Souvenirs and Poems

"When the earth is changed into a humid hideaway
Where hope, like a bat,
Flies around knocking the walls with its timid wings
The rotten ceilings with its head"
Baudelaire

Since I have started writing on my blog, words have been overflowing from me. I gather them and confide them to my blog posts. 

I talk to you on these blog posts. I spend with you my most beautiful hours. I ask you questions without shame and I tell you about my dreams.

My grandmother told me that the night her daughter was born, she was lying alone; no one was nearby to help her. She gave birth alone and cut the umbilical cord with her teeth. 

The next day, my grandmother pursued her usual tasks without any aid, by night as by day, combing the carpeted-sand-floor, gathering dates, caring for the house, cooking, grinding her grain, hauling water and carrying wood.

It was a summer day, with a leaden sun on a flat, dusty road, and she was still working very hard under the scorching sun.

This pearl
Was a gift of my grandmother 
That great lady
to my mother
and my mother gave it to me
And now I hand it on to you
The three of you and this pearl
Have one thing in common
simplicity and truth
I give it with my love
and with the fullness heart
you excel in

The girls of Arabia will soon grow
to full stature
They will look about and say:
"Salma has passed this road"
and point to the place of sunrise 
and the heart's direction. 

Fawziya Abu Khalid, "A Pearl" 

Knowing how to read and write is not knowledge, itself, but a door to knowledge we may enter, but if we leave it closed there is no way to reach knowledge.

My mother said, "At sixteen I was married...I was Illiterate." 

She told me that women of my generation were able through their knowledge, education and intelligence to stand on the same footing with men from all around the world.

History has proven that persons who have deprived the woman of her human rights in social, economic and political equality have paid a dear price. They have deprived society of half of its power and productivity.

They need to understand that woman is half of the society and that the liberation and release of the energies of every individual in society is important. It is the root of an enlightened nation. 

Men should remember this verse, "Ye, people fear your God who created all of you all from one soul". Indeed, All people come from a single origin, united in love and compassion.

I am optimistic by nature. In spite of the fundamentalist revival, we can also witness a revival of the progressive forces. We must go forward. 

As a writer, and as a feminist, I try to collect all kind or writings (personal letters, memoirs, speeches, fiction, and poetry) that not only challenge patriarchy, but also eloquently refute the myth of a monolithic western feminism.