Sgt. Thomas Day
40th PAD Journalist, Desert Voice staff writer
CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait ( August 2, 2006) - Chaplain (Maj.) Erik Swindlehurst first began attending meetings of AWARE – Advocates for Western-Arab Relations – in the summer of 2005. He had just begun his year-long tour in Kuwait with the 143rd Transportation Command as the unit chaplain; his assignment was to establish a rapport with the organization and his unit.
Swindlehurst was anxious and even a bit apprehensive as he walked through the front doors of the AWARE office in Kuwait City for his first meeting. He had watched enough television to have the common images of Muslim hatred of America etched in his psyche. The native Texan was in a country that, with an 89 percent majority in a February 2002 USA Today-Gallup survey, doubted that any Arabs had been involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America.
The intent of AWARE became clear during a slide-show presentation given as soon as Swindlehurst finished with introductions. "Name one Muslim who has made a positive contribution to the world?" the American delegation was asked.
The Army Reserve chaplain was taken aback. He couldn't answer the question. Either could any one else. As the American Soldiers came to introduce themselves, AWARE wanted to introduce a new image of Islam.
This, for Swindlehurst, was the beginning of a year-long dialogue between AWARE and his U.S. delegation. He had come to Kuwait – he acknowledged later – still holding the Arab world responsible as a whole for 9/11.
Swindlehurst was a part of a group of about a half-dozen Soldiers who, about once every two weeks, came to visit the AWARE office to have dinner and talk – no politics, just talk. They even came dressed in civilian clothes.
Swindlehurst's preconceived notions fleeted away quickly. He was soon introduced to Teresa Lescher, an American-born woman who married into a Kuwaiti family, converted to Islam and now lives with her husband in Kuwait City.
As striking as what AWARE was was what it wasn't. All of the Muslims in the room spoke at least enough English to converse with the Americans and none followed the fundamentalist Wahhabi movement – a rigid, literal interpretation of the Koran expounded by Osama bin Laden and much of his al Qaeda network. There was even an image of the city of Pittsburgh posted in the atrium wall.
This was not the face of Islam he had seen on television. For the Swindlehurst and the other American Soldiers visiting, AWARE was an opportunity to engage friendly locals and build a base of support within Kuwait.
The cross-cultural exchange was total. The AWARE team answered the Americans' questions on everything from Muslim doctrine to Arab food.
With dialogue came understanding. With understanding came friendship.
"The purpose of the AWARE center is to learn about the real Islam, not what we read about in the newspapers," said Lescher, who met her husband at Clarion University in Pennsylvania. AWARE has hardly limited their efforts to just American Soldiers – the American ambassador to Kuwait has appeared at the center, according to the AWARE team.
The year-long effort and partnership between Swindlehurst's team and the AWARE team culminated on July 12 – a changing of the guard, of sorts. A new team, with similar ideas that Swindlehurst held a year ago, came in to make their introductions.
That night Lescher said goodbye to both Swindlehurst and Lt. Col. Gerald Paulus, a National Guard officer who also frequented the AWARE meetup during his year-long tour. They went downstairs and sat in what the Kuwaitis call a "Diwaniah" – the equivalent of a lounge without alcohol served. Dinner was a catered Arabic meal, but the benedictions had to come first.
Paulus gave his farewell speech as both he and Swindlehurst handed the baton to a new cycle of field diplomats, led by Maj. Gen. Thomas D. Robinson, the new 377th Theater Support Command commanding general.
"The seeds of our efforts here have to be cultivated. I know our nation is at war and this is a difficult time for all of us, but nothing is more important than personal relationships," Paulus told the party of about a dozen American Soldiers and an equal number of Kuwaitis.
USAR