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RE: Re: Brain Burp--Camel Endurance



Well, not according to the PBS series _Frontline_.  According to
the documentary I saw, the kids are little better than slaves, kept
in servitude, uneducated, until they grow too large, then returned to
their homeland with no more than they started with, such gain as was
to be had largely in the hands of a labor broker.

The Persian Gulf has a long history of slavery.  Until the advent
of oil, the main industries (according to the same _The Economic
History of the Middle East 1800-1914_ book) in the Persian
Gulf were piracy, pearls, and the slave trade (markets for
transhipping slaves from Africa to the rest of Persian Gulf,
the interior of Arabia, the Ottoman sultanates of Iraq and
Syria, and Asia).


Once again, Linda, you provide the academic touch. You are right on about
the camel racing and slavery. Unfortunately, there is a somewhat different
attitude towards employment on the penninsula and gulf, and except for the
outstanding salaries offered (when they can be collected) they are regarded
as less than satisfactory employers for household staff. They use velcro to
keep the kids from falling off the camels.


Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
maryanne@ratbusters.net
www.ratbusters.net



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