October 29–November 09, 2002 International Perspectives by Carole J. Lewis Itís exciting to be there in the beginning! Saudi women find themselves on the verge of participating in the new millennium in ways unimagined by their mothers. The women leaders of Saudi Arabia that we met are the cutting edge of modernity as it is emerging in their country. They are engaged in nation building and passionate about it. They are well educated and widely traveled. Many speak English with an American accent. When they use American slang you can get a false sense of more closeness and understanding with them than exists. Their society is based on familialism which is a system of inclusion and exclusion within their family and other designated groups that affects their every behavior. The political structure can be described as a series of ever larger circles. The first circle is the King, next the royal family, then tribal leaders, wealthy merchants without tribal lineage, ordinary Saudis and finally foreign workers. Everything comes from God, Allah. The whole society is genuinely religious. They do not understand how we can separate church and state. All rights, including human rights, are granted by Allah. Allah gives these rights, not the state. And, the rights and duties of men and women are different. This will not be easily changed in many minds because the differences in rights and duties are regarded as having been ordained by Allah. However, this has not kept Saudi women from being very independent and in many cases very wealthy. Forty percent of the wealth of Jeddah is in their hands. Seven percent of Saudi women are employed. Although they must go out covered in black, accompanied by a man, and are forbidden to drive a car, they have a great number of accomplishments to their credit. Many of the endeavors the delegation were able to see are the very beginnings of help for the mentally retarded, otherwise disabled children, education for women, employment of mentally handicapped women, employment of PHD educated women in research centers, and others mentioned below. This is how many educational and charitable institutions began in our country. Saudi women are beginning to see the fruits of their efforts, but they are still at the beginning of a long process. Our delegation was headed and made possible by the indomitable Marianne Alireza. She and her family made the whole visit possible. You will find their many names and efforts mentioned through out this report, but I can not convey everything they did for us and the warmth with which we were received. October 29th , Tuesday We arrived late Tuesday night and were immediately taken to a beautifully decorated womenís waiting room and then to the Hilton Jeddah without our luggage. It was left to be checked by customs and arrived at the hotel close to 3:00 am. October 30th , Wednesday We were met in the hotel lobby by Widad Al Tamimiat at 10:30. She assisted us for most of our stay in Saudi Arabia. She is Deputy Director of the MAHARAT CENTER for Cognitive & Skills Development which is supported by Nadia Alirezaís (Marianneís daughter ) trust and her active involvement. Unfortunately, because of our two day late arrival in Jeddah due to high winds in England, we were not able to visit the MAHARAT CENTER. The center is Saudi Arabiaís leading institution for the diagnostic and remedial treatment of disabilities in learning, communication, and perception. It was established in 1994 as a non-profit organization supported by private donors and benefactors. Among other areas, the center works with dyslexics and those with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders. Our first visit was to the Help Center. It was started in 1986 in an ordinary villa in Jeddah by Sheik Ahmed Al-Juffali. It had three therapists treating three children. The Sheik and his wife, now a widow, started the center in order to give something back to the country. She continues the work of the center dedicated to the welfare of children with mental and physical disabilities. The Help Center is presently lodged in a new building, which was family built. The Help Center is nonprofit and free of charge to those unable to pay. They now treat 320 children from zero to 18 years of age. They believe in early intervention and are experiencing heavy demand. The facility is state of the art as to equipment and therapies. It takes two years, to train staff. They adapt all that is useful to them from all over the world and translate it into Arabic. The Center is run by highly educated and dedicated women. Our second visit of the day was to the Jeddah Institute of Speech and Hearing (JISH). JISH was founded by Sultana Alireza, a niece of Marianne Alireza, because of her personal experiences. She has four children. Her first child is normal, but the younger three are hearing impaired. With therapy for her second child in America, she found her son could be mainstreamed. However, when she returned to Saudi Arabia there were no such services available. Ten years ago, she and her husband decided that it was Allahís will that they establish JISH. The goal of Sultana Alireza and her well educated and largely female staff is to bring the best standards in the world to the service of their