An Athlete's Letter from a Country in Crisis- Bahrain
An Athlete's Letter from a Country in Crisis- Bahrain
March 18, 2011
To the sports community around the world, this is an open letter from a fellow athlete in the Kingdom of Bahrain:
Many of you have probably never heard of my country, others have perhaps heard its name mentioned in the international media recently. Whether you have heard of my country before or not, I write this letter to my fellow sports men and women as a window into the life of an athlete in this country.
Note: this letter is written in light of the recent political, social and economic events that have occurred in Bahrain though I will not be discussing any politics- simply portraying how an athlete's life has been affected. I will only recount the events that have directly affected us, although many other incidents have occurred over the course of these tragic events in Bahrain.
The Team
I am a part of the Bahrain women national football (soccer) team. Bahrain is the first country in its immediate region (the GCC) to have created such a team. For the past 7 years, we have worked hard to gain acceptance from the people, establish ourselves and steadily work on competing and getting positive results. We have had many achievements including: placing 3rd in the West Asia Championship, 3rd in the Arab Tournament and as of yesterday, March 17, 2011, we were ranked as 2nd in the Arab world and 14th in Asia. We are a team made up of players from different religious sects and different socio-economic backgrounds. We are not a perfect team, there is room for improvement, our ambitions are high and we have been working towards achieving greater feats.
The Events
Training + Tournament
When the events first broke out in Bahrain on February 14, 2011, life continued as normal for us. We were gearing up for the London 2012 Olympic Qualifiers to be held in early March and continued training as usual. As far as we were concerned, there were a certain group of people in the country who chose to move to a national monument (the GCC Pearl shaped roundabout) and called for reforms. Regardless of the legality of this or not, either way, it did not immediately affect us.
As time went by and the events dragged along, we started to see certain ways in which we were affected. This occurred when the protestors started moving from the national monument to other areas of the country and when their initial message for reforms turned into stern calls for the downfall of the regime and death to the royal family. On certain days, when we would train during mornings and afternoons, players would call and say that they could not come to the morning training sessions even though they had special permission from the Football Association to leave school during those times, as they were being held in their schools by administrators and teachers who feared for their safety due to the violent chants of young, student protestors outside of schools who had gathered without warning, calling for the downfall of the regime and death to the royal family and threatened to create clashes in schools. In one of the players' secondary schools, fights broke out between girls of different religious sects to the point of kitchen knives being brought into the school. She did not attend school that week out of fear. Gone were the days where we thought that these were simply peaceful protests.
The qualifying tournament was creeping closer, and certain players were missing out on more and more training sessions. We started seeing less of one player, who lived in a village where most protestors came from and where nights would be too terrifying for her to venture in and out of the village because of uprisings there.
Five members of our team are members of the royal family. With protestors openly chanting for their death, I genuinely feared for members of my own team as they came and left training sessions. They were training for the sake of representing their nation while others called for their deaths. Where was the peace in that?
Nonetheless, up until we left for the tournament on March 5th 2011, our preparations continued as best we can. During the actual tournament, though we tried to focus solely on the game and results, players couldn't help but think of their country. During meal times, I'd hear the players talk of events back home, "did you hear, there were clashes in your neighbourhood?" "Students were called home because of another fight" "My mom is alone and terrified." Suddenly, these players, whose previous main concerns were who would win the local league and how their new kit would look, started fearing for basic needs that were previously taken for granted: safety and security. They were glued to their BlackBerrys, Twitter and news stations though we tried to control it, players were in frenzy.
Coaches weren't excluded from this either; once, during lunch, the assistant coach's phone rang and it was his wife, saying she was called to take their son out of school because violent protests were approaching and that she felt safer at her parents' house and decided to spend the night there.
Very violent clashes also broke out in the University of Bahrain as protestors in the university calling for the downfall of the regime clashed with other students. People were beat up and the surrounding neighbourhood was terrorized. Rocks were hurled at innocent bystanders as well as police who came to separate the fights. Some police officers were run over and stabbed. Four of our players are enrolled in that University.
It is important to note that none of this is normal in Bahrain. Clashes in schools, armed fights in neighbourhoods between different religious sects, fear of moving about the country freely- these were all something that we are not used to or experienced before. These were clearly not peaceful rallies or calls for reforms, these were calls for regime change and death to certain people! We are a society that previously slept with their main doors unlocked, where the neighbourhoods were safe, where schools were simply for education and making friends. Players, coaches and the entire team were going through something they have never gone through before.
March 13, 2011
This was the toughest day for the entire team. This was the day we were due to head back home. This was also the day that protests became the most violent and scariest for all of us. As was tradition during most tournaments, on the very last day, there were no "bed times" and most chose to stay up packing, talking, and enjoying the night before they left the tournament atmosphere. I was one of those who stayed up the entire night. The night of March 12th started out fine, we all laughed, enjoyed, played cards and listened to some music. A few noise complaints later and as the sandman called some players to sleep, things seemed calm. We all wanted to get back home, unknowing what we would find, but thankful to be with family. As daylight approached, we started getting messages and reading news feeds on Twitter that painted a dire picture: the streets of our Capital city were under siege. Violent, armed protestors set up road blocks all over the city, police were being attacked and nobody could move in or out of the Capital, Manama.
