Saudi Teenage Singer, Al-Sehemi, Sings About Inner Conflicts, Traumas
07
August 2022
• Saudi Teenage Singer, Al-Sehemi, Sings About Inner
Conflicts, Traumas
• Photographer Fatimah Hossaini: ‘In Kabul, There Was
So Much Hope And Desire’
• ‘One Of Not Many’ Young Female Mentorship Program
Launches In Saudi Arabia
• Mountains Are My Home: Nelly Attar, First Arab Woman
To Summit K2
• Bangladesh Girl Guides Association’s Council Session
Held
• A Record Number Of Women Are Running In Kenya's
Elections But Many Face Harassment And Abuse
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/saudi-teenage-singer-alsehemi/d/127662
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Saudi Teenage Singer, Al-Sehemi, Sings About Inner
Conflicts, Traumas
Noha Al-Sehemi, a Saudi
singer who write songs that discuss traumas and inner struggles that many
teenagers feel. (Supplied)
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Rahaf Jambi
August 07, 2022
RIYADH: Many young singers have discovered a home for
their talent thanks to Saudi Arabia’s increased focus on music and the
establishment of a music commission in 2020 that aims to develop
non-discriminatory access to music education.
At 15, she was able to produce her first song on
social media. Her songs highlight some traumas that she has experienced and the
feeling of being misunderstood, which sparked the inner struggles that many
teenagers feel.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2137516/saudi-arabia
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Photographer Fatimah Hossaini: ‘In Kabul, there was so
much hope and desire’
Photographer and activist Fatimah Hossaini
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by Rachel Cooke
7 Aug 2022
When the US government signed a peace deal with the
Taliban in February 2020, the Afghan-Iranian artist, photographer and activist
Fatimah Hossaini thought little of it. People warned her, of course. The
Americans will leave Afghanistan, they said, and all kinds of trouble will
follow. But she hardly listened. Life in Kabul, where she had been working
since 2018, felt so full and free, it was all but impossible to imagine the
clock turning back.
The simple fact was that she had lived with more
day-to-day restrictions in Tehran, where she was born and grew up, than she had
ever had to put up with in Kabul (her Afghan grandparents fled to Iran in the
1980s, during the Soviet-Afghan war). “Life was good,” she says. “In Tehran,
people are a little depressed with the situation. But in Kabul there was so
much hope and desire. A new generation was burning with it. I could see women
in every sector: musicians, entrepreneurs, artists, politicians. I could teach
my classes at the university without a hijab. I could show my students any
image I liked. These things would never happen in Iran.”
But life really was about to change. When a newly
elected Joe Biden confirmed in April 2021 that American troops would be
withdrawn by 11 September, Taliban insurgents began to intensify their attacks
on the Afghan state; in May, for instance, a car bomb outside a Kabul school
killed more than 60 people, most of them schoolgirls. “Even I could see that
the security situation was different,” Hossaini says. “I lost two journalist
friends [to Taliban attacks] during those months. When my mum called, which was
every day, she would say: Fatimah, use a different entrance each time you come
home.”
At one point she did go back to Tehran, largely at her
parents’ behest. (Her mother is a housewife and her father runs a small
business. The oldest of three sisters, Hossaini, ever independent, moved to
Kabul when she graduated from university.) “But I only lasted a month and a
half.” She struggles to explain it. “I just had to be in Afghanistan. I was
there in the bright days; I felt I should be there in the dark days too.” Ahead
of an exhibition of her photographs in the US, she had an American visa, and
this was her insurance policy. “I thought: if the worst happens, I can use that
visa.” She shakes her head. “My parents couldn’t believe I was going to go
back. They said I was crazy. But I didn’t listen to them.”
On the same evening, she and 10 friends went to a cafe
to drink tea. “One of them invited me to her sister’s wedding! We were just
drinking and talking. We didn’t know, then, that this would be the last time we
would meet.”
The following morning, having at last booked a flight
to the US, she got a taxi to take her to a clinic for a PCR test. The driver
thought she must have lost her mind. The Taliban are at the gates of Kabul, he
said. Looking out of the car’s windows, she noticed that in the streets people
were running. What kind of person runs in Kabul in August? “It wasn’t normal. I
began to think something might actually be going to happen.”
