A CLERGY couple from Dorset, the Revd Richard and Louise White, have found themselves stranded in Dubai. They landed there for a week’s holiday to visit their daughter, only hours before the airport closed when conflict broke out in the Middle East.
The couple, who serve the St Aldhelm Benefice, in Purbeck, were enjoying “a relaxed outing for breakfast and doing some shopping” when they were alerted by their daughter’s partner to the fact that the United Arab Emirates were under attack and had shut down their airports. Dubai airport was targeted this week by Iranian missile and drone attacks.
The pair slept through alarms sounded in the night, instructing them to take shelter away from glass. “We had to laugh at the fact that our hotel room had two sides which were all glass,” said Mrs White. “We decided to just carry on sleeping, as we were too tired not to.”
She continued: “Neither Richard nor I have ever been in a conflict situation. For the next few days, we were hearing bangs, as missiles and drones were being intercepted.”
The scene in Dubai was otherwise ordinary, she said. “Life has largely carried on as normal: shutting some tourist hot spots, putting schools online, telling everyone to shelter when the alarm goes off. But otherwise people are carrying on as normal, filling cafés and restaurants, walking or running in parks, shopping in malls, children playing outside in the cool of the day. People are friendly. We are with our daughter and able to share this experience with her, not worrying about her from afar. The hotel staff are helpful and friendly.”
The couple’s shared ministry is to the villages of Church Knowle, Corfe Castle, Kimmeridge, Kingston, Langton Matravers, Steeple with Tyneham, and Worth Matravers. “The only issue is, we don’t know when we can return,” Mrs White said. “We are missing life in our benefice, but everyone there has been supportive, and constantly concerned for our welfare.”
