Things I’m not meant to see

I had an unexpected experience this week. I had to visit an organization with an expatriate colleague to view some materials. He had been working with this group for a long time and was in and out of this place regularly. It was a predominantly female organization. The usual process is you arrive. Letsecurity know you’re there. Inside the word goes out that there are men about to enter so everyone covers up. So I was surprised that when I went to visit that the women did not have their abayas on. This was something I had never expected to see. Yeah she had her shayla on but her clothes were Western. That said a lot about the trust my colleague had built up in the 9 months he had been working with her. The irony was that I had to visit the same organisation the following day with a Qatari gentleman. Thank goodness she had the same makeup on as I wouldn’t have recognized her.