At home she made some green tea and took it on to her
balcony, with its view of her city, and it was then that she saw them: “Down
below were Taliban fighters on their motorcycles, waving their flags. They’re
here, I thought. I shouted it: ‘THEY ARE HERE!’ But there was no one to hear
me. I was alone.”
She isn’t sure how she got through the night. She
couldn’t cry, she couldn’t eat. She had missed her flight, if it had, in fact,
left. The next day, another friend called. “She said: ‘They’re going
door-to-door looking for journalists, musicians, teachers; make sure you’re not
alone.’ I got my backpack, my laptop, my camera, and a hat that’s traditional
to my tribe [Hossaini is an ethnic Hazara, a group that has often been
persecuted in Afghanistan], and I went to stay with friends.” She spent the
next two days with them, deleting all her social media, begging journalists who
had any footage of her to take it down. Her voice is full of contempt. “Those
fucking terrorists. One day, early in the morning, we had three Taliban at the
door. They were only looking for food, and when we gave it to them they left.”
But her mind was clear now: it was, she finally
conceded, time to go. Like thousands upon thousands of other desperate Afghans,
she pitched up at Kabul airport. She would spend the next four days there. “It
was crazy,” she says. “Mothers abandoning their children; lovers abandoning
each other. People were so desperate, they would do anything to leave.”
It wasn’t, she tells me, as we might have seen it on
television. She wasn’t in the military section of the airport, where British
and American soldiers were filmed by news crews lifting tiny babies over wire
fences. She was in the commercial part, a chaotic realm that could only be
accessed through seven Taliban checkpoints. Inside, people stood in long lines,
each one corresponding to the country to which they hoped to travel seeking
asylum. It was frightening, and surreal. Looking around, she saw several Afghan
politicians, and the singer and TV personality Aryana Sayeed, one of
Afghanistan’s biggest stars.
At first, Hossaini joined the American line. She knew
that to go to the US would make it almost impossible for her to see her family
again: travel between the two countries is extremely difficult. But she was
desperate, and she had her visa, after all. Wouldn’t it help her? Apparently
not. “Get back, get back!” the Americans shouted. This made her very angry. “I
thought: you betrayed us. We’re about to lose everything. You have ruined our
country. At least be a little nice.”
Like others in the airport, she began to call out to
embassy staff, irrespective of which country they represented. Germany, Italy,
Poland: four days in, and she would have gone anywhere.
It occurred to her that in France, artists are
admired, even revered. “Just take me,” she yelled, in the general direction of
the French. “I’m an artist!” She was duly allowed to move from the American
line to the French line – and it was at this moment that the miracle occurred.
“David Martinon, the French ambassador in Afghanistan, used to come to my exhibitions
in Kabul. I was wearing that crazy outfit with a scarf; only my eyes could be
seen. But he recognised me. ‘Fatimah?’ he said. He put his arms around me. ‘You
will be welcome in Paris,’ he told me.”
Some hours later, she flew alone to France, relieved
but sorrowful, grateful, but in mourning (her friends were eventually all
dispersed to other countries). “It was very hard,” she says. “Afghanistan
didn’t only give me pain; it gave me love too. I was connected to it by my
heart, and when France gives you asylum, the arrangement is that they take your
Afghan passport and your ID card, and you must sign a paper that says you won’t
ever travel there. Can you believe it? My heart. I had to promise them not to
go back to Afghanistan.”
Source: The Guardian
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‘One Of Not Many’ Young Female Mentorship Program
Launches In Saudi Arabia
AFSHAN AZIZ
August 07, 2022
JEDDAH: Luxury watch manufacturer Vacheron Constantin
has launched its second “One of Not Many” business mentorship program in Saudi
Arabia in partnership with Jeddah’s Dar Al-Hekma University.
Six Saudi women leaders have been selected to mentor
undergraduate students over six months. The program is aligned with Saudi
Vision 2030 and aims to encourage young people to become entrepreneurs.
Christophe Ramel, regional Brand Director Middle East
at Vacheron Constantin, said: “The Kingdom represents huge promises and great
potential, and the Maison values are aligned closely with Saudi Vision 2030.
