A Nigthmare in Qatar

I was shocked, sad and could not believe what I heard. How could someone be so evil? What was the trigger behind this message? Was she bluffing or did she indeed speak to airport security? I mean she did have a lot of connections in Qatar, so I assumed she could have done this.  All these questions running through my mind, while I was sitting on the bed looking outside the hotel room window. Looking down, looking up, thinking, thinking hard. Nervous…mind full of scenario’s. I always say that my personal strength is keeping myself calm in hectic situations, however this was not the case anymore.. As L.L and myself were not sure if B.N. was bluffing or not, we agreed that we wouldn’t answer the phone until 30 minutes before leaving to go to the airport. If she messaged us again, we would know it was a bluff. I mean, if you are sure that the airport security will stop us, there is no need to worry or text us again. The time was going slow and even going backwards, well it felt ...

Something I learned during this period of time was that whenever survival mode is activated everyone starts to have a hidden agenda. I believe in this situation, it was worse, because at this point I had known B.N. for only 6months. Therefore, I was not sure what she was capable of. I needed to be selfish at that moment because I had to leave this foreign country as these red flags were contributing to my selfishness.  That same day, I was ignoring all text messages and calls from B.N because I just did not feel like talking to her. On the other hand, I had to play it safe because she was well known in Qatar and most likely had the ‘connections’ in the country. However, I still ignored all communication and went for a nap. I felt tired, sad and somehow still in shock, because that feeling of not being able to leave was still there. The next day was my birthday, but the evening before I went for dinner and drinks with L.L, D.S and another friend W.P to this lovely Jazz bar....

A travel ban? What…. Ban? Like you can’t leave the country? I couldn’t believe what I heard.. I couldn’t make sense of it, because being stuck in a country and can’t leave whenever you want is the worst feeling. Whenever I’m planning a vacation or a trip or wherever I go, I always need to have the option to leave whenever I want. But this time, I was thinking of the worst..when will I leave? When will I see my family… It was a horrible feeling and there was nothing I could do in this foreign country, where the law is based on religion… The ride back was a disaster and a feeling of disbelieve.. I was looking outside the window and thinking. My heartbeat was raising and I couldn’t calm it down, because in these middle eastern countries… there is no such thing as human rights..I was thinking of the worst and called B.N. right away and told her about this issue and that we needed to find a solution. She was very calm and didn’t show much empathy about the travel ban…which was strange…...

It was disbelieve as I couldn’t make sense of the situation right away. I immediately informed welfare that I had to leave as soon as possible. I really wanted to leave, but I also needed to leave due to obligations. They understood my situation and would proceed with the process. I thanked them and ensured them once again about me leaving as soon as possible. I already wanted to leave this country but now in this whole situation, the feeling got even worse. When putting down the phone, I was thinking about what welfare said.. postponed? And why did B.N. mention this to them? What was her motive behind this when I clearly explained that I had to leave the country? I informed D.S about this but we couldn’t really make sense out of it.. Why would she do this? And did she have the power to just postpone my departure? I don’t know.. After some time I went to B.N again to check on her and confronted her with the news. She was a bit shocked but denied calling welfare. She mentioned th...

My messages were not delivering to D.S and I decided to leave B.N with one of the police men and go and tell D.S. the story we both agreed on. I started running a bit and simultaneously messaging D.S, hoping my messages would deliver. However still they weren’t and I started getting a bit nervous. I couldn’t find his room and was getting nervous the moment I thought about the police interviewing D.S. After some while I still couldn’t find it as it all looked the same. The hospital was quite huge. Looking left…Looking right… which way? Sir… Do you know which room this is?...Really? I need to go back? Well at that moment I trusted this man and followed his directions. Walking in the hallway, I saw that my messages delivered to D.S. A moment of relief but still unsure what he said to the police. After some seconds I suddenly bumped into the police officer.. Shiit…He had an angry look on his face.. which all the police men have in Doha. He immediately asked where my friend was becau...

Again a feeling of defeat, when I heard the rescuer couldn’t reach us. On the other hand, someone knows where we are and can always call for back up, right? But how long would that take? How long before we left this place? As we were waiting, I once again tried to calm B.N. and D.S. down and tried reassuring them everything would be alright. Moments later, B.N. started talking, explaining and instructing what we should say to the police regarding the accident. I wasn’t really sure how the police work in these countries, but I agreed with everything B.N. said. Moments later, the police and ambulance arrived and it was a moment of victory. I remember that one of my family members in Suriname messaged me at that moment. I immediately called and explained that I was in an accident. They were shocked….and curious if everything was ok. I ensured that everyone was ok and that we are now leaving to the hospital. I also mentioned that my friends B.N and D.S were in lots of pain and that we...