"How will we get home?" was the sentence echoed. It was anarchy. Streets were ruled by gangs and street mobs and makeshift roadblocks were set up by these protestors. Their siege started at 6:00 a.m. The football association tried sending a bus to the airport but couldn't find a driver willing to go to the airport for fear of their safety. The situation was horrifying. "Why aren't the police stopping them?" "My father/brother/sister couldn't get to work today." "Schools are off." It was a commotion, we were confused and scared. All work offices were closed; all school establishments were closed as well. The country came to a standstill.
The plane ride to Bahrain was eerie. Each of us lost in our own thoughts of what we would find; what we were coming home to. It didn't help that the plane went through turbulence too! Nerves were already jumpy as it was.
Arriving in Bahrain at 3:30 p.m., everyone was quick to jump on their mobile phones. Some parents made it; others couldn't make it to the airport. The team helped each other out dropping each other home, some took taxis. We all asked to update each other when finally home in our houses.
We couldn't go through the Capital city, we had to take the longest back routes home. The Capital was blocked. That thought in itself was unsettling. Driving home, we saw many civilian checkpoints at the entry of towns- set up by neighbourhood kids and youngsters holding sticks, bats and other make-shift weapons to protect their towns from the protestors terrorizing the city.
As I entered my town, we were stopped by 2 civilian checkpoints, they were young aged 13-25: I asked them why they were there, they said they were protecting their towns from anyone coming in to terrorize them.. there were protesters there last night they said.
We reached home, hugged our families and waited to get confirmation on our "Team" mobile phone group that all made it back safely. We were shocked, saddened and felt vulnerable.
Medical Care
During the tournament, one of our players was injured. She was asked to do an MRI. Before any of this happened, she would do the MRI at the country's largest and free hospital, Salmaniya Hospital. Imagine our shock, disgust and fear that this very hospital was taken over by the protestors and became a base for their operations. Patients of the Sunni sect would be turned away and Ambulances wouldn't reach people of the other sect. They literally took over the hospital for a whole month. Footage of expatriate workers being held hostage at the hospital and denied treatment appeared. I wouldn't think of sending my player to that hospital- her parents wouldn't allow it. There were tents set up in the hospital's parking lot for the protestors and chants calling for the downfall of the regime echoed from there.
What were we to do? This player's health was concerned. We had to forgo the free hospital and pay at a private hospital to get the MRI done. Why was this necessary? Why were basic needs affected?
Player Mentality
It is clear to see that these scenes and environment would no doubt affect any human being's state of mind. Our team suffered from these events in Bahrain at the hands of the terroristic tactics and civil disobedience used by protestors.
We were a privileged nation, basic needs met and taken for granted. Every member of our team has a BlackBerry, iPod and other, modern retail and fad items. We never thought that our basic needs would be challenged, we never thought that we would feel unsafe or be denied healthcare.
After living 2 days with our Capital under siege, all work offices and schools closed, and our neighbourhoods being patrolled by locals, I, and many many others welcomed and greeted the entry of the army into our streets finally on March 15th, 2011. With the army, we finally got one of our basic needs back: safety.
The army did not attack the people with tanks and gunfire, they did not shoot anyone, they protected the streets through a state of national security, allowed the police to take back our Capital city and institutions, the hospital is now back up and running because of them, and they allowed us to sleep better at night although there are still vigilante attacks that occur in some areas.
Things are not perfect now, though- we still have a long way to go. Several people have lost their lives. Police officers were run over, abused and brutalized to death. Scenes of clashes and violent, Molotov cocktail-carrying protestors are still fresh in my mind.
Implications for the Future
Our training sessions have stopped this week. We have a regional tournament in one month's time. The players' parents prefer that they stay at home.
Again, our team is made up of members of both religious sects. Will these events cause tensions between members of our team? The country's social fabric has been damaged, I'm sure it will affect team relations on some level though I hope we can rise above it.
In the end, we need to get on with our lives, but will those lives be like they were before the events? Of course not. Bahrain and its people have lived through a crisis. Without a doubt, this crisis has left an imprint on our mentalities and affected our way of life. We need to rebuild our country, feel safe on the streets again, get back to our education and work institutions and carry on.
Meanwhile, members of my team have asked me five times today "When will we continue training?" I hope soon, very soon.
__
Hussa Khalid
Twitter: @HussaKhalid
Video Footage and Photos of Events Described Above
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/74218653/Video-Footage-and-Images-of-Bahrain-Events
Taking over a National Monument
Protests moving to other Areas
Protests spreading to Schools
Clashes at the University of Bahrain
Salmaniya Hospital
Capital under Siege
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