Friday, January 05, 2007
A world apart
CNN's Hala Gorani writes here about her experiences traveling between the Arab world and Israel.
"I sometimes imagine traveling from New York to Atlanta, but instead of a direct flight, I imagine driving to Philadelphia, spending three hours waiting for permission to board a plane, then hopping on a flight to Miami before finally boarding a plane to Atlanta, where I might be told to wait 2 days before crossing into the city. That is the insane reality of travel in that part of the Middle East (and only for those who can move around because they have the proper documentation, visas and paperwork.)" Hala's piece accompanies Inside The Middle East 0 Comments
 Add a commentThursday, January 04, 2007
Iraq - The Children
It was just an idea – talk to kids. Find out what they think of the war. When you interview adults here in Iraq – you often get a filtered view of reality. On the other hand, kids can’t lie. They will always tell you the truth – and really, it’s the truth we’re interested in. So, one morning I set out in the neighborhood looking for kids to talk to. With me, the over talented cameraman Dominic Swann – neither of us had a clue if anyone would talk to us. Our fixer kept smoking – shaking his head, letting us know that this in all likelyhood would be a failed mission. Of course, it’s Baghdad so our other options were try this, or sit in the office and wait for the violence and live shots to begin. It took over three hours of talking to people before we found a 16 year old boy who was willing to tell us his thoughts. His first one, “Saddam was better than the Americans.” We’re off to a great start – I thought. “Any hope for Iraq” I asked. “None,” he said.
“This is going to be a very uplifting piece” our stringer said immediately. Such is Iraq. Kids in Iraq are wonderful. They run the same routine anytime they see a foreigner. First they send a scout. He appears from no where – checks out the situation, then disappears. Depending on his report to the others, flocks of kids start to arrive. In this case, there were at least a dozen. One became the leader. He pointed out everything that had changed – the trash, the blast walls – the western security. He told us he wished he could play football without fearing for his life. I asked one final question to the group that had arrived. “How many of you have lost family members in this war? Everyone raised their hand. “Welcome to Iraq,” said my stringer. Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Catching up on sleep
The Hajj assignment is officially over. I'm now back in Jeddah (departing for Riyadh early tomorrow morning) and finding it really bizarre to have so much time on my hands. The past couple of weeks have been two of the busiest of my life -- but you know what? Despite every difficulty that I've written about in this blog, I've enjoyed this job more than I could have imagined. I mention this because I'd like readers to know that the experience of being part of the Hajj coverage team for CNN was far more enriching than enervating. I only wish I had the eloquence to describe what it was like to witness, up close, how happy the pilgrims were to be there, how willing they were to help each other out.
The sole regret I'm left with is that I couldn't have posted more on the blog. The crew faced major communication difficulties while in Mecca (everything from not being able to make or receive mobile phone calls to sometimes finding it quite problematic getting online) and I had hoped I could submit more vignettes about our daily goings on. I wanted to thank the readers who posted comments -- it's always nice to get feedback -- the fact that it was positive feedback regarding the team's coverage only made it nicer. So that's it for me. Time to finally go get some sleep ... Blogging by SMS
One quick story from The Hajj that some might appreciate: On the second day of the stoning of the devil, when I was on Jamarat Bridge, I was surprised to discover that I could once again make and receive mobile phone calls. Because I was eager to blog about what I was seeing, I called Dylan Reynolds, Senior Editor of CNNI Interactive, wondering if I could SMS him some in the field reports and asking if he could then post them on this blog. I had to marvel at the surreality of it all: Being on Jamarat Bridge, watching pilgrims stone the devil, texting my reports to Dylan, and knowing that he was posting them on the blog. Sincerest thanks to Dylan, who saved the day for me.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
The view from Mount Arafat
Crew member Umm Zainab filed this "on the scene" piece about the most important event at the Hajj.
Thirsty work
Aaah, relief. Even though the weather is brilliant today (around 20 degrees,) the team has managed to work up an impossible thirst -- which isn't all that surprising considering we've been walking around, lugging gear, for the past hour and a half. While Adil was shooting pictures at one of the on-site clinics, a kindly doctor offered us all water. I chugged two bottles in rapid succession. No special treatment here, though, as all manner of security personnel and health care professionals are distributing bottles of water and/or juice to anyone who wants or needs it.
Stoning the devil
I'm here with Adil and Khadija at the Jamarat Bridge -- currently watching the pilgrims stone the devil. Approximately 200,000 people pass through here every hour. It's completely overwhelming -- the constant stream of pebbles being thrown and making contact sounds like a severe hail storm. It's amazing to watch the security forces attempt to control the flow of this crowd. So far, and by all accounts here, they're doing an exemplary job.
The team is constantly getting stopped -- if not by security personnel requesting to see our press badges and filming permits, then by enthusiastic pilgrims asking to get their pictures taken. I just had a delightful discussion (something that's pretty hard to do when you're being pushed along with the crowd) with a 26-year-old Yemeni named Ahmed, who was extremely happy to encounter CNN here covering the Hajj. In addition to the security forces that have been dispatched all throughout the area (approximately 15,000,) we are surrounded on all sides by ambulances ready to treat any pilgrim who falls ill. Even up here, on the first level of Jamarat Bridge, there are on-site clinics. |
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