Beirut, 2 September 1972 (Saturday)
Tuesday 22 August - we dug another trench for a pipe and then collected some stones. After that we sat and threw water at each other, then in the afternoon about 8 of us went round the village to look at people's wounds. Lots of people have infected cuts and scratches - there was plenty to do. In the evening a rather dull folklore presentation by a Lebanese group. Would have slept soundly except that there was a major commotion at about 4 am. Turned out that someone in another tent had had a nightmare and screamed so loudly that the camp leader had rushed down from the house he was staying in about 100 yards away. The person who had the nightmare didn't remember a thing. Spent the following morning collecting stones.
Thursday 24th - starting to get the hang of the local Arabic. Have found "Voice of the Arabs" broadcasting from Cairo which has Arabic closer to what I am learning in Cambridge. Later, discussion about Palestine. Some representatives from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine talked to us - separate groups for English, french and Arabic speakers. I'd met one of them at Rafid camp last year. He is the director of the PFLP newspaper, al-Hadaf.
Saturday - The brother of one of the camp organisers works at Lebanon's most important hydro-electric power station and gave us a tour of the power station, followed by an enormous lunch. We didn't get back to the camp till late.
On Sunday I travelled back to Beirut with the Czech motor workers who were leaving so that I could sort out my visa for Yemen and the Aeroflot ticket. Failing to find the Yemeni Embassy on Sunday, I finally made it on Monday morning, had all the forms filled in by 10 am - and then had to wait for two hours for the consul to arrive. But at last - here it is:
Thank you, thank you, Mr Murshid.
Less luck confirming my flight to Yemen from Cairo. Aeroflot say they have to check with Moscow. So I head back to the camp with the mail for my fellow campers which I picked up from the Social Development Office. I had to get a bus to Sidon, another bus on to Tyre, and then a service taxi to Maarakeh. The evening's entertainment was supposed to be by a guitar and flute duet, but the guitarist was hurt in a car accident on the way, so the evening collapsed.
On Thursday I managed to go into Tyre and contact the Aeroflot office by phone. My booking is confirmed! Got back to camp and helped with the village clean-up that was under way, then found that someone had apple-pied my bed and taken my other shoes. I found the shoes but they had been filled with jam. Very funny ha ha. In the evening we had to dress up for a camp-fire get together. I put on my plastic mac, with a towel round my shoulders, cotton wool in my ears and carried a bucket of water because the French and Lebanese here always make a phenomenal noise and throw water at each other at mealtimes.
Yesterday (Friday) we packed up most of the camp and were brought back to Beirut, to the King's Hotel this morning. The hotel was expecting us this time. There was a letter from Prof Serjeant saying he was in town, and to meet him at the St George Club. We chatted for about 3 hours with some very nice beers. His wife, Marion was with him. I am to go to a place called Hajjah, north west of Sanaa, and he gave me a lot of advice (including "Don't insult anyone by calling them any sort of animal name" and "Make sure not to use any insult referring to a person's mother"). I gave him £17 for some Yemeni money that he had, and Mrs S gave me some spare pills for malaria and stomach upsets. He advised me to have some English books sent out, so I shall make a list - apparently reading matter is a bit hard to come by. He says I'll probably be in Sanaa for about three weeks (though I don't know where) till the beginning of October when the term starts. I think this will be my last post before I get there - assuming I do. Look out for my next one.
Tuesday 22 August - we dug another trench for a pipe and then collected some stones. After that we sat and threw water at each other, then in the afternoon about 8 of us went round the village to look at people's wounds. Lots of people have infected cuts and scratches - there was plenty to do. In the evening a rather dull folklore presentation by a Lebanese group. Would have slept soundly except that there was a major commotion at about 4 am. Turned out that someone in another tent had had a nightmare and screamed so loudly that the camp leader had rushed down from the house he was staying in about 100 yards away. The person who had the nightmare didn't remember a thing. Spent the following morning collecting stones.
Thursday 24th - starting to get the hang of the local Arabic. Have found "Voice of the Arabs" broadcasting from Cairo which has Arabic closer to what I am learning in Cambridge. Later, discussion about Palestine. Some representatives from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine talked to us - separate groups for English, french and Arabic speakers. I'd met one of them at Rafid camp last year. He is the director of the PFLP newspaper, al-Hadaf.
Saturday - The brother of one of the camp organisers works at Lebanon's most important hydro-electric power station and gave us a tour of the power station, followed by an enormous lunch. We didn't get back to the camp till late.
On Sunday I travelled back to Beirut with the Czech motor workers who were leaving so that I could sort out my visa for Yemen and the Aeroflot ticket. Failing to find the Yemeni Embassy on Sunday, I finally made it on Monday morning, had all the forms filled in by 10 am - and then had to wait for two hours for the consul to arrive. But at last - here it is:
Less luck confirming my flight to Yemen from Cairo. Aeroflot say they have to check with Moscow. So I head back to the camp with the mail for my fellow campers which I picked up from the Social Development Office. I had to get a bus to Sidon, another bus on to Tyre, and then a service taxi to Maarakeh. The evening's entertainment was supposed to be by a guitar and flute duet, but the guitarist was hurt in a car accident on the way, so the evening collapsed.
On Thursday I managed to go into Tyre and contact the Aeroflot office by phone. My booking is confirmed! Got back to camp and helped with the village clean-up that was under way, then found that someone had apple-pied my bed and taken my other shoes. I found the shoes but they had been filled with jam. Very funny ha ha. In the evening we had to dress up for a camp-fire get together. I put on my plastic mac, with a towel round my shoulders, cotton wool in my ears and carried a bucket of water because the French and Lebanese here always make a phenomenal noise and throw water at each other at mealtimes.
Yesterday (Friday) we packed up most of the camp and were brought back to Beirut, to the King's Hotel this morning. The hotel was expecting us this time. There was a letter from Prof Serjeant saying he was in town, and to meet him at the St George Club. We chatted for about 3 hours with some very nice beers. His wife, Marion was with him. I am to go to a place called Hajjah, north west of Sanaa, and he gave me a lot of advice (including "Don't insult anyone by calling them any sort of animal name" and "Make sure not to use any insult referring to a person's mother"). I gave him £17 for some Yemeni money that he had, and Mrs S gave me some spare pills for malaria and stomach upsets. He advised me to have some English books sent out, so I shall make a list - apparently reading matter is a bit hard to come by. He says I'll probably be in Sanaa for about three weeks (though I don't know where) till the beginning of October when the term starts. I think this will be my last post before I get there - assuming I do. Look out for my next one.
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