American Chick in Saudi Arabia (10 page)

The beautiful sands of Saudi Arabia, often referred to as "the empty quarter"

A happy Jean Sasson exploring an old city, about an hour from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

It's been thirty-three years since I first traveled to live in Saudi Arabia. Most Saudi women believed that great change would come to the kingdom during the three decades that have passed. This has not happened. Yes, there has been progress, but not
enough
progress.

Now it is 2012. With each passing year, we can only hope that this will be the year that Saudi women will be given the right to drive, to choose the veil or spurn it, to exercise assent in the selection of their own husbands, and to be able to work freely in their chosen professions.

The good news is that the year 2011 saw new rumblings for change. The bad news is that many Saudi men in positions of power remain resistant to true gains for women in the kingdom.

The good news is that the majority of Saudi women are graduating from high school and many are graduating from college. The bad news is that, although armed with a good education, few Saudi women find employment because social restrictions ban men and women from working together.

In 2012, Saudi females still face severe punishment for any perceived instance of moral misconduct. This punishment is meted out by the men of her family, and no one would dare question a man about the power he wields over his women. But, on a positive note, many Saudi men are seeing the light when it comes to rights for women. Privately they complain about the restrictions still in force against their wives and daughters. Publicly they remain too leery of repercussions to take their complaints to authorities. This reluctance must change, for until men move forward, it is impossible for women alone to gain ground.

In 2012, most Saudi women still cover their faces with the full veil. The positive news is that some women in Jeddah are tossing aside the face veil. In the characteristic black cloak and scarf, these Jeddah women maintain their Islamic modesty.

In 2012, women are still forbidden to drive, although the push for women to drive is growing. It is rumored that King Abdullah will soon make a positive decision on this important issue.

In 2012, girls are still forbidden to date and are often forced into arranged marriages. Young women are still given in marriage to old men. Once again, there is good news, for many fathers are backing away from committing their pre-teen daughters to marriage to men much too old for such a union.

In 2012, should a man choose to marry as many as four wives, his first wife can do nothing to stop him. The good news is that most educated men are content with one wife.

In 2012, wives cannot stop their husbands from divorcing them, even if there is
no
good cause. Yet wives still have difficulty divorcing their husbands, even if they
have
good cause.

In 2012, women have no one to save them should their fathers or husbands or brothers or even sons confine them to their homes.

In 2012, females are allowed a college education
only
if their father gives their permission. Females are still limited to certain professions that do not mix with the opposite sex. Females are not allowed to work with or near men who are not of their family. Despite the fact that most Saudi women are educated, only five percent of the Saudi workforce is female.

In 2012, females are still forbidden from traveling unless they have written permission from a male family member. The good news is that women are now allowed their own passport, rather than being restricted to a listing on their husband's passport. However, the bad news is that the men of the family generally keep the women's passports under their possession.

In 2012, mothers cannot even protest if their husbands murder their daughters in the name of honor killing.

In 2011, King Abdullah al-Saud decreed that women will be allowed to vote in the 2015 elections. The hope is that the men who control these women will drive them to the polls and allow them to vote. Despite the ruling that women can vote, without the permission of her husband, she will not vote.

In 2011, Crown Prince Sultan al-Saud died of cancer. Bad news followed that Sultan's full brother, Prince Naif al-Saud, moved into the position of Crown Prince. The world now knows that Prince Naif will become King Naif upon the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah. All those familiar with Prince Naif say that he is not a believer in additional freedoms for Saudi women. It is feared that gains made during King Abdullah's reign will be nullified once Prince Naif become king.

Once again, Saudi women will take two steps back in time.

This author knowledgeably states that in many ways time has stood still for the women of Arabia. Yet there
is
slow change and renewed optimism. And as political movements continue to reshape expectations in many countries across the Middle East my hope grows that despite the men who rule them, the women of Saudi Arabia will soon gain freedoms for which they have yearned since the beginning of Arabian history.

I live for the happy day on which Saudi women can exercise the right to make their own decisions.

This has been a dream of mine since September 7, 1978.

In 1978 I traveled abroad to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a plan to live in that country for two years. I so greatly enjoyed my time in the desert kingdom that I remained there for twelve years. So much was happening in the Middle East during those twelve years that I personally experienced many exciting times, stories I will write when I expand this book.

The stories you have just read in
American Chick in Saudi Arabia
are true stories about real Saudi women. Here is an update on the women.

Although I returned to the Bedouin souk more than once, hoping to see Malaak, I was unsuccessful. I never again saw Malaak, the feisty Bedouin woman who so loved the life she was living. I'm convinced that she never experienced one moment of doubt that she was a lucky woman who had lived a wonderful life. For that I am glad.