“We, at Vacheron Constantin, realize the importance of
passing down skills to the next generation to support the leaders of tomorrow.
We wish all selected students a fruitful program ahead and look forward to
witnessing them excel towards their career ambitions.”
Shahd Al-Shehail, entrepreneur and co-founder of
Ethical Luxury Brand Abadia, said that the small choices people make every day
matter and young people should continue to work hard and not be afraid of
failure.
Aya Al-Bitar, Saudi product and furniture designer,
and founder of AYA the Art of Living, said she would encourage students to
explore their heritage and individuality if they choose to enter her field.
Emon Shakoor, founder and CEO of Blossom Accelerator,
Saudi Arabia's first female-focused and inclusivity accelerator, said: “As an
entrepreneur, it’s not about how much resources you have but about how
resourceful you can be. Every individual has the power to create the life that
they have dreamed of and to achieve it. This program will definitely allow the
student to understand and execute the things that they actually want in life
and never take no for an answer.”
Nora Aldabal, arts and creative industries executive
director at The Royal Commission of AlUla, said: “Saudi Arabia is a gold mine
of inspiration; inspiration attracts talent and talent gets ideas. This program
will accelerate individuals to be the most creative version of themselves.”
Nouf Al-Moajil, strategic analyst and CEO of the
Eastern Province Social Responsibility Council, said she would advise students to
explore and follow their passion, even in a new area of business. They should
try to be as authentic as possible, she said.
Basma El-Khereiji, chef and entrepreneur, and founder
of the Social Kitchen, said students should be passionate about what they do
and allow people to feel and appreciate it.
After successfully completing the program, students
have the opportunity to embark on an internship program with Vacheron
Constantin or any other Richemont Maison.
Source: Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2137581/saudi-arabia
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Mountains are my home: Nelly Attar, first Arab woman
to summit K2
Sana Jamal
August 06, 2022
Islamabad: Nelly Attar reached the top of the world’s
second highest mountain, K2, around 3:30 am Pakistan time on July 22, and
raised the flag of Lebanon. With that triumph, she became the first Arab woman
in history to summit the savage mountain.
“It was very early, completely dark when we reached
the top. I just couldn’t believe that this is it. We are at the K2 summit. I
cried for about 20 minutes. Crying and laughing. I was really, really happy to
be at the summit” said Nelly Attar in an interview with Gulf News.
Nelly Attar is a Lebanese national, born and raised in
Saudi Arabia, who also spends a lot of time of the year in the UAE. But which
of these places does she call home? Instead of picking one country, she says:
“Mountains are my home. Where I feel happy where I feel like there’s a purpose
for me, that’s my home.”
Nelly was among the first few mountaineers who reached
the summit of K2 on July 22 - a glorious day for the mountaineering community
when a record number of women climbers reached the top of the 8,611-meter-high
mountain in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region. K2 is known as the ‘Savage
Mountain’ for its difficult terrain and treacherous climbing conditions.
“I’m really proud and honoured to put my country’s
flag up there. But even more happy that many people successfully and safely
climbed K2 this year, especially Arab and Pakistani women” said the 32-year-old
climber. At least five Arab climbers successfully summited K2 this year,
including Oman’s Nadhira Alharthy, who happens to be a close friend of Nelly
and climbed the world’s highest Mount Everest together. Other Arab climbers
were Saeed Al Maamari from UAE, Fahad Badar and Asma Al Thani from Qatar. They summited
the K2 in separate groups.
Nelly Attar climbed Mount Everest in 2019 and has
scaled at least 17 other peaks around the world. But K2 was “one of the
toughest,” she says. “K2, you certainly live up to your reputation,” reads the
caption on her Instagram page after the summit. She had deep gratitude for her
coach Michael McCastle, sponsors Bateel, Seek Discomfort, and Peacefull and her
team Madison Mountaineering, especially Aang Phurba, Ming Dorgie, and Terray.
“We made history together!” she says.