clients. She herself took a Masters in Speech Pathology in California. In the beginning all the therapists were foreign. Now they have a number of Saudi women therapists. At least three Jordanians, three Saudis, and several African therapists spoke to us. All the employees have future goals and strive for total quality management and methods of improving.treatment. They will not tolerate any "Mickey Mouse" standards. The JISH Instituteís purpose is to set the highest standards for training and implementation. Many feel they have to spread their work for the good of the Muslim world. The employees seemed extremely happy and committed. They feel they are doing needed work. There is a huge research need. They need the ability to assess an Arabic speaking child as they would assess an English speaking child. Their new building was privately donated. JISH maintains a co-ed environment. Saudi Arabia is a new country and their Ministry of Health is concerned mainly with primary care. Therefore, there is a great need for private institutions. All the Saudi women maintained the culture is very strong in Saudi Arabia and it is hard to separate what is religion and what is culture. These women feel that they could not do what they do without men’s support and that they have received it freely. Women are now seeking jobs for economic reasons. We then attended a most lovely reception and lunch at Nadia Alirezaís villa. At lest 15 to 20 Saudi women were invited to meet us. I personally lunched with HRH Princess Lolowah Al-Faisal and was more than suitably impressed. I was later to learn she has continued her mother Queen Iffatís work educating women. She defended the continued hospitality of the US to individual Saudi Arabians in the face of the attacks of 9/11. AWIU visited Saudi Arabia on a purely non-political level. That did not keep Saudi Arabians from expressing their political opinions to which we always gave very diplomatic replies—a little in shock at first. Dinner that night was at Dr. Sami Angawi’s newly restored and elaborate traditional home. No wonder, he is an architect. He gave us a very interesting lecture on Muslim historic architecture. He relates societyís architecture to its health. He is very critical of the destruction of historic mosques in Mecca, Medina, and elsewhere. He believes an Intercultural Institute is needed in Saudi Arabia. Sami feels that there has been change in the press in the last few years, He doesn’t feel any need to secularize just to moderate the rhetoric. He put on the screen what he considers three equivalent pictures. Mecca before enlargement and modernization, the twin towers burning, and the Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in Afghanistan.. Dr. Sami Angawi built into his house, Almakkiyah, what he feels are the benefits of Hijazi traditional architecture. Hijazi, the western region of Saudi Arabia, is the melting pot of Muslims worldwide since the days of Abraham, and thru the Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca), pilgrims have been coming from all parts of the world. Almakkiyah is the result of more than ten years of research and studies in Islamic architecture and the Hijazi approach to it. It is a truly beautiful structure. October 31st, Thursday The day began with a visit to the Safia Binzagr Museum. I would call it an art gallery. Safia Binzagr, born in Jeddah and educated in Cairo and the UK, has for 30 years, dedicated her life and art to the preservation of the heritage of Saudi Arabia. We viewed her artwork since 1968. It is some of only very little documentation of the cultural heritage of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Once again, we have a woman performing absolutely vital services for her country. To read the goals of the Darrah (museum) is to read the goals of any art museum. But Safia started this project on her own and has kept it going with private funding and her own artistic talent and antique collections. A beautiful new building houses her excellent paintings documenting the cultural history of old Saudi Arabia. That afternoon we visited the Arab News. The Arab News has several star female reporters. We met with a few of them, as well as Roger Harrison, a photographer, and Khaled A. Al-Maeena, Editor-in-Chief among others. Khaled conducted a wide ranging discussion. He felt it was important for AWIU to be there. There is no basis for animosity between Saudi Arabia and the US other than our stifling the Palestinians contrary to our own principles. Saudi Arabia has three problems: l. Education. There needs to be more focus on technology 2. Women. They suffer from a lack of mobility and job opportunities. The internet has been a big help to them. 3. Underemployment. Saudis have benefited from a built-in welfare system that has left them unwilling to work. The Arab News, which is Saudi royal owned, does engage in self censorship regarding the royal family. Saudis live within walls. The first thing they do is establish their territory. First they build their walls and then their houses. He used an interesting term "swimming pool gossip", i.e. out of the compounds. Americans and Saudis do not mix socially. In the future the Arab News will be sponsoring speakers in the US. They would very