Jeddah Chamber of Commerce

Dr. Basmah Mosleh Omair spoke with us about how women in business were represented by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce. There are elected women serving on the chamber. She in particular is interested in representing women's rights in the business world of Saudi Arabia. With so much change in the rights of Saudi women, her group tries to ensure that things progress fairly, but not necessarily too fast.

A Visit to the Saudi Gazette

Our group got to tour The Saudi Gazette newspaper. We got to see where reporters can gather information from around the world. We also got to meet some female reporters. On the left side of the photo is Diana M. Al-Jassem, who writes daily. She has a blogspot at www.diana-press.blogspot.com. On my other side is Farah Mustaf. Both ladies were very enthusiastic about their job with the paper. We later got to have a roundtable discussion with the editor, photographer, and several reporters. A short blurb was printed about us in the December 18, 2008 issue. You can check the archives at www.saudigazette.com.sa

Wow, the Luxury...

Having moved from camel riding and milk drinking hasn't been too much of a hardship. It's always nice to have slippers and a robe waiting for you to come back to. A little bit of room service didn't hurt much either. I also tried caviar for the first time at dinner tonight. They actually had a red carpet for us to walk on! (That one was too hard to take a picture of and walk in an abaya at the same time).

A Visit to Oun Help Center

Today we got the pleasure of visiting Oun Help Center, a privately funded school for special needs children. It was founded in 1993, by the late Sh. Ahmed Juffali, and his spouse, Mrs. Suad Husseini-Juffali. These people did not have special needs children of their own, but saw neighbor children have to go by their house to receive services outside of the area. This is an amazing, state-of-the-art school. The students receive training in many areas: subjects, living skills, and the arts. The artwork and variance of choices is remarkable. The little girl on the left in the picture was talking with me and showing what she was having for snack. The little boy was saying, "What's up!" as he made his hand gestures. Some of the student artwork is showcased at the school. The last is a sign for our abaya wearing safety on the escalator at the Red Sea Mall.

Culinary Creations

These creations not only looked good, but tasted absolutely wonderful. Thank you Ahmad Masaud for the delight for the eyes and the taste buds.

In Jeddah

We visited the first women's college in Saudi Arabia today. It was a dream of Queen Effat's and based on her quote, "The uneducated woman is the weakest link of a society." There are some amazing and progressive changes going on in modern Saudi Arabia! Another little known fact: WOMEN GET EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL JOBS. What a concept... We then had lunch at Byblos restaurant, which was another extravagant affair. I met and talked to so many interesting people. I will be updating you on some of these asap. As you can "sea" we ate dinner on the Red Sea. The girl in the photo is someone I also have more to tell you about. She will be coming to America soon for college studies. By the way, a girl can get Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi in any country, even if it's written in Arabic.

Day 3

We started out our morning by driving to Al-Hasa. This city is famous for its dates. We have been served so many varieties of this delicious treat. Al-Hasa is also known for its crafts. We watched as this man made a vase from the raw materials you see in the picture. In the top half, the clay is very wet. It is then mixed and transferred to a more sturdier substance. He then uses hunks of this to make his creations. Each artist has his own engravings or styles to mark the finished product as theirs. We drove along the biggest oil reservoir as we made our way to Garah Mountain. This is a natural form of rocks and caves. Many people visit here, especially in the summer when temperatures can reach approximately 126 degrees Farenheit. The temperature inside the cave stays consistently cool. We went to tour the Castle of Ibahim, but unfortunaley it was closed for maintenance. We then quickly packed and flew off to Jeddah. The picture of Terri and I shows the abayas that we will now be required to wear out in public now that we have left the compound. Notice mine has red sequins! I guess I am just lucky...