There is always the first climb that makes humans fall
deeply in love with the mighty mountains. For Nelly, that peak was Mount Kenya,
the second-highest in Africa. “It was my first ever climb and adventure trip
with my father when I was 17 years old” she shared. The experience did not go
as planned as they didn’t have the right gear due to which Nelly’s dad got
hypothermia, a condition when the body loses heat faster due to prolonged
exposure to cold temperatures. They ended up not reaching the summit, but the
trip and the journey with her father inspired her to pursue mountaineering in
the future. “It was the first time I spent a couple of days on a mountain and
that left me changed. I felt so enriched, so alive. And I just knew it. I want
to do more of this in the future. This is my reality now,” she said talking to
Gulf News.
The Arab mountaineer says her strength to climb
mountains comes from her family. “My family has been super supportive. If it
weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be doing what I do. They believed in my dreams and
my goals. My father, may he rest in peace, instilled in me a love for
mountains. He used to take me on hikes when I was a kid. And my mom is the
reason why I love experimenting and taking risks and have this immense passion
for outdoor sports. They both have been such big pillars in my journey.”
Nelly has dabbled in many adventures in her life. She
began her career as a mental health professional and worked as a therapist and
life coach for four years in Saudi Arabia. But she realized she was creating a
more powerful impact through sports and decided to focus on emerging sports for
women.
In 2017, she became the owner of Saudi Arabia’s first
dance studio ‘Move’ for women to empower females through physical activity and
spread the joy of dance. “The experience was fantastic. Challenging but also
very rewarding. Just like a climb. There were a lot of uncertainties that I had
to navigate through. But the community response was amazing. It was one of the
best experiences in my life” she says. In 2019, she won the award for female
fitness influencer of the year across the GCC. Nelly is now a thriving
entrepreneur, trainer and athlete. She completed her master’s in Psychology in
the UK and is currently pursuing a mini MBA degree.
Nelly believes her adventures would inspire people to
go out to live their dreams to challenge their potential. She particularly aims
to inspire women in Arab countries to push past their limits. “Live your
dreams. Follow your passion, and your purpose. Don’t be afraid to take risks.
Don’t let society tell you what you should do and shouldn’t. Live that life
outside of your comfort zone. That’s where the most beautiful things happen.”
What inspired her to begin the challenging journey of
becoming a mountaineer is her love for sports. “I have this love for
challenging myself physically, emotionally, and mentally. Always taking the bar
a little higher and seeing how far I can go whether it is running, triathlons,
dance, climbing.”
Nelly has had a lot of incredible adventures but the
most memorable is exploring the prehistoric Son Doong cave, the world’s largest
cave in Vietnam. “That cave is an entirely different world. It has its own
weather, its own environment. I saw insects and animals that I’ve never seen in
my life.”
K2 summit and the natural beauty in Pakistan left a
lasting impression on her as a lover of wilderness. Her focus was K2 but Nelly
says she was “pleasantly surprised to see how beautiful Pakistan is” and how
green and gorgeous Islamabad is. She said she felt safe during her travel and
found the people welcoming, especially the locals in Skardu. They were “so
friendly, so welcoming, so happy to have tourists and foreigners. I loved the
food, energy and music,” she added. “I felt like I was at home at the K2 base
camp” in Pakistan.
Source: Gulf News
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Bangladesh Girl Guides Association’s Council Session
Held
Staff Correspondent
Aug 07,2022
The Bangladesh Girl Guides Association organised its
16th National Ranger Council Session and Election-2022 at the auditorium of the
Guide House at Baily Road in Dhaka on Saturday.
National University vice-chancellor professor Md
Mashiur Rahman was present as chief guest at the opening ceremony, said a press
release.
Md Mashiur Rahman, at the programme, said, ‘If we want
to ensure the equality of men and women and the empowerment of women in the
country, we have to break the social structure. The image of a chaotic society
should be changed. Only then will the aspirational goals of this country be
achieved.’
Bangladesh Girl Guides Association national
commissioner and additional secretary of the Health Care Department Kazi
Zebunnessa Begum chaired the event, while national deputy commissioner,
professor Yasmin Ahmed, and national deputy commissioner Ferdous, among others,
were present.
At the beginning, a documentary on various activities
of the Bangladesh Girl Guides Association was screened.
