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As many of you know, one of the things I find frustrating about living in Doha is that there are so few opportunities to volunteer and to exercise charity and compassionate service...and when those opportunities present themselves, generally the government is offended if you do anything. It is a great risk to be service oriented in this country and probably one of the main reasons I hate it here. That is why this article is so great...because it is in Oman, and someone is going against all the stereotypes and actively working for the future of those who need help...not just ignoring the problem. Impressive and difficult to do in the Middle East. The article itself highlights the general arabic attitude towards people with special needs. Coincidentally, the other day I was driving home and had the radio on. The station radio dj was making random comments between songs like "People with special needs are different. Some don't read well. Some have problems seeing and might need glasses. Some have trouble walking and might need a wheelchair. Things you can do are smile at them, invite them to your table, they are special and so are you when you become their friends. Friendship is very important especially when you are not like everyone else." It was very basic and elementary. All I could do was listen to her calm voice say a sentence and then pause and then say another sentence and pause. I reflected on how strange it is to live in a country that needs to have "special needs" described on a popular radio station, but I was also very glad that someone was taking the initiative to do so. Sometimes it is so strange living here.
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