5.27.06 Urfa, Turkey

There was a very unimpressive breakfast spread at the Kilim Otel. This was the first bad meal we’ve had on the trip. It served to show us that not all Turkish food is wonderful—but most of it is.

While we were waiting for our bus, Avery Rollins brought us good news from home: Enron scoundrels “Kenny Boy” Lay and Jeff Skilling were both convicted. That’s one pleasant memory we’ll always associate with this place.

We drove out to visit Harran, a town that dates from 1800 BCE. Abraham lived here for a time. We visited a house that Abraham and Sarah are said to have stayed in. There are ruins of a mosque built in the 730s and a large inn or hotel dating backto1800 BCE, but rebuilt in the 700s. The hotel contained rooms serving as a mosque, a church, and a synagogue for use by travelers of different religions—an early version of the religious garden we visited yesterday.

The area is populated by Arabs. Several children came out to greet us. Anne gave them bubbles and made some bubbles herself for them, to demonstrate how to do it. They were delighted. Then we went into a building and sat of carpet on what I think was a dirt floor. There we were served mirra (Arab coffee). Linda and I were the first two served, and each of us was given a cup into which a very small amount of the extraordinarily strong coffee was poured from a metal urn. The waiter waited. I assumed he wanted to see if I wanted more. Instead, it turned out that we were supposed to pass our cups on to others. It is their custom for everyone to drink from the same cup. The Turkish people in our group told them that this was not the American way, and then all the others were given cups served from a different container of mirra.

After the coffee, the women and a few of the men dressed up in Arab clothing for photos. The number of photos being taken by the group on this trip is amazing. I said it is probably the most photographed event since Princess Di’s wedding.

On the bus ride back to Urfa, I began to feel ill. By the time we reached the school where we were to have lunch, I felt awful and could not eat I sat in the lobby and had a Coke, but soon had to visit the school administrators’ restroom. There for the first time I had to squat over a Turkish toilet, and diarrhea is not the best way to go on your maiden voyage on—or, rather, over—one of these things. I thought later that the Turkish toilet might be a cure for diarrhea: seeing one is enough to scare the shit into you. (I’m only joking, of course. I realize that this is just a cultural difference and there is nothing inherently better about one type of toilet. But I’ll still choose the Western type when available!)

By the time the others had finished lunch, I was in terrible shape. Our leaders called a clinic run by their group and they said to bring me right over. I was examined by a doctor, given an IV and several prescriptions. Everyone at the clinic was very nice and they refused to take any money. While I was on the IV, Serdal, who had accompanied Anne and me to the clinic, took Anne to Abraham’s Cave and The Carp Pool, which were within easy walking distance. Anne went into Mevlid-i Halil (Abraham’s Cave) where Muslims believe the Prophet Abraham was born, through the separate women’s entrance. She said she got very hostile looks from the Muslim women in the cave, who apparently did not welcome Unbelievers into this sacred place.

When I got out of the clinic, I felt a little better and they took me, at my request, to see the cave and pool. At the Halil-ur Rahman Pool, I began feeling much worse again. We sat down on a stone curb and a street cleaner came up to ask if he could help, saying that I am a guest in his country and he was so sorry that I was ill. Then the imam of the mosque invited me to lie down in a study room. I lay down on the carpet and a pillow he gave me. Anne told me the imam prayed over me several times (after asking her if that would be all right) and wanted to make me tea. My illness has served the purpose of really fulfilling the objective of the trip, as we have seen just how nice and giving Muslims who follow the true meaning of their religion are.

Since I was the object in this event, rather than the subject or an observer, and was out cold through much of it, Anne will tell what happened:

“Bob was extremely ill when Serdal and I took him to the clinic. Everyone at the clinic was so nice and concerned. The doctor had been offered teaching jobs at two prestigious medical schools in the States. His brother is in Dallas and is involved with the Institute for Interfaith Dialogue. The doctor decided that he was needed in Urfa and started a clinic for the people. The doctor and clinic wouldn’t accept any money for their services to Bob and they were so kind. After Serdal and I got Bob out of the clinic, Bob insisted on going to the Cave of Abraham and the Carp Pool. By the time we got to the pool, Bob had to rest. A street cleaner asked Serdal if he could be of any help and said, “He is a visitor in our country and I will be sad that he is so ill.” Of course, when Serdal translated this for me, I shed some tears. A street cleaner – so concerned. A short time later, we needed his assistance in finding a rest room. He directed us to one in a quiet courtyard surrounding a mosque. There were several prayer rooms around the courtyard. Serdal went into the mosque to pray. When he came out, the imam (pastor of the mosque) came out, too. Serdal asked the imam if Bob could lie down in one of the prayer rooms. The Imam opened a door without hesitation. He also went and got a pillow for Bob. He came back to offer to make an herbal tea for Bob. I told him that Bob really couldn’t drink anything. He brought the tea around so I could read the ingredients in English, perhaps thinking I didn’t trust his tea. Then I noticed that the Imam was holding onto the iron grates on the window with his head bowed and praying – then did my tears flow! The Imam said that he had to be gone for 30 minutes but would check on us again. This time he asked my permission to go into the room with Bob. He looked at him and bowed his head again and prayed. Crying, I now realized that he and I were praying to the same God. I have never been so moved spiritually.

Bob and I believe that we were meant to have this experience with the imam and the street cleaner. This was where we were meant to be. We were also near the Cave of Abraham, the common ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

After meeting all the wonderful people in Turkey, I want to help others to understand that the terrorists of 9-11 may have been Muslims, but the vast majority of Muslims are not remotely terrorists. The parents want what we want for our children and grandchildren – peace and love and understanding.”

By the time I arose, Serdal had received word that Linda had also become ill in the same way. It was soon decided that the Raffs and McElvaines, along with Serdal, would stay in Urfa that night and the next, while the group went on to Gaziantep and then to Izmir and Ephesus. As much as I hate to miss Ephesus, hearing that I could go to bed soon and not face a couple of hour bus ride was among the happier moments of my life.

We all thought: Why didn’t we have the good sense to get sick while we were at the Tekirova Resort?

We wracked our brains trying to figure out what Linda and I had eaten that no one else did, and came up empty. Then it hit me. When we all had the mirra coffee at Harran, Linda was sitting next to me and we were served first, in two cups supplied from a silver urn. The custom is to pass the cups along and for everyone to drink from one or two cups. But our leaders told the hosts that this was not acceptable to Americans, so they went and got cups for everyone, which they supplied from a different, ceramic urn. I think that contamination of the coffee in the silver urn is the only reasonable source of our woes.

The heavy price we are paying, though, is to miss Ephesus.

There is a building next to our hotel that is abandoned with the windows out. Someone from our Mississippi group called it the Urfa King Edward. Serdal explained to us that the building had been used by the army and there had been a fire that killed several soldiers. The building was left abandoned to punish it. We asked if that meant it would never be used, he said no, that they will renovate it when they decide it has been punished enough.

Surely Jackson’s King Edward has been punished enough after all these years!

-RSM