Yesterday was my first day in the university. I am attending a master program in education, specializing in early childhood studies. As a common first days, I met new friends. Half of my class are international students. They came from all around the world (literally all around, from China to America). One of them is this woman from Saudi. Yes, I am bad at names so I can’t remember her name. But this is her story.

She came late to introductory class yesterday. After the class was over she came to me and asked about things that she missed. We chatted during the lunch break and I got to know her better.

She is a beautiful woman from Saudi. She looks very young that I didn’t expect that she has kids already. And her kids are teenagers! She came to UK 5 months ago with her kids. She told me that these past few months are hard for her because she had to live without her husband and took care of her kids and studied. I think she must be really strong that she can manage to survive this long. I really do hope that she can achieve what she is here for.

She seemed fine and enjoying her life. However, she said that this is not the life she wants. If she could, she wouldn’t get married and wouldn’t have kids. As a common Arabic culture, marriage is arranged by family. A girl or a woman usually doesn’t have her right to choose and to say no. She is married for this long and while she was living abroad without her husband, she realized that her husband has another woman. I can’t imagine how hard it is for her. She said that if she knew it a long time ago, maybe she won’t be in this marriage. Now, she just left it all behind and try to live her life.

As we walked wandering the campus the rain fell down. She said that she loves rain. It was beautiful. She said hamdalah more and more. Yesterday, I tried to understand her position. I tried to imagine how is life for her. At the end, I remembered a thing that she said.

“We should be thankful for what we have and life is full of problems. As long as we have our God by us then we should be grateful all the time”

Sep 25, 2012