And we still have a lot of cultural events like at Dara La Tara-Lislamia if you think of all the music and lectures. And these things are still free. So it's easy access. It's not like in other countries where you have to buy tickets and maybe they're sold out. I mean, we have access to a lot of different things. And I just think just a very friendly society. And then you mentioned architecturally. I mean, we had some of the best architects in the world who came here, like Björn Utsen, who designed the Sydney Opera House, and he did the Parliament building. And the Pietillas, the husband and wife team from Finland, who did the Council of Ministers-- and I think it's the Foreign Affairs-- building right-- the Seaf Palace extension next to the Seaf Palace. But unfortunately, a lot of that building has been changed from the original shape. But we had so many things developing. But also, we lost a lot of the old buildings and Kuwait lost a lot of its heritage and lost a lot of its soul in those years. Because things were changing so rapidly. And a lot of these wonderful old sections of the city just became victims of the bulldozer. And that was really sad. You decided at some point you will write books as well. How early on did that come? Living in Kuwait. Quite early on. Because, like I said, before going to a new country, I tried to-- I had the habit of looking for books. And I looked for books on Kuwait. And really, you could only find information about things related to oil. I mean, there wasn't anything about Kuwait, just as a-- I wonder when the books-- Bileticson came and her daughter or whether that was-- because I read those, but I don't remember when they were published. But they are still-- it feels like still there's more-- there's not enough. Right, those were published, I mean, many, many years ago. Yeah, Dame Bileticson 40 years in Kuwait. And her husband, Colonel Harold Dixon, in the early 1900s, the Arab of the desert in Kuwait and her neighbors. But I didn't even know about Dame Bileticson or any of that. And so it wasn't something that we didn't have internet. And so how could you search for those things? So I was just looking on things based from going to a library. Why, what, a library offered, yeah. And there wasn't anything. And right away, I just felt that things were changing so quickly. And like I said, things were disappearing. I drive to work in the morning and maybe come home in the afternoon. And a whole neighborhood of old traditional houses had been demolished. And I just thought, oh, I've got to-- I've got to write about this. I've got to take pictures. I've got to capture this. Your books are a lovely testimony to Kuwait's past. Did at any point you purposely did this documenting? Or was it just, in a way, your wish to write? And then this whole documentation came out as a process. And it was purposeful. It was purposeful. And as far as the buildings that were being lost. And also the cultural information, the knowledge. I had the honor to meet people who were like the last of their profession. Something that had been going on for hundreds of years. And then, all of a sudden, they were the last people, like the last great master shipbuilder, Hadi Ali Abdul Rasul. Or the last of the actual pearl divers and sea captains. And after that, these trades used to be passed on through generations. And then, not anymore. They were working in ministries or private sector, public sector, whatever. But that was it. So I felt like if I don't get their stories, this information is going to disappear. And I used to do a lot of talks when my books first came out. And I would go to schools. And I would always tell the students, talk to your relatives. Talk to your grandparents. Talk to your old aunties and uncles. And give them to tell you the old stories. And write them down. It's so precious, this information. How does today's journalism look compared to when you started working in Kuwait? Yeah, so different. Like you said before, now you've got loads of photojournalists. And I've always loved to write in-depth articles. I love to just go into this different world or this different area of culture and really immerse myself. And now, look at Instagram or whatever. You have to just condense everything. And people don't want to read a lot anymore. Most people don't. So everything has to be very short. And you have to-- I mean, your lead has always been important. You've always wanted to grab people's attention instantly with your first few sentences. Otherwise, you lose them. But now, it's even more-- should I say, just everything is instant. Everything is condensed. Everything is more superficial. Yes. Your work with Arab Times that continued for a while. Do you still work? Do you still write for newspapers? How does your work as a journalist look today? OK. I actually haven't written for the newspaper in a while because I've been busy with animal welfare work. And that's been taking a lot of my time. And I'm also trying to branch out to some different publications. I actually went to Montreal on grandmother duty, watching my grandson while my son and his wife were presenting at a Middle East conference. And I met the publishers of Saudi Aramco magazine. I've always loved that magazine. It's a beautiful magazine. And so we chat. I've always wanted to write for you. And so then they said, yes, we need you to submit some articles, submit some photographs. So that's what I'm working on right now. You