much like some help in setting this program up. That evening we had a tour of and dinner at Mersal Village, a family amusement park. There we observed Saudi families out for a night of fun. At Mersal Village a man is not welcome unless he is accompanied by a woman. November 1st , Friday Friday is the Muslim holy day. We got a 1:30 start for a day of relaxation at Durrat Al Arous. Durrat Al Arous is a Saudi resort planned unit development north of Jeddah on the Red Sea. Just like the ones in the US you buy your unit and enjoy. The Manager, with his wife Carol Khan, showed us the resort. The Durrah Beach Resort has 175 Units, 39 Suites, and 14 Bungalows, all available for rent. There is access to the following facilities—Health Club, Gymnasium, Sauna, Jacuzzi, three Swimming Pools, Equestrian Club and Riding Academy, Marina, Marina Club etc.,etc. Carol Khan is an American. Her marriage definitely disrupted her husbandís career path. The Saudis put him in jail for 6 months. They seem to be happily settled in now. She visits the States frequently. She keeps herself busy doing hair in Jeddah. One of her clients, Pat Myers, later invited all of us to an elaborate dinner on the first night of Ramadan after Carol told her we were in town. Carol Khan invited us all to her home for a bite to eat before our return to Jeddah. The evening was completed by a traditional dinner at the Fish Restaurant Tuwal. The fish restaurant and the fish were provided by a grandson of Marianne Alireza. His mother, Hamida Alireza, also greatly assisted our visit. We socialized and had dinner seated on cushions on rugs on the ground. We were joined by various member of the Alireza family who were absolutely delighted to see one another and Marianne. Family members, both male and female, socialized with the opposite sex with ease and demonstrated strong family ties. November 2nd , Saturday The day got off to a great start with a visit to the King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital. This hospital is primarily for the military, their dependents, and the royals. It is a copy of an American hospital. We had a tour of the facilities which appeared to be excellent, and then a meeting with some of the Saudi women staffing the hospital. Men are not allowed to be present at birth. The hospital tries to keep new mothers 24 hours, but it is 18 hours sometimes. They give new babies hepatitis B shots as a matter of course. They said their doctors are mainly trained in Germany, but we saw mostly American trained personnel. Their equipment is very up to date and all their standards of treatment are high. Some quotes from the ladies: "We Saudi ladies are in charge" "lucky to be a woman in this country". We were closely questioned as to why we were here. We explained our purposes. The Saudi women have few if any organizations other than professional, cultural, or charity based to join. Lunch was a discussion, or talk rather, by Dr. Fatina Shaker and Ms Maha. I was unable to follow it because of the acoustics in the room. Once again, we met accomplished and educated Saudi women who were very pleased with what they have done and their position in society. Late that afternoon we departed for Riyadh accompanied by Marianne, Nadia, Hamida, and Tarif Alireza. Tarif, Marianneís son, joined us for a Brazillian dinner at the Faisaliyah Hotel. November 3rd , Sunday In the morning AWIU visited the National Guard Hospital. It is a very modern building built in 1999. This is not a primary care facility. The hospital specializes in trauma and emergency care. They will evaluate anyone brought in, as in the US and then send the patients elsewhere. English is the official language of the hospital. The intensive care unit was impressive. It provides large outside windows in the intensive care rooms and wide corridors to be prepared for any new technology. They have a very highly skilled nursing staff with nurses from the EU, South Africa, the US , Canada and other countries. They perform liver and heart transplants and plastic surgery. They have separated 3 sets of conjoined twins. We viewed the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, the Cardiac Sciences and Hepatobiliary & Transplantation Center, the Intensive Care Unit and Burn Unit. Most impressive. Quality care is emphasized. Thirty percent of the physicians are women primarily in general practice. The feeling expressed, "we are happy, cared for, educated, and working". AWIU then availed itself of the opportunity to visit the Anti Venom & Vaccine Production Centre which was conceived of and founded by women. This facility sells vaccine through out the Mid-East. Lunch was enjoyed with a large number of these motivated and happy women. The list of their accomplishments goes on and on. We were joined toward the end of lunch by Dr. Fahad Al Abdujabbar, Chief Executive Officer of the National Guard Hospital. (You may have caught Christiane Amanpourís interview of him on CNN. She was following us around Jeddah for a while.) Dr. Fahad is very proud of his "daughters" and the work they are doing. They are trying to meet their own nursing needs and have established a two year nursing program. The Dr. is very upset at the new US visa regulations and again put us on the defensive