Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Camels are all over the place here and there. Lots of kids will be riding them as part of their daily chores. Most of them are not part of the racing scene. The USAID pdf mentioned that these races are held outside of the cities. You don't honestly think that they'd have guests around where they might see something embarassing, do you?

The disparity between the child's homelife and the workplace is a point that is hard for Americans to fathom.  I have a great mechanic who has two boys roughly 11 and 8 years old working for him. I know that the schools to which these kids would go will be teaching them nothing, while Mohamed sees that they learn to read and write and are learning a skill. No question that they are better off working. Plus their families are poor and need the money to eat.

Many of these kids are kidnapped and others are sold by parents who probably can't feed the kids they have and can't pay for birth control. Life can be pretty tough.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
www.alsorat.com
http://miloflamingo.blogspot.com
On Oct 20, 2004, at 11:38 PM, Potato wrote:

> ?
> ? 
>
> It's interesting, Last year when I was in Abu Dhabi, for the Presidents Cup, as well as a few times before, I saw a lot of kids riding Camels and without exception, they all looked like they were having fun.? Even when it?was windy and hot.? They would wave and smile as we passed them on horseback as well as in a car.? Now I don't have proof, but?I suspect that many of them were better off there, then where they came from.? Remember when they?reach adulthood, they are free to move on as they like.
> Without full knowledge of the details we are not in a good position to judge this situation.
> Potato Richardson
> Greenwood, California?
> ?