Mandi, You're Beautiful

...But ain't it time we said goodbye. Oops. My mistake. Those are the lyrics to "Angie," not Mandi.

A groom here threw a hissy fit because the caterer who was preparing the "mandi" for his wedding prepared it a day early. What is "mandi?" Steamed lamb with rice. Surely it was just a simple miscommunication, but the "groom exploded when he learned that his large order had been prepared a day earlier than expected, and there was no way he was going to serve re-hashed day-old mandi" on his special day. Does this qualify as news worthy of sharing? Nah. Not really. But it gives me the opportunity to post the perfect picture! [Courtesy of WZ.]


When I posted on child trafficking last week - I was really hoping that I was all wrong about how children would be treated in The Sandbox once they were smuggled in to become beggars. I wasn't. They are treated just as depicted in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Apparently Jeddah "may be a hub" for child beggars. [May be? Cough cough.] With prime begging season about to begin - one week from today - authorities are taking notice. A recent study "calls for the creation of a system to have foreign children... registered with the embassies of their respective countries." There. Problem solved. No more children "from African countries, especially Nigeria," will be smuggled in from bordering countries, mostly Yemen, where they will "may be" taken to Jeddah, "one of several destinations in the Kindom [sic] where the children are housed, physically abused, mentally tortured and amputated in order to generate sympathy as beggars." [Emphasis, mine.]