somewhat. He is afraid it will take him up to ten hours to clear. We wonder. The Dr. has two vacation homes in the US. He invited all of us to come again to Riyadh and he would personally make arrangements for us to have a place to stay. After lunch, AWIU visited the Supreme Commission for Tourism. In its beautiful new building in the diplomatic quarter of Riyadh, we found lovely ironwork, great landscaping, and only men. The Commission is hard at work with a GIS database selecting sites to serve domestic tourism. They want to keep in The Kingdom some of the money that is currently being spent outside of Saudi Arabia. They talked about ecotourism and the development of sustainable resources. Some special interest groups from outside the Kingdom may also be targeted such as divers, archaeologists and so no. Mass tourism is not being considered. They are interested in developing World Heritage Sites in order to keep these areas unique and untouched. AWIU then had the honor of an extensive meeting HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman. (He was also interviewed by Christiane Amanpour). This meeting was taped in its entirety by our group and is well worth watching. That tape should be made part of the record of this delegation. I took the following notes of some comments of interest. Saudi Arabia is a rising star. A new unity. It believes in "all the things it believes in". The people of Saudi Arabia do not hate the US. They are angry with us and, over our unconditional and unprincipled support of Israel. (We heard that everywhere.) The US has been good to us. Aramco taught us new skills. Muslims consider Saudi Arabia their center point. Muslims are good people. He is a fundamentalist. The terrorists are the corrupt end of an attempt to fight communism. The big Jihad is within yourself. Why does Israel have US weapons? Look at it from the perspective of Islam. Jesus is referred to in the Koran 93 times. The Prince has visited the US extensively. (He was with our astronauts in 1985.) Muslims are charitable people. Working people good people. Again the double standard. Why not apply to Israel the standards you do to the Palestinians? They are driven to desperate acts. Sharon comes from the dark period of history. US is an angry elephant. Change and globalization is coming. Some donít want change. "so glad, so glad, to see us" That afternoon continued with a visit to the fabulous Kingdom Mall of Riyadh and its Ladies Only section called Al Mamlaka. The Managing Director of the Ladies Only Section, Dr. Asma B. Omer, presides over the most modern of malls located on one floor of the building with separate entrances. We certainly felt at home there. There are high end and moderately priced shops, a complete spa, and a Ladies Consumer Bank. Here women can remove their abayas and actually try on clothes. All very nice, but we have had our own experiences with separate but equal facilities in our country. Al Mamlaka is Saudi royal owned. The women were very happy and proud of what they have been able to accomplish, as they should be. Even the guards at the Ladies Mall are female. There is little shoplifting. A Womenís Chamber of Commerce will be starting in January 2003. The spa is very popular. The manager of the branch bank was very up beat. They feel Prince Abdullah wants things to advance. In the evening, the British Ambassador’s wife Lady Plumbly who is an Egyptian, invited us to dinner at her home. Again we met a delightful group of well educated and accomplished Saudi ladies. I spoke with a Professor of Pharmacology who had been instrumental in the origination of the Anti Venom & Vaccine Center and had trained some of the women we met earlier in the day. I sat next to another HRH at dinner. This Princess writes and illustrates childrenís books. She has only two children—the smallest number I found. November 4th , Monday The morning began with a visit to the Al Nahda Welfare Society and the observation of some of their training programs. This is another non-governmental organization for grown women with special needs. They have six centers in Riyadh. They teach ceramics, leather and wood traditional carving, making prayer rugs, table covers, Koran covers, and pottery. We then traveled to the Al Nahda School for Down Syndrome which was privately established in 1987 and is still privately supported. It started with two children and now has 145. There are 500 children on the waiting list. They do not believe there is a larger percentage of sick children in their population. There is no option for abortion unless the life of the mother or child is endangered. Birth control is acceptable, however. They also believe in early intervention programs. Once again we saw the Saudi Woman’s commitment to provide the best treatment the world has to offer to her child and the organizationís commitment to adapt outside programs for their own purposes. The AWIU delegation then visited the Arabian Medical Products Manufacturing Company where the General Manager Abdul Hakil Al Ab Madhi led us through part of his plant. The plant is a joint venture with Kimberly Clark. Our visit centered on a workroom employing underprivileged women. These are women with low income, are widows, or similarly disadvantaged. Men