continue. So this is great news for us to hear and to see hopefully soon. Thank you. I would like us, and we will talk about the great work you're doing in regards to animal welfare in Kuwait. Before that, I wanted to ask you on how does a writer nowadays announce his books or reminds public of the existence of the books? And how hard is that? Do you still organize meetings with your readers, with audiences? Do you still have to work hard on presenting the books? I remember when I found the way that I could actually buy your books directly, not just from a certain selling point. Again, I think I came to it through Instagram. So you have to use the new platforms as well. How does the writer's life look today? For me, the marketing part is very difficult. Number one, I'm not friends with technology. I'm always calling on my two grown-up sons to come and rescue me. I try to learn what I can, but it's not something that comes easily. And so that makes it super difficult, because you have to, like you said, use your online platforms. So I have a friend, a Kuwaiti friend, who's always supporting me and trying to just give me advice. And she's a lot younger than me. And so she was saying, she calls me Umphalalal, by my son's name, Umphalalal. You have to get yourself out there. You've been working here for so many years, and so many people don't even know about you. You have to make yourself visible. So she's the one who pushed me to do an Instagram. So I finally, I started an Instagram, but I'm not as active with it as I should be. But at least I got myself out there on Instagram. The books are there. One can order them there and look through them and see the titles and so on. So, given that you made your life in Kuwait, which is beautiful, you found love, you created your family. So you were here, and I'm interested you as a person who documents the moment they live in. You were here when the invasion started. Yes. And you stayed for a while before you left. Six weeks. What are you doing in that completely horrible, horrific moment of time when you probably can only think of survival and protecting children and family? Did the journalists do also something? Did you document anything of the time? Well, number one, I was terrified. And so I was saying, put out this command. You know that anyone caught hiding a foreigner, the penalty was death by hanging. And I was staying with my in-laws. And remarkably, I got a lot of offers from family and Kuwaiti friends that I could go and stay with them. If I had to flee from one place to another, I mean that was quite something. Were you still American at the time? Yes, yes. And obviously, my looks, I would dress up, when they would do this house-to-house searches, I would dress up with a buy-in, everything. But I have blue eyes, so that would have probably given me away. So, it was a very risky business, just my being there, just my very presence. So I didn't want to call attention to myself. And so I put my camera away. I did not, although I was aching to document what was going on, but I could write. And I kept a journal every day. I wrote about everything in detail that was happening. And then six weeks later, before I was evacuated, and we had to take Iraqi Airways via Baghdad to London, we were told that we would be searched. And I thought, if I'm writing all these, you know, not very good things about the occupation, you know, that could put me and my children in danger. So I rewrote all my notes in sort of a code that only I could figure out. And then when I got, as soon as I got out, and to safety, I started calling news organizations and, you know, giving interviews and writing articles myself. - So you were very active outside Kuwait in this sort of activism at the time? - Yeah, when I got to Los Angeles eventually, I joined the Kuwait American Friendship Council. And I was just doing interviews everywhere, like for civic groups, for schools, for universities. I was doing talk radio, which was a new thing back then, where they put you in the hot seat. Their host is very hostile. I had no idea about that. And television interviews and press interviews. And I had to change my name and use a pseudonym because they said we'd been advised that, you know, they could look for my husband. - Who was here? - Who was here, and all his family was here. - I was amazed at the bravery of people who actually took an offer, so to speak, to go to Baghdad and be evacuated. You literally went right into the wasps. - Yes, I read that many people have left this way, and then left the country and went back to different countries. But it feels just crazy and brave at the same time. - And we really looked at all the options because some people were getting better ones who knew the way through the desert to guide them and doing a caravan of four-wheel drives and trying to sneak through the border and get into Saudi Arabia that way. And so, you know, my husband and I discussed it, and he said that's very risky because sometimes they would get shot at, they would get captured, they would get stuck in the sand, it was August. And so he said, you need to wait until your embassy organizes an evacuation. He said they will, for sure. So we waited, and then, you know, that was the proper channel. But even then when we got to Baghdad, we had to wait for exit permits. And I was in line waiting for, you know, to go through the queue. And then, all of a sudden, they said, these children, you know, we