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Stephen Schroeder went to Saudi Arabia to help a fledgling research center. He came away with an education in Middle Eastern life.

Schroeder retired in October 2001 as director of the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies at Kansas University. He started in May 2002 as director of the Price Salman Center for Disability Research in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"It's been a fascinating experience for me," he said. "I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn what the Middle East is like."

Schroeder last week came home to Lawrence. He will return in January to Riyadh for a month to complete his work there.

The Prince Salman Center hired Schroeder to help build its research program, with hopes of hiring a new Arab director. That new director soon will be on board, and Schroeder said he had fulfilled his purpose at the center.

Schroeder was driven to Saudi Arabia, in part, he said, by a desire to see disability research transcend cultures.

When he left, only months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, relations between the United States and many countries in the Arab world were strained. Things only got worse when the Bush administration set its sights on Saddam Hussein and Iraq.

Schroeder, who was opposed to the war, said he rarely was called to defend his government's position on Iraq. Some Saudis were opposed to the pre-emptive war, while others were concerned that Saddam would unleash stored Scud missiles toward neighboring countries.

"I couldn't defend anything we were doing," he said. "I was 100 percent on their side. There was no point in yelling at me."

He said most Saudis separated the American people from the American government.

Stephen Schroeder, retired director of the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies at Kansas University, recently returned from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he worked as executive director to the Price Salman Center for Disability Research.

"It's really remarkable having been there during that period," he said. "You can't imagine. There are 22 countries (in the region), and everybody is against the United States government."

Schroeder lived in an apartment complex that was a five-minute walk from the Price Salman Center. The center had only two entrances, guarded by security officers.

"I felt fairly secure," he said. "I didn't range out of that area very much, as you would in a big city. There are certain places you don't go at night."

Most of the disability issues in the Arab world stem from one problem -- intermarriage. People there tend to marry others within their same tribe.

"They have incredible genetic homogeneity," he said. "This, of course, leads to birth defects."

Saudis face a high rate of thalassemia, a life-threatening blood disease, and genetically caused eye degeneration and hearing loss.

Schroeder said the Prince Salman Center was the only disability research center in the Arab-speaking world. He spent much of his time raising money for the center's endowment. One fund-raising dinner included a brother of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Now that he's returned, Schroeder plans to return to part-time work at the Schiefelbusch Institute and complete a book he is writing about behavioral disorders.

Schroeder said one of the most lasting impressions he would have of Saudi Arabia was the beauty of Riyadh's architecture. He worries that most Americans have a different view of the country.

"They don't see that on TV," he said. "They see apartments half blown up."