I never again heard from Nayam, although when I told her story to Dr. Feteih, he was kind enough to use his position as head of the hospital to call for her medical records so that we might discover her history. I was devastated to learn that after giving birth to three more handicapped children, Nayam was diagnosed with cervical cancer and passed away one year later at the hospital. I had no way of finding out what happened to her greatly beloved "left behind" children, all who were battling serious medical issues.

Asma and I spoke several times after her husband married her cousin. Asma never had any other children with Khalid and found herself divorced one morning after learning that Khalid had married for a third time. Thankfully, Khalid allowed Asma to keep her daughter to raise until she turned thirteen, at which time he took his daughter to live in his household. Fortunately, he did allow Asma generous visitation rights, which amounted to an unusual victory in Saudi Arabia. Asma was such a sweet beauty that even after being divorced, she had a number of offers to marry wealthy and influential men. The last time we spoke, Asma was considering three different offers of marriage. She also decided to continue her education.

After residing in Saudi Arabia for five years I met a Saudi princess who fulfilled my dream of meeting a Saudi woman who was willing to fight for change. I told her life story in the international bestsellers,
Princess
,
Princess Sultana's Daughters
and
Princess Sultana's Circle
. The princess and I lived through other exciting adventures not revealed in the books about her life. With her assistance, I once disguised myself as a man to go undercover in Bangkok, Thailand, where I witnessed an auction of young girls into sex slavery, some of whom were likely taken back to Saudi Arabia. The princess and I wanted to know everything possible about that evil practice, hoping that somehow we might play a role in stopping the sex-slave trade into her country. To our immense sorrow, we were unsuccessful.

I was still living in Saudi Arabia when Osama bin Laden returned from the Soviet war in Afghanistan war to a hero's welcome. The reactions of Saudis left no doubt that Osama bin Laden was greatly loved and highly respected by most Saudi citizens. Little could the Saudis know that one day he would be a name well-known by nearly everyone on the planet. And I could have never guessed that I would one day be the biographer for Osama's first wife, the lovely and sweet Najwa, and their fourth-born son, the very brave and honorable Omar. Najwa was a young wife and Omar a small child during the years I was a young woman happily living in their country.

I had many adventures with my husband Peter, an international man of great flair who also spoke a number of languages fluently. Since Peter had been born and raised to age eight in Alexandria, Egypt, he and I traveled to the country of his birth on many occasions. As a frequent visitor to Egypt, I came to know and love the Egyptian people, as well as the bustling city of Cairo and the tranquil city of Alexandria. Over the years I became aware of the radical religious movements sweeping that nation, often wondering where those movements would take Egypt. Now I know the answer to that question. Egypt has helped to lead the surprising Arab Spring, an entire region's determined quest for freedom.

Although Peter and I separated, and later divorced, we remained exceptionally close friends. I left Saudi Arabia but continued my world travels, for the travel bug had bitten. How could I have guessed that after twelve years of high excitement as a resident of ultra-conservative, yet exotic country of Saudi Arabia, I had not yet lived the most dramatic moments of my life?

From Saudi Arabia I traveled into Beirut during a time in which travel to Lebanon was forbidden for Americans. Kindly Lebanese customs officials agreed not to stamp my passport so that I might enter their beautiful country without repercussions from my own. My intense experiences in that country included visits to orphanages, where I met children who had lost entire families to the Lebanese civil war, visits to hospitals where critically wounded men and women lay wounded with little hope, and a searing visit to the Palestinian Shatila refugee camp where I met an elderly Palestinian woman who inspired my historical fiction novel,
Ester's Child
, soon to be re-released with the title,
Lost in Jerusalem
.

Even after Lebanon, there was much to come. Several years later, I was to spend time in Israel, both on the western Jewish side and on the eastern Arab side. There were many nail-biting moments as I traveled from the Jewish sector to the Arab section. Tensions arose from every quarter. While visiting western Jerusalem, my sweetheart Jack and I were verbally attacked and threatened by conservative Jews. After traveling to the eastern Arab side, small children threw stones at our Arab driver's cab, compelling us to hastily flee the area. The land of Jewish Israel and of Arab Palestine grew only increasingly more dangerous.

When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August, 1990, I happened to be in the United States. I quickly arranged travel from Atlanta to London, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia where I interviewed fleeing Kuwaitis. I was invited to visit the city of Taif, where the Kuwaiti government-in-exile was established. There I was granted an interview with the emir as well as the crown prince. Thankfully, I was able to obtain the cooperation of the Kuwaiti government and the Kuwaiti people so that I was privy to their first-hand accounts of war and death. Those interviews and experiences became the number two
New York Times
bestseller,
The Rape of Kuwait
.

