More than 200 sixth graders at Graham Junior High toured the Middle East without leaving Graham last week by looking through exhibits in the General Tommy Franks Traveling Road Show. Ben Burgess, left, Tyler Dozier, middle, and Emmanuel Lucio look at an antique cap and ball pistol from Afghanistan while touring.
Taking a trip to the Middle East
by David Rupkalvis
(Posted 3/2/2010 01:15 pm)
editor@grahamleader.com
Billy Bob Wainscott got to visit the Middle East last week, and he never had to leave Graham Junior High.
Wainscott was joined on his trip by more than 200 students who visited the General Tommy Franks Traveling Road Show.
The show displayed personal artifacts Franks collected while serving in the Middle East as commander of United States Central Command after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Carolyn Jameson traveled to Graham to show the students a little bit about the Middle East.
“We teach them a little bit about the culture of the Middle East,” Jameson said. “They have no idea what kind of lifestyle these people live. There’s only two classes of people. They’re either very rich or very poor. There’s no middle class.”
As Jameson led a class through the museum, a large trailer retrofitted to hold more than 100 artifacts, she explained each item and what it meant to the people in the country. There were items on the tour representing 22 countries.
“When they first walk in, their first expression is ‘wow,’” Jameson said. “They don’t know what to expect.”
The items on display range from swords and guns to a woman’s abaya from Saudi Arabia and an embroidered traditional dress from Eritrea. The two clothing items were gifts to Cathy Franks when she joined her husband in the countries. In Eritrea, the dress was a gift to thank Franks for visiting. In Saudi Arabia, she had to wear the abaya because Muslim law requires all women — even visitors — to wear the traditional Islamic clothing that covers them from head to toe.
After taking the tour, Wainscott said the manly items impressed him.
“I liked the sword and the gun,” Wainscott said. “They’re cool.”
Dalton McAnear said he was impressed with a model of a jingle truck.
“I’ve never seen one before, and they look pretty cool,” McAnear said.
Jameson said the jingle trucks are common in the Middle East. The large trucks are used to transport supplies and items for sale. Owners paint their trucks in a variety of different colors and hang bells and anything else that will make noise from the front bumper. The more noise a truck makes as it moves down the street, the better.
“It’s a status symbol for them to be able to put their hangings on and make some noise,” Jameson said.
Jameson said the biggest surprise for girls is usually a Barbie doll called a Fulla. She said the girls are surprised to see the doll because the Barbie wears traditional Muslim clothing, not the clothes girls usually seen in America.
The Tommy Franks Traveling Museum has been on the road for more than two years to let students get a glimpse of life in the Middle East. In 2009, the exhibit visited 77 schools and had 17,000 students walk through. Based in southern Oklahoma, the exhibit is limited to Texas and Oklahoma right now, but that could change in the near future.
“We’ve had requests from Missouri, Colorado, Wisconsin and Kansas,” Jameson said. “They are thinking about building a second museum so we can go to more places.”
An embroidered traditional dress from Eritrea was a surprise to many of the students.
