Page 8 - Protestant Missionary Activity in the Arabian Gulf

on Shaikh Sa,ad# the RulerTs nephew and present Minister of

Defense, who was sitting for the ’Eid. The audience room at

the Sha’ab Palace was an enormous circular hall, thickly

covered by a modern green pile carpet and completely ringed

with soft armchairs„ Unlike the cozy, informal atmosphere of

the Scudder’s living room, this audience chamber was draughtv

dimly-lit, and obviously a place where was business was meant

to be conducted,, Almost all the chairs were filled when we ar­

rived, but three men got up and made way for us when we entered.

Of the fifty or so callers in the room we were the only ones

in Western dress, and so I felt uncomfortably conspicuous as

1 followed Dr. Scudder across the long expanse of thick green

carpet to greet the great Shaikh. This formality concluded,

we took our seats, while Dr. Scudder chatted easily with

Shaikh Sa’ad, presumably about the ongoing plans for modern­

izing the Kuwait Military Hospital, of which Dr. Scudder had
i

been the Director for several years. Having exchanged greet­

ings with some of the other callers and drunk the prescribed

two cups of coffee (at least two but never more than three),

we took our leave and drove back through the deserted streets

of Kuwait City to the old mission compound.

The whole day had been a fascinating and memorable one,

and so in my remaining few days in Kuwait, I set about finding

out more about the Scudders and the Arabian Mission. Why had

the2r come to Kuwait? How had they acquired such a unique posi­

tion of trust and respect in Kuwaiti society? What I learned

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