I also met Kuwait's wealthiest princess, the well-respected Souad al Sabah, wife of the only remaining son of Kuwait's longest-reigning emir, Mubarak the Great. I found Princess Souad to be a beautiful and fascinating woman, a highly regarded Arab poet, a mother devoted to her children, and a woman who was previously a great supporter of Saddam Hussein. She even wrote poems flattering Saddam, calling him the hope of the Arab people. Her palace was one of the few al-Sabah palaces not torched by Saddam's men, which triggered many hurtful Kuwaiti rumors over the reason her palatial home was spared.

Shortly after Iraq was expelled from Kuwait, I was invited to travel to Kuwait City on the Kuwaiti government sponsored "Freedom Flight." While in Kuwait I met with returning royals, including the Kuwaiti crown prince whom I had previously interviewed. The country was considered so volatile that the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States and his invited guests planned for only a one-day visit. However, I slipped away from the party, did not re-board the plane, and remained in Kuwait for a month.

That month was one of the most exciting of my life. During my stay in Kuwait I lived through endless thrilling moments, including celebrations with Kuwaiti freedom fighters, a visit to the tent cities in which thousands of people were stranded between Iraq and Kuwait, and my entry into Iraq, an act forbidden by the American military. My visit to the "Highway of Death" with my volunteer driver, a young banker by profession named Saud A. al-Mutawa, shocked my senses. I waited with Kuwaiti mothers and fathers when the buses filled with Kuwaiti prisoners from Iraq were returned to Kuwait City. I was the only writer invited by the Kuwaiti government to meet with the women housed in a specially designated government building, all of whom had been brutally raped and impregnated by Iraqi soldiers. Most of the women were pleading for abortions, but the Kuwaiti government disappointed them by saying no.

In the spring of 1998, after reading that Saddam Hussein was no longer allowing American journalists or aid workers to enter Iraq, I wrote a letter to him requesting that he make an exception to grant me a visit visa. (I knew that no government official would have the courage or audacity to grant the author of
The Rape of Kuwait
permission and a visa to enter the country. I realized that I would have to go to the man who ruled all of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. I did, and my plan worked.) To my joyful surprise, I received a telephone call from Saddam Hussein's offices in Baghdad saying that I was welcome to visit Iraq.

After traveling to New York to meet with the Iraqi officials attached to the United Nations, I was quickly provided with a visa and a letter stating that I should be given every courtesy. Since the U.S. led embargo did not allow flights into Iraq, I traveled to Amman, Jordan, rented a car and hired a Jordanian driver. I traveled twelve hours across the desert and went into Iraq alone, without knowing anyone. I spent the next three weeks visiting hospitals, women's organizations, and private homes.

My life was changed forever by that trip. One sweet benefit was that I met a woman who would become one of my dearest friends, a woman the world now knows as Mayada al-Askari, featured in the book,
Mayada, Daughter of Iraq
.

Other compelling sagas were in my future. I had the sad privilege of hearing first-hand the cruelties Saddam's regime inflicted upon the Kurdish people. This came after meeting Ra'ad al-Askari who introduced me to his baby sister, Joanna, who had lived through the deadly and ghastly chemical attacks upon an entire people. Joanna's story was told to the world in the book
Love in a Torn Land: One Woman's Daring Escape from Saddam's Poison Gas Attacks on the Kurdish People of Iraq
.

Yet another intriguing adventure unfolded when I came to know Omar and Zaina bin Laden, as well as Omar's mother, Najwa Bin Laden. Their stories are shared in the book
Growing Up Bin Laden
, the only book that reveals personal stories about Osama and his family.

After hearing the terror tales of the Taliban and of their dedicated assault upon the women of Afghanistan, I was eager to explore the true life story of an Afghan woman. That story arrived in the form of an amazing Afghan woman named Maryam Khail. Maryam is one of the boldest women one could meet, and her brave spirit is amazing to behold, told in the book
For the Love of a Son, One Afghan Woman's Quest for Her Stolen Child
.

Now looking back upon my life, I feel a strong desire to share the stories of the fascinating people I have known, and the exhilarating journeys I have lived. At this moment the excitement is building at the thought of reliving those days of anticipation and drama.

In
American Chick in Saudi Arabia
, I have given you a little taste of the beginning of my life of adventure. There is much more to come and I'm hoping that you get to share many other adventures with me.

Stay tuned!

Jean Sasson