American visitors get a taste of Saudi culture

Barbara G.B. Ferguson & Tim Kennedy

WASHINGTON: One day each year the Washington diplomatic community hosts “Passport D.C.: Around the World Embassy Tour,” a hugely popular event where the public is welcomed into selected embassies to celebrate the world’s cultural diversity.

Recently more than 70 embassies from Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, and the Americas opened their doors to hundreds of visitors to showcase their national cuisine, art, music, dance and fashion.
Because people are especially curious about the Kingdom, the Saudi Embassy consistently draws the largest crowds during this annual affair. This year, staff at the embassy offered visitors Saudi dance performances, samples of its coffee and dates, henna-painting demonstrations, and Arabic versions of a guest’s name rendered into frame-worthy calligraphy.
Visitors to the Saudi Embassy were also enlightened by a brief, broadcast-quality video that described the history, culture, and state-of-the-art infrastructure of the Kingdom.
Dozens of Saudi students attending colleges and university in the Washington area volunteered at the day-long event to answer questions from visitors. Saudi students were available to educate and inform visitors at each of the food and other stations.
Guests and the Saudi student “volunteer diplomats” agreed that the opportunity to explore, interact and share knowledge was rewarding. “It’s an amazing day. It’s so wonderful to see people learn about our culture,” said Turki Al-Abdullatif, an accounting student at the University of the District of Columbia. He said visitors ate dates, drank Saudi coffee, and tried on traditional Saudi clothing.
Al-Abdullatif said the embassy “open house” offered guests a chance to ask questions that they might have always thought about, such as whether he only wears a thobe when he goes out. His answer: “I wear it all the time, it’s part of me.”
Haifa Al-Shogiran, an international business major at Marymount University, said that many visitors had questions after watching the video documentary. “They were surprised to see snow in Tabuk,” she said. “They enjoyed learning about the pilgrimage, but some people were confused about Makkah and Madinah both being part of the pilgrims’ requirement for the Haj ... So, I think that they were glad that I was there to talk to them and explain it.”
Sara Abdullkarim, who majors in occupational therapy at Marymount University, said that her encounters with the embassy guests had a “tremendously positive impact” on her. “I’m really happy that people are open and interested to know about the things they see here, such as the mosques, our culture, the dancers and our flag,” she told Arab News.
“They were really happy when we wrote out their names in Arabic; many people didn’t know that we wrote from right to left. People were excited to wear Saudi clothes and pose for photographs in the Bedouin tent ... And they really loved our coffee and dates.
“The media has a certain perception of us,” Abdullkarim added, “but the visitors here were really open and interested in us — which made me really happy.”
Shams Al-Saby, who just received her master’s degree in public administration from the University of Baltimore, said: “Most of the visitors wanted more information about Makkah, and they didn’t know anything about it, or our alphabet ... So this was an amazing opportunity to share our culture with them.”
Even the shemagh, or Saudi male headscarf, was a subject of frequent questions. “Not only did they ask about the shemagh, but they also wanted to know why the checks on it were red,” said Saud Al-Saleh, an electronic engineering major at George Mason University. “I like being able to change their stereotypes of us. I don’t like politics, but I’ve heard some hurtful comments since the start of the Republican presidential campaign, specifically Donald Trump’s comments about Muslims. So this was a good chance to change their stereotypes of us.”
Haifa Al-Shogiran added: “Yes, many of the visitors commented that they didn’t think we would be so friendly. They seemed surprised and pleased.”
Many of the visitors to the embassy spoke of how impressed they were with the food and photographs of Saudi landmarks on display, and that their encounters with the Saudi students made a deep impression.
One American, who identified himself as Joe, typified this point of view: “It’s great to have Saudi students here; they’re very open to answering our questions ... In the future, when we hear about Ƶ in the news, we’ll balance what we hear with our good experiences here. It’s really a good thing to be open, and have folks who can talk to us frankly about what is going on in their country.”