and women work separately. This plant, which provides training and employment to these women, is a unique and groundbreaking operation meeting a definite need. Our next visit was another eye opener. We visited the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre. The Research Centre consists of six departments, namely: Biological and Medical Research, Biomedical Physics, Scientific Computing, Comparative Medicine, Cyclotron and Radiopharmaceuticals, and Genetics. Each of these state of the art research departments which we visited is staffed by brilliant and beautiful young women. We met at least 17 of them. Most are PHDís educated in the US. All are committed to perform at the level or better than their counterparts in the US. The young women repeatedly reiterated that they are happy in their personal, social, political, and professional lives. We then took a break and visited HRH Prince Sultan’s date farm on the outskirts of Riyadh. It is located near the capital of the first Saudi state of Derijah. Prince Sultan’s wife received us and gave us a short tour of their recently restored traditional home. It is located in a wadi ( an area where water flows sometimes ) and the groves of Date Palms surrounding the house were beautiful. Dinner was at a womenís club, the Al Manahil Club, located in the Diplomatic Quarter of Riyadh. The club hosted a large and very well attended and lavish buffet in an absolutely up to the minute health club facility. Everything you could ask for in services was available including educational classes. You could have been at the Ritz Carlton in Florida The Mission Statement of the restaurant is worth repeating because it symbolizes the aspirations of so many of the women we met—just change the specific work goals. "We aim to exceed expectations in creating a memorable dining experience for all age groups, nationalities, and cultures. We pledge to build a reputation as one of the best establishments in Riyadh where women and children can relax and enjoy great food in comfortable surroundings. Our highly trained team of staff strive to maintain excellent service standards and high quality foods. We are committed to guest satisfaction, value for money and quality assurance." Once again I had dinner with a Princess. She is part owner of a jewelry store. Another lady had just been interviewed by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times. She thought the article about the interview was inaccurate and misleading as it pertained to Saudi women. She was writing a letter to Dowd. I suggested she send her letter to the Editor of the New York Times instead, and copy the Arab News. I hope she did so. November 5th, Tuesday The morning began with a visit to the National Museum and the King Abdulaziz Photo Center. The museum is a large, modern, state of the art facility. We viewed a video on the unification of Saudi Arabia by the present dynasty. The museum was very well done and the exhibits very professionally staged. Lunch was on the bus. Our afternoon appointment was with Robert W. Jordan, US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He was appointed by President Bush about a year ago and is a lawyer from Dallas. The meeting was taped and a transcript should be available to us. The transcript should be included in the record of this delegation. What follows are a few of the comments I noted. Ambassador Jordan has found the Saudis congenial but upset. The local media depicts Palestine as an occupied territory. The Saudis believe that someone has blessed what appears on US media. They do not really understand freedom of speech in the US. They are working on the visa problem. Military to military the relationship is good. Saudi Arabia has purchased 70 billion dollars of defense hardware. Saudi Arabia is of strategic importance to us. We need access to their air space and we are important to their security. Saudi Arabia is one of our top trading partners. The US has not gotten any credit for our attack on Afghanistan. The Presidentís statement that we are not at war with Islam is not well received. Our best intentions are misunderstood. There is a lot of fear and anger out there especially against our favoritism toward Israel. Again, I recommend reading the transcript. That evening we visited the old souk in Dira with Mrs. Leila Bassam. One of our faithful escorts, Mohíd A. Shabib Al-Ghamdi, had a little trouble the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice—which has no women members. I think Mrs. Bassam did some fancy talking to keep us out of trouble. After that experience we basically stopped taking pictures. November 6th ,Wednesday The first Day of Ramadan The day began with a flight to Jeddah on which there were a large number of male pilgrims dressed in traditional white towels on their way to Mecca. Our first visit in Jeddah was to Effat College. We were met by HRH Princess Lolowah Al-Faisal who is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees and General Supervisor of the college. She is also the daughter of Queen Effat who founded the school. The school was the first for females in Saudi Arabia. In 1955, it started as a school for orphans. Presently education is free to all. Effat College is a privately supported