By Lindsey Schibelhut, Senior Reporter.
The idea of leaving home and traveling abroad, for many people, might be met with trepidation. For Sarah Longstreth, farm owner and manager of Good Stead Farm in Hope, the thought of experiencing a different culture was her driving force to leave home. On March 30, Longstreth spoke at Delta about her travels to the Middle East.
“I remember when I was in high school, there was this really interesting documentary that I had watched about Afghani culture, and this was pre-9/11… I had never seen anything like it,” says Longstreth.
She recalls in college the academic literature coming out of the western world about Arab women was very negative and sat in class thinking ‘there has to be so much more to this.’
“So that was what really propelled me to seek going abroad, to going to the Middle East,” explains Longstreth. “I just wanted to figure it out for myself. I wanted a first hand experience of what it was like there, so I could make up my own mind.”
Longstreth says there weren’t many study abroad programs, but she was able to find one run by native Jordanians.
“I lived in Amman with a Bedouin family…I lived there for a couple months with that family, then I moved to the north near the Syrian border, close to Iraq,” says Longstreth. “I lived up in the high desert with a traditional nomadic Bedouin family as well, I was there for about a month.”
Longstreth described how lower income families did many things on the floor including eating and sleeping.
“You have these really thin foam pads that you sit on. At night everybody pulls out the foam pads and you lay on the floor together, and during the day they stack them up in the corner, and they put decorative sheets over them to hide them,” says Longstreth.
Longstreth was also touched by the resourcefulness of the people.
“It’s amazing how much you can do with very little… they can do, and make, and construct anything out of nothing,” says Longstreth.
Midland resident, Elaine Warakomski, 65, was humbled by Longstreth’s journey to the Middle East.
“It was most interesting to hear of an American with such an interest, and her courage and her knowledge. She is certainly a woman off the beaten path,” says Warakomski.
She also describes why presentations like this are so important to the public.
“It’s very important to talk to people from different backgrounds as well as faiths, that’s where the peace of the world lies. I think what she is doing here is a peace making effort just to break down the barriers,” says Warakomski.
Some of the other places Longstreth visited were Egypt, Cairo, Saudi Arabia and Petra.
“One of my favorite things about being in the Middle East is hearing the call to prayer… it’s beautiful. There’s really nothing like it,” says Longstreth.
Longstreth also explains that in Middle Eastern society you see “seas of men,” and there aren’t many women out and about.
“If you see women out, they are with husbands, brothers, fathers, or maybe with a group of female relatives, but you will rarely see a lone woman out in the streets by herself,” Longstreth says.
The best thing you can do, if you’re traveling abroad, according to Longstreth, is to mimic what the locals are doing. This includes not taking photos if armed guards are nearby, because they can confiscate your camera, covering up, and being cognizant and respectful of cultural customs, especially as a woman.
“…Exposing your neck, or your chest, you wouldn’t do that. I would never wear a skirt, you would never wear shorts, even short sleeves starts to feel a little uncomfortable… you feel overexposed… and it feels inappropriate,” says Longstreth.
Some of the traditional coverings you may see women wearing, according to Longstreth are: an abaya (robe/dress), hijab (can see the face), niqab (can only see the eyes), and a burka (can’t see any of the face). Longstreth wore an abaya and hijab.
“I loved wearing that [abaya/hijab], I don’t care what anybody says, it’s fabulous. It’s very comfortable, and you can wear whatever you want underneath it,” explains Longstreth. “It’s a form of respect, really. It’s a way of covering yourself and not making yourself available to the male gaze… It relieves a lot of stress, and a lot of pressure…”
Student Dalice Hudson, 19, expresses how the new information she gained has changed her perspective on the region.
“It makes me more aware of what’s going on over there,” says Hudson.
Women don’t really occupy a lot of public positions or jobs, according to Longstreth. If you go to restaurants, the waiters will be male.Supermarkets, or gas stations, and all the shops in the malls are occupied by men too.
Longstreth spoke about a conversation a Jordanian male friend and her had about why you don’t see many women in the workforce.
“He said ‘how we think about it is, women are too precious to be out in the public world’…They like to shield women from the stress of having to make a living and to provide for the family, so that’s the role the man takes on,” she says.
Longstreth goes on to say the people there are “fabulous,” and they are kind, curious and excited to see foreign tourists. She does warn, however, the importance of brushing up on travel etiquette. For example, in Middle Eastern public transportation, trying to get into the front seat of a taxi as a woman could be misinterpreted as you offering yourself up sexually, so you should always sit in the back seat.
At the end of her presentation, Longstreth took audience questions. One such question was, “did the people have any sense of blame for America causing any disparity in their country?”
“People have a really good sense of global politics,” Longstreth responds. “People know what is going on in the world around them, way more so than the common American does…What they say too is ‘we know you’re not your government,’ they are very keen to make that distinction,” says Longstreth.
Lastly, when asked if she would ever visit the Middle East again, unequivocally she says ‘yes,’ but with some reservation.
“I really love it there…when I was there most recently, it felt much more unstable… than when I had been there years prior,” Longstreth explains. “It is also becoming more limited. When I was there originally, Syria was still whole…there was much more flexibility when traveling in the region and that’s all changed…but I would love to,” Longstreth concludes.