were a lot of American women with married to Kuwaitis and our children look Kuwaiti. And so they said, these children are Kuwaiti, which makes them Iraqi, and they do not have the permission to leave. So then, there was all the media was there, CNN, and everyone was there with their cameras. And we knew it wasn't the time to speak out, but there were embassy officials there, and they said, get yourself on camera with your children. They asked the news media to film us. And they said, that way, if you disappear, we have a record of you. So that was the first that my family in outside of Kuwait saw that I had left Kuwait, but they only saw that I was in Baghdad with my children. They didn't know what else was happening. - Four small boys at the time, two and four. And so, we waited for like five or six hours, and then finally, they started calling the names of people with exit permits. And they didn't call the whole family together, you know? They called one name, and then an hour later, they called another name, and then finally, we got those three exit permits, and we just ran to the gate, to the airplane. - Yeah, yeah. But what was also really interesting was traveling on Iraqi airways, and when we went from Kuwait to Baghdad, it was considered a domestic flight, and it was domestic crew, and they were very unpleasant, and shouting at us, and my boys had fallen asleep, and I was trying to carry them, and you know, carry my bags, and it was very tough. - Then when we got on the flight from Baghdad to London, completely different, and they were reading newspapers, and I heard them speaking in Arabic, and they were very concerned about the situation. - They didn't really know the situation fully. - Well, the international crew did, because they had access to news outside of Iraq, where the, obviously, the domestic crew, they were just listening to the, you know, I said, "I'm Hussein's version of the news." So then I went, and I spoke in Arabic to one of the flight attendants, and I asked her if I could heat up the milk from my son, and she started asking me all these questions, and she said, "You know, your children are Kuwaiti, right, "and why isn't your husband with you?" And I said, "Well, he's not allowed to travel, "he's not given that option." You know, one day they try to leave, and they're arrested, or they're sent back, or they're taken away and tortured, and she started asking me all these questions, and then she started saying, you know, we've had seven years of war with Iran, and, you know, what has our President gotten us into? This is, you know, we don't want war, we don't want this. And they were so concerned, and then, you know, when I saw them, when I left them in London, and they had to fly back to Baghdad, you know, I saw their faces, and I felt really sorry for them. - I come partly from a war-and-torn region, so I know exactly how he's for people who, in whose name atrocities are done, and then they're pretty much helpless to do anything. - Exactly, exactly, sad. - You came back to Kuwait after liberation, a few months, a month later, right, and I'm interested whether you immediately also started writing and documenting on a ravaged city, and burning oil fields on a completely changed environment, on what you've left. - Yeah, Kuwait looked so terrible. It looked so terrible, and like you said, with the burning oil wells, and, you know, depending on the wind, it would be like black skies at, you know, lunchtime, and so I, yes, I did it. I immediately started taking photographs, and I had been working on two books in the summer of 1990, and I thought I'd have a nice quiet summer and get my books done, and so one of them was basically a coffee table book about Kuwait, and culture, and history, so then I went back to some of those locations, and I did like after pictures. I had them before pictures, and I did the after pictures, like Entertainment City, where they had dismantled the rides and taken them away, and the desert, and I went to photograph the burning oil wells. I went with the KOC officials. - It took forever to extinguish those fires. - However, they were predicting that it would take years, and it was done in eight months, which was such a-- - A copy of each one, yes. - I know that in recent years, you've been tremendously devoted to animal welfare in Kuwait, and I'd like us to touch on that topic now. It is a big part of who you are and what you're doing. I guess that this love for animals has always existed, but at some point you find a purpose in it. Would you be able to share more, please? - Right, yeah, thank you for this opportunity to talk about that. Well, as you've pointed out, I love Kuwait, but one of the areas in which we are way behind is animal welfare, and also the environment, I have to say that's another one of my passions is to write about that and try to promote people who are doing good things in that field. But animal welfare is very much neglected. There are a lot of groups that are trying to do what they can, and I'm working with Touch of Hope, Kuwait, but we're all overwhelmed and it's just very, very, very difficult because we have no accountability. People can dump their animals, and this isn't just restricted to any certain nationality. It's local people, it's foreigners, it's people just get tired of their animals, they get them when they're small and cute, they're not interested anymore, they want to travel, whatever, they throw them on the street and