Argentina is the world’s greatest exporter of post-menopausal urine.

It takes 200,000 litres of postmenopausal urine, to extract one gram of the Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone 1 which is used to create 2,000 doses of fertility promoting medication.

And according to this fascinating report: Taking the Piss

“A study presented to the European Congress of Human Reproduction and Embryology found that more than five out of every 100 women with fertility difficulties treated with this hormone would successfully become pregnant, “which is clinically very significant,” affirms Anders Nyboe, the principal investigator of the study.”

Isn’t the human body amazing?

***I want to thank special readers who send me special links.

It’s a terrible story that fills me with rage because the very people who are supposed to protect citizens are involved in criminal acts against them.
I came across the story of the girl raped by the police officer a few days ago. The original story she gave was that she was waiting outside her house when she was abducted by an officer in a passing patrol car.

The story developed yesterday into more gruesome details when it was found that the eighteen year old girl was in the company of her boyfriend in a truck with shaded windows (illegal in Kuwait). There are several versions of this: one is that a policeman “noticed the suspicious movement of a vehicle while on routine duty” in the area; another is that the girl was waiting in front of her house and got into her boyfriend’s car just as a patrol car was passing; the third is that she was in the company of her boyfriend when their car was stopped by the passing police car.

The story gets worse. The boyfriend was ordered to get into the police car with one of the officers while the other one got into the car with the young girl and raped her. When he was finished he called his partner who was looking out and said I’m done.

Is this the whole story? What is fabricated? What is the truth? If the police officers were indeed involved, they should be punished to the maximum.

As usual in such a case, we hear people blaming the girl; why was she dating; why was she in the car with her boyfriend, and she should also be punished.

The way the story is portrayed now in the news, the police officers are totally to blame and it is a frightening thought indeed.

The television is big enough to be seen from far away but we are huddled around the screen, sitting back on deck chairs and listening to the interview on one of the local stations between the presenter and two female parliamentary candidates. The sky above us is inky black and the universe appears to be endless. But we sit with eyes stuck to the screen.

One of the candidates is long time radio presenter Aisha Al-Yahya. She comes elegantly dressed, not a hair out of place, her hands perfectly manicured (and I must add a pleasure to look at as she spoke and waved them about elegantly); her voice rose and fell at perfected intonations, pausing for effect, drawing in a slow breath, and stressing her words for effect every now and then - a result of years of practice over the radio. She smiles calmly when the presenter contravenes her or tries to ask her about her feminist role in traditional Kuwaiti society over the years. Aisha maintains that she is Kuwaiti and campaigning for her country and there is no dispute or conflict with the presenter. She has years of feminist and social activism behind her.

However, when the presenter moves to question Taybah Al-Ibrahim, the second candidate, he proceeds to immediately attack her well-known secularist views. The women around me cluck and tut and voice their outrage at seeing her on the TV, for they have heard her views. She is against Islam, they huff and they will not tolerate anyone like that. The slurs begin after that regarding her looks, her hair, her appearance.

All the while Taybah is talking and I am listening. The women next to me quieten down and listen. I think to myself that her ideas are not that outrageous and they make sense. But she is a woman trying to talk sense in a time that is not her own; people do not even listen. They will not listen. She makes them angry.

I watch the screen as Taybah loses patience with trying to explain her viewpoint to the presenter. She does not remain calm. She is frustrated. I am thinking she is not clear in presenting her ideas; does not speak eloquently and  desperately tries to communicate her thoughts before being interrupted by the TV presenter. Taybah Al-Ibrahim is a prolific writer and she is the first Kuwait woman to write science fiction novels. She ran for parliament in 2006 but did not win.

I look around me wherever I go and I see people who judge by appearances only, especially initially. The first time Aseel Al-Awadhi spoke in on of the rallies, all around me elderly women repeated “Ya 7elowha! How lovely she is! How sweet she is!” and there were many audible prayers around me asking for Allah to light their paths.

I think of the gamble these pioneering female candidates have taken by running in elections with a small chance of winning. Where are those old time Kuwaiti women activists? Why aren’t they running now? Why didn’t they run in 2006? One of them admitted she was  afraid of failure and of the shame she  would feel if she did not win.

Hats off to all those eccentric, risk taking Kuwaiti females who are not afraid of failure.