In the beginnings of the 1930s, Kuwait went through a great recession with the fall in pearl prices when Japan started producing cultured one. As a result, so many sailors fell in great debt to pearling ship captains who used to give them pre-voyage loans to leave back for their families on condition of paying the debt back once the pearling season was over and they were paid. This made many captains and ship owners seize many Kuwaitis' homes to pay off the debts, which created a great deal of discontent amongst Kuwaitis.

On their part, captains and ship owners justified this action by having to pay back the merchants who had given them the loans in the first place. I recall that one of the houses was sold to the late Ali Abdul Wahab Al-Mutawa, one of Kuwait's most prominent benevolent and charitable persons. Going to the house to redeem ownership, he found a mother and her children crying and weeping because their house was being sold to pay off the debt of the sole breadwinner, the father, who was a sailor and pearl diver.

Seeing the miserable state of the family, Abdul Wahab kept the family in the house and registered its deed in their name to end their suffering. This is how compassionate Kuwaitis used to be with each other in good old Kuwait! - Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Anbaa

By Dr Saleh Al-Ojairi