Ramadan Iftar

            I was invited to go to an Iftar dinner a few days ago. Iftar is the meal that is shared after the sunset prayer to break the daily fast for Muslims during Ramadan. There was one held at the White House the other day. 

                 I recently learned that there is a Ramadan tradition of firing a cannon to signal the time for Iftar. The story has it that this particular tradition started by accident. Sultan Khashukdume in Cairo around the years 865/872 Hijri (middle to late 1400s AD). He had a new cannon and he wanted to test-fire it. The test firing exercise happened at exactly the moment when Maghreb prayers were happening during the month of Ramadan. This prayer happens at sunset, so it is the one that signifies the time to break the daily fast. Local residents all thought it was done on purpose to signify this time of day, so the tradition began. 

           This tradition continues and happens every day at Naif Palace during the month of Ramadan. 

Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat for Kuwait Times

Secretary of State visited Kuwait

Diplomatic Visit: March 2019

               While I was on my trip home to visit with family and friends, I learned that our Secretary of State visited Kuwait and posed for photos with several friends. He and our Ambassador even posed with one friend who was holding on to "Flat Stanley" from one of her relatives back in the States. :) Unfamiliar with Flat Stanley? Check the story out here.

Here's a short video from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's Instagram account: