Postcards from the Middle East

Newly married, Chris Naylor and his wife Susanna set off for a new life in the Arab world, initially settling in Kuwait. When war forces them to move, they turn their sights on the Jordan and finally Lebanon, settling in to Qab Elias, a small town on the Bekaa plain. And they fall in love with the beauty of the light, the hospitality of the people, and the riches of the wildlife. After time spent teaching, Chris moves on to working for A Rocha and preserving the Lebanese environment, glorying in the olive groves, the claret-red cyclamens, the pelicans, cranes and frogs. While they struggle to come to terms with some of the local attitudes to women, they also glory in the warmth shown to them and their children, the riches of the area's archaeological remains, and the pleasure of seeing the world through Middle Eastern eyes.