college. It describes itís mission is to maintain a deep commitment to the students personal development within a challenging educational environment that reinforces our cherished religious and social tradition. It is designed to offer more than a rote education. There is no fine arts instruction because other areas are more important. A studentís comment, "weíre constantly motivated". While touring the College, I briefly spoke with Dr. Patricia Smith who is the recently appointed Director of Enhancement Services. She is available to speak with students about their problems. The students strongly feel that their families will solve their problems. Dr. Smith wants them to know it is OK to talk about them. A new experience for them. AWIU next visited Dar Al Hekma ( House of Wisdom) College for women. It is another excellently staffed institution dedicated to the education of women which is private and non-profit. It has 325 students 70% of whom are Saudi. The administration advocates choosing Dar Al Hekma for its outstanding academic environment, state of the art facilities, individualized attention, and versatile extra curricular activities. They are making an effort to broaden the horizons of their students, We had a lively discussion with some of them. This group also wanted to know what we were doing there. Lois Ryan told them. That evening we had another real treat. We were invited to "Fatour" break of fast at the very elegant LaNaitDí by Pat Myers, Head of Ladies Private Banking and the National Commercial Bank. She invited us to this banquet hall after hearing we were in town from Carol Khan, the wife of the manager of the resort north of Jeddah. Pat Myers also invited a number of people from her bank and other friends. It was a very elegant affair and ended with a talk on Ramadan and Islam by Sufi Kaskas. The Private Client Officer for Women who sat next to me was a Saudi woman. She seemed very competent in her business, but does not believe the nationality of the 9/11 terrorists was Saudi. She said passports can be stolen. Pat Myers told me an interesting story. One client was purchasing a piece of property for $4 million. She wanted cash for the transaction and of course the bank provided it. The client didnít trust a check. $4 million cash in $500 bills occupies the space of a three foot square cube. The last adventure of the evening, was a visit to the Nassif House in the Historic District of Jeddah. With the beginning of Ramadan, the daily life of Saudi Arabia changes. People stay up all right and there are a huge number of people on the streets until late at night. The day is quiet. The whole country celebrates Ramadan. At the Nassif House, the curator, Sami Nawar gave us a complete tour of the old house and enlightened us as to its history. The view of old Jeddah from the roof of the house was spectacular. November 7th , Thursday Once again Americans stepped up with hospitality. Sue Stiles from Raytheon took us to the Intercontinental Beach for swimming and snorkeling. Here we put on swim suits and rested ourselves on the beach. Not an abaya in sight. At 4:00 we were treated to what was billed as an old fashioned American cook out at the Raytheon Compound. The hot dogs and hamburgers were delicious. A few American ex-pats joined us. The compound is guarded by Saudi military and any vehicles entering it are closely checked. It is a closed community in which American women go about uncovered and drive cars. The compound keeps the American family close and they like that. The Americans like Saudi Arabians but there is no cross sexual fraternization with them, not even on the compound. November 8th , Friday On the Muslim Holy Day we met with Roger Harrison, Senior Reporter for the Arab News, in the morning. He later accompanied us on a guided bus tour of Jeddah. He solicited some of our comments on our experiences in Saudi Arabia and in return took some pictures of Jeddah Monuments for us. We are all looking forward to reading his future comments and viewing his pictures. At dusk, we had "fatour" break of fast at the Hilton Hotel. Our last excursion was to once again visit the villa Nadia Alireza where she and her sister Hamida had prepared an exhibition of their collection of traditional Saudi costumes. They have a beautiful and unique collection of authentic costumes of the Kingdom and their exhibition was a spectacular finish to our visit. The sisters support and contribute to the Mansoojat Textile Group which began in 1999 as a non-profit organization and whose mission is to revive and preserve the traditional ethnic designs and costumes of Saudi Arabia, conduct research and understand the importance of the cultural heritage of the Kingdom ,and to create public awareness of this field. Once again, capable women working hard for their country. We were royally entertained and fed. Many members of the Alireza family were present that last evening as they had been so often through out our sojourn in Saudi Arabia. Many, many, thanks to Marianne, Hamida, Nadia ,Tarif, and all the Alireza family members. We are forever in your debt. November 9th, Saturday At 3:00 am we departed Jeddah for London Carole J. Lewis November 21,2002 Home |
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