CELEBRATING AND HONORING SHAIKHA AWRAD JABER AL-AHMAD Al-SABAH

Shaikha Awrad Jaber Al-Ahmad is a woman who has everthing anybody would possibly want, wealth, status, great children and grand children, fantastic brothers and sisters, AN INCREDIBLE FATHER (the late amir, god rest his soul) and yet she chooses to fight for a human cause that is at the utmost importance in any civil society, stateless people!! She definately inhereited her father's humanistic attributions and general kindness of the heart, instead of living a selfish, egocentric and self-indulent life like the rest of us live. Where we have our afternoon coffees and complain about this or that without doing a thing about it. Perhaps Shaikha Awrad is the driving force for all of us to take up a cause and do something about it.

Here's a little something about Um-Mubarak that everyone should know:-

“I do not know how to explain – when a Bedoon person is in a Kuwaiti army uniform he is regarded as a Kuwaiti soldier fighting for his country (a Shahid ) but when he dies he becomes a security issue" _ Shaikha Awrad Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, daughter of the late Emir of Kuwait


أوراد جابر الأحمد الصباح
من ويكيبيديا، الموسوعة الحرة
اذهب إلى: تصفح, بحث
أوراد جابر الأحمد الصباح هي إحدى بنات الشيخ جابر الأحمد الصباح، لا يوجد لديها أي نشاط سياسي لكنها مهتمة بقضيه البدون من الناحية الإنسانية ويلقبها البدون بالكويت بأم البدون. متزوجة من الشيخ علي اليوسف الصباح.

[تحرير] الأبناء
الشيخ مبارك علي اليوسف الصباح
الشيخ فيصل علي اليوسف الصباح
الشيخ صباح علي اليوسف الصباح
الشيخ يوسف علي اليوسف الصباح
الشيخ أحمد علي اليوسف الصباح
الشيخه أفراح علي اليوسف الصباح
الشيخه أنوار علي اليوسف الصباح

http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A3%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AF_%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B1_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AD





Sheikha Awrad lauds protectors of late Amir during assassination attempt
Population 5/25/2007 11:06:00 PM


KUWAIT, May 25 (KUNA) -- Sheikha Awrad Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah lauded Friday members of Amiri Guards who protected the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah when he was attacked in 1985.During a celebration to honor those guards, Sheikha Awrad said in comparison to how they served Sheikh Jaber, those guards deserved more, hoping that they will be appropriately honored by the government.Organized by the Kuwaiti Bar Association, the celebration marked 22 years since the attack.The celebration included a documentary about the attack, its details and interviews with the guards.On his part, the film's scriptwriter Kamel Abdul-Jaleel said the attack was one of many terrorist attempts that targeted Kuwait due to its firm stance toward Arab and Islamic issues.He lauded the late Amir's role in developing Kuwait and serving the interests of Arab and Islamic worlds.At the ceremony's conclusion, Sheikha Awrad honored 12 members of the Amiri Guards who were with the late Amir when the attack took place.(end) aas.mm.ayh KUNA 252306 May 07NNNN