there's no accountability. We don't, we have laws, but they are full of loopholes, they're not, they're not strong at all, hardly anyone knows about them and they're not enforced. So we need to lobby for stronger laws, we need, you know, an official society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, and I'm doing a lot in terms of education, I go to schools, I go to different institutions, I mean, schools I go from nursery school through university, and the point that we're trying to get across is that cruelty to animals develops into violence against people, this has been documented all over the world, and we have cruelty to animals here, and this is like a red flag for our society, we're still very fortunate to have a low crime rate compared to most of the rest of the world, but this is a red flag, we need to work on this, you know, even if you don't care about animals, but this is something that we need to have accountability for, and I'm working with a wonderful Lebanese lady named Marlene Bugidian, and she's really devoted her entire life, you know, she sacrificed everything, and she's living, you know, with the animals and she's hardly sleep, I mean, she's 24/7. - There's no other way when you really want to, yes, I understand, you are working on forming a society that will be able to have, you know, legal ground, to lobby, to advocate, to raise funds, to build shelters and so on, and this is a job on its own. - Yes, yes. - But that means that a lot of people, there is a lot of people out there who are willing to step in to help and to be members of the society. How do we reach public? You said that you are doing these lectures at schools, which is very important to start with the young, we do the same with culture, any cultural context, really, most importantly, to attract young people. What else can be done in terms of media, in terms of journalist's work? - Right. - It's your field, so I'm curious. - Right, well, I think now, I mean, we have to use Instagram and we do use Instagram. That's how you can reach a lot of people. And it may not be as in-depth of, you know, reporting as we'd like, but that is a way to reach people. And once we become official, then we can, we'll be able to go all out and to really do, you know, very high profile work. But right now, we're just keeping quiet and working as hard as we can, and, you know, going by the book and just doing as much as possible. - Continuously, you take care of animals as well. I mean, the organizations take care of animals and the numbers are not getting down, just up the number of- - Yeah, it's getting worse. - And it's getting worse, and we're the largest animal shelter in Kuwait. We have hundreds of animals and mainly dogs and cats, but we also have small animals, like, you know, rabbits and hamsters and turtles and geese, but we even have ostriches, horses, sheep, goats. So many of these animals are just discarded, you know, we had a very old donkey that he couldn't work anymore and he was just thrown out. And one wonders how they come in. - Yeah. - Yes, some of these animals, yes. So it's, yeah, it's just, a lot of people don't see it, but we see it in industrial areas out in the desert areas. - And you do a lot of things to support the cause. I know that you, all these lectures, the percentage, actually, all of the book sales goes to such a whole. - Yes, you hold dancing classes. - Right, I do weekly line dancing classes every Wednesday. - This is where an old heritage comes in handy, yes. - Well, I actually learned it in Kuwait. - Oh, it just did, yeah. My best teacher was a Kuwaiti, young Kuwaiti woman. She was fabulous, but that's something which is a lot of fun. It's good exercise for the mind and for the body. And you're so in the moment, you just switch off and you can't take it too seriously. So I do that every Wednesday in my basement, if anyone wants to join, they can contact me through Instagram. And we have, I have a lovely group of all different nationalities and ladies from their 20s up to almost 80. - I think on both accounts, yours, Claudia Rashoud, if I'm not mistaken. - Not enough with the underscore and then old Rashoud. - And in touch of hope people can find information and potentially ways to support and help. - Yes. - Join, maybe as volunteers, but also all of these activities that you organize for the cause, including fundraising events. Again, interesting, you've had cutout, okay, you've had that thing, yes. - We just, I always say to Marlene, we just kind of pull rabbits out of hats to keep going because the expenses are huge, the veterinary expenses. The rent, the food, the daily food. It's just to keep them alive. - Yes. - Before actual resolutions are brought and we can do something substantial with the animals. - Yes, we do have programs that we're ready to implement for the future, more education programs, sports programs for the youth. And since there are so many benefits of the interaction between people and animals and especially children, so there's so much that we can do, but we have to get out of survival mode. - Yes. - So we can move forward. - Claudia, this has been wonderful. So many topics to cover and so many things to talk about very little time, but we hope to see you again very soon at the Culture Corner. - Thank you. - Wishing you the best in all endeavors and we'll make sure to report on those. - Thank you so much. - So nice to be here. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]