Source: New Agebd
https://www.newagebd.net/article/177844/bangladesh-girl-guides-assocs-council-session-held
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A record number of women are running in Kenya's
elections but many face harassment and abuse
By Larry Madowo
August 6, 2022
Lamu, Kenya (CNN)Just before sunset, Umra Omar boards
a speedboat that will take her around the historic Lamu channel for meetings
with voters. As her boat zooms past idyllic islands and arrives at shore 30
minutes later, dozens of women and children rush to greet a candidate they hope
will be their next governor.
Omar is native to Lamu, a conservative region near the
Somali border, best known for its preserved Swahili culture and being a UNESCO
heritage site.
"If we're to address the challenges we're facing
as women, young people, and indigenous communities, we have to take up the
political battle as well," she tells CNN.
The 39-year-old is the coastal county's first female
candidate for the top job. She is among a record number of women running for
office in Kenya's August 9 general election.
Omar is a humanitarian who has in the past been named
a CNN Hero for her work with award-winning social enterprise Safari Doctors,
which provides basic healthcare in remote areas of Lamu.
She says she is running for office as a natural
progression after seven years of providing "band-aid solutions" for
poor healthcare.
"Being able to really dig our teeth into the root
causes of rural challenges is what definitely propelled us into politics,"
Omar says.
A constitutionally mandated gender quota to break the
male supermajority in power has consistently failed in the 12 years since it
was passed.
Veteran politician and former Justice Minister Martha
Karua addresses a crowd during a campaign rally in Kirigiti Stadium on August
1, in Kiambu, Kenya. If elected, she will become the country's first
female deputy president.
Veteran politician and former Justice Minister Martha
Karua addresses a crowd during a campaign rally in Kirigiti Stadium on August
1, in Kiambu, Kenya. If elected, she will become the country's first female
deputy president.
"That name speaks to the misogyny within society.
Strength is not perceived as female, strength is perceived as male," Karua
tells CNN pointing out that it was first used to describe former British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher, who came to power in 1979.
"We're seeing more and more women running, which
tells us it has never been a problem about women wanting to participate in
politics," says Marilyn Kamuru, a lawyer and writer on women in politics.
"It continues to be a problem about the systematic exclusion of
women."
That exclusion includes financial barriers to
competing in notoriously expensive campaigns that can run into hundreds of
thousands of dollars, and regular violence employed against women running and
even those already serving in office. For example, in 2019, a Kenyan MP was
arrested for allegedly slapping a female colleague and calling her names.
"It chills the environment for women, it makes
women think again, hold back," and consider running for lower positions or
abandoning their campaigns altogether, Kamuru says.
The latest election cycle has followed the familiar
pattern, with many women reporting violence or threats of physical harm and
misogyny being used to intimidate them out of the race.
"We've had some major, mindblowing character
assassination, to the point of discrediting the work that we've been doing with
Safari Doctors, but we try not to let that distract us," Omar says.
She laments the propaganda used against her in the
race, including taboo accusations such as being an LGBT "recruiter"
or a drug dealer to derail her campaign.
It is harder for women in rural parts of Kenya to be
involved politically because of socio-cultural barriers, Daisy Amdany, women's
rights advocate and executive director at the Nairobi-based Community Advocacy
and Awareness Trust, told CNN affiliate NTV.
"There are certain cultures that don't even give
women the right to keep their voter cards, so you need a man's
permission," Amdany said. She added that negotiated situations where
elders determine who gets to run for office also disadvantage women and they
are "more common than you would think."
Despite the roadblocks to political office, Kenyan
women persist. "As long as we remain non-negotiable players the system has
to accommodate us," Kamuru said.
The powerful governor role Omar is eying is considered
a long shot as only three out of Kenya's 47 counties are headed by a woman. One
recent opinion poll placed her third out of four candidates but she's not discouraged.
While everyone CNN spoke to in Lamu was aware that she
was running, some men felt that she was punching above her weight and should
have vied for the less powerful Woman Representative county-wide parliamentary
seat.
But 24-year-old Constance Kadzo, owner of a small
grocery stall, told CNN she was inspired to see an indigenous Swahili woman
running for a top seat.
"I'm voting for her because she's the only woman
who's brave enough to go up against the men and I know she will fight for
us."
Source: Edition.Cnn
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/06/africa/kenya-elections-women-candidates-intl/index.html
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/saudi-teenage-singer-alsehemi/d/127662