كرمت 12 فرداً ممن كانوا مع سموه أثناء الاعتداء الآثم
أوراد الجابر: التكريم الأكبر لحرس موكب الأمير الراحل سيأتي من الحكومة
اشادت الشيخة أوراد جابر الاحمد الصباح بأفراد الحرس الأميري الذين كانوا يرافقون موكب سمو الامير الراحل الشيخ جابر الاحمد الصباح حينما تعرض لاعتداء في عام .1985وقالت الشيخة اوراد في كلمة القتها في حفل تكريم افراد الحرس الاميري الذين رافقوا سمو الأمير الراحل ان "هذا التكريم يعتبر تكريما بسيطاً جداً ولايساوي ماقاموا به من تضحية" مؤكدة ان التكريم الاكبر والمناسب سيأتي من الحكومة.وجاء هذا التكريم في ذكرى 22 عاما لحادث الاعتداء الاثم على موكب الامير الراحل الذي صادف السادس من شهر رمضان الموافق ل¯ 25 من مايو عام 1985 وبتنظيم من جمعية المحامين الكويتية بالتعاون مع الجمعية الكويتية لحقوق الانسان واللجنة الشعبية لقضايا البدون.وتخلل حفل التكريم عرض فيلم وثائقي انتج خصيصا لهذه المناسبة واستعرض احداث الاعتداء ومشاهد وثائقية للحادث ووصف لما جرى حينها على لسان أفراد الحرس الاميري الذين كانوا مع سمو الامير الراحل.من جانبه قال معد وكاتب سيناريو الفيلم الوثائقي كامل العبدالجليل: ان الحدث الغادر كان من سلسلة جرائم عدوانية غاشمة تعرضت لها البلاد في تلك الفترة مشيرا الى انها كانت نتيجة المواقف المبدئية الثابتة للكويت في دفاعها ودعمها للقضايا العربية والاسلامية.ولفت الى ان سموه رحمه الله كان قائدا لمسيرة كويتية ظافرة لخدمة العروبة والاسلام وتجنيد الطاقات المادية والبشرية للذود عن الجيرة والاشقاء فناله من سهام الخديعة الكثير واصابه من جرائم الغدر والمكر ما اصاب شعبه الكويتي.وتابع العبدالجليل قائلا: ان كل ذلك لم يثن سموه رحمه الله طوال حياته عن المضي في تحقيق المبادئ والقيم الخيرة والنبيلة لشعبه والتي جبل عليها وكرس حياته لها برغم الاحداث الجسيمة والمتكررة التي واجهها بكل عزم لنصرة الحق والعدل والسلام .وكرمت الشيخة أوراد جابر الاحمد الصباح في ختام الحفل 12 فردا من الحرس الأميري كانوا مع سمو الأمير الراحل في اثناء وقوع الاعتداء.

http://www.alseyassah.com/alseyassah/New/news_details.asp?nid=6538&snapt=المحلية

More about 'the bedoon' and Shaikha Awrad

Bedoons in Kuwait
Published Date: February 07, 2007 A "bedoon" is a popular terminology between Kuwaitis, which is defined as an individual that lives in Kuwait but does not have citizenship of any kind. This societal problem is one that resides far beyond Kuwait's borders. Over 120 countries in the world experience the same issue but the extent and the root of the problem varies. In Kuwait, the problem is distinguished by the strength of the laws behind it and how individuals in this society view this vital concern. Kuwait has addressed this issue further through politics, society, and through the media. In addition, the parliament has discussed this problem extensively through legislations. Moreover, the council of ministers has been present in numerous decision-making processes but the questions remain the same: Who are the bedoons, how can we address the problem they face and why has this problem reached human, social and political levels? Can we understand how the problem fits in through legal rights or is it simply a political problem?Dr. Shafeeq Ghabra, through the "Weekly Diwaniya", seeks to answer these questions with leading thinkers, aired Monday night at 10:30pm Kuwait time and again on Tuesday at 1:30pm. Appearing on this week's episode was, Sheikha Awrad Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Human Rights Activist on behalf of the bedoons, Dr. Jumaan Al Harbish, Parliament Member, Faisal Al-Shayaa, Parliament Member, Dr. Ghanim Al-Najjar, Human and Legal Rights Expert, Sheikha Fouzia Al-Sabah, Board member and Founder of the Al bedoon Society and a group of bedoons. Al-Najjar points out that the bedoon situation started in 1959 when the State of Kuwait was being formed in terms of its governance and its politics. In 1986, the situation changed drastically when the government decided to undergo more confined enforcement on the bedoons. Moreover, even more security enforcements were directed at the Bedoons after the Iraq-Iran war.Ghabra asked what were the rights that the Bedoons had before 1986 and Al-Najjar remarked that they had residencies and were granted educational scholarships as if they were Kuwaitis but without the nationality. In regards to what happened to them after the 1990-1991 Gulf War, Al-Najjar explains that after 1990, many people lost the chance of ever obtaining Kuwaiti citizenship. They were interrogated and were asked to even show proof of being a citizen of other countries. In a nutshell, what happened was inhumane. On another note, Dr. Ghabra then proceeded to ask parliament member, Dr. Jumaan Al-Harbash, to describe the current situation of the bedoons today and the number of bedoons residing in Kuwait. Al-Harbash said, "The number of bedoons used to be about a quarter of a million until 1990, where it dropped to a 100,000. The problem began when certain people were excluded from obtaining a nationality in 1959." "There were many people that came in and out of Kuwait easily without any identification. These are people that also fought in the Israeli/Arab war's, as soldiers in the Kuwaiti army on the Egyptian and Syrian fronts. After the Gulf War, many bedoons were asked to provide identification as a way in which to pressure them.""We now live the problem of the second and third generations who have no connection to what happened in the past. It is our job to provide a balance for everyone living in Kuwait so that everyone is satisfied and this is something that all sides of society and government should be involved in." Dr. Ghabra shifted the conversation to another level, when asking Sheikha Awrad Al-Sabah, the daughter of the late Emir of Kuwait, about her stance and to why she has become so involved in the issue. Sheikha Awrad said, "I first got involved when I participated in an educational summer program aimed at bedoons with Fowzia Al-Maajal." "This is a first class human rights issue and we should not allow this to happen in Kuwait. What I discovered about the life-styles of the bedoons shocked me but also motivated me to take action. I tried to escalate the issue to top decision makers in Kuwait because I felt that this was my obligation as a Muslim.""I also went around to various organizations, political/economic/social societies and the parliament. What I discovered was that on the political side, it was not taken as a human rights issue but looked at as a fundamental political problem. However, aren't societal human rights a fundamental issue?"Ghabra then shifted to Faisal Al-Shayaa (parliament member), who was also on the human rights legislation in the parliament, in order to gain a political perspective on the topic. Al-Shayaa commented, "I agreed that this is a human rights issue and that we would never de-value their rights.""However, on the other hand, many of them work in the ministry of internal affairs and defence and get salaries and free education. In the 50's, The bedoons were about 800 and then rose to 33,000 in 1965 and this is an indicator that people were holders of other passports. Then the number increased to 250,000 and when the executive committee was formed in 1996 to deal with the bedoon issues, there were 130,000 individuals and a huge number were denied citizenship. However, they should come forward with their original citizenships and then we can deal with this problem."Dr. Ghabra said, "And the solution for the way in which they are treated today?" Al-Shayaa said, "In the 1970's, the bedoon was allowed to go to university without having a certain percentage which was the opposite of a Kuwaiti citizen. We are for citizenship but only for those who deserve it." In conclusion, there are ninety thousand bedoons who don't even have the right to have a birth/death certificate or even a marriage certificate. These are simple laws that should be revised and should be given to every individual that lives in our country. Likewise, there are a number of bedoons who have contributed to the countries well-being. Some fought in the army, some fought in the Gulf war. The consensus reached from this diwaniya discussion is that the bedoon problem is a first class human rights problem that must be addressed, with or without citizenship. The first priority should be to the way the bedoons are living and residing in Kuwait. The political will to deal with the problem, seems to be arising in favour of solving it. Moreover, the consensus reached in this program was that the bedoons' files should be evaluated with transparency and honesty and those that deserve the citizenship should be granted it.

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTM5NTM=


Other bloggers contributions to Shaikha Awrad's Cause


http://belkuwaitialfasih.blogspot.com/2006/11/1.html


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Two months before I got married (summer 2004) I was in Al Reqqa in Syria on an excavation headed by Princeton University, we were working on an Ummayyad Palace of Maslamah ibn AbdulMalek Ibn Marwan. The closest town to our dig is Aleppo, the girls in the group (germans and americans) and I would stay in Aleppo for the weekend to take a break. The girls were on a tight budget so the only afforadle hotel was a 2 star hotel called " Al Amir Hotel" , to enter the lobby you had to go up 20 flights of stairs, the lobby was basically a small t.v with a couple of torn chairs and the staff of the hotel would watch soccer games. We headed straight to the reception, there was a young guy who greeted us and introduced himself as "Khaled Al Anizy", he spoke english quite well, he asked for our passports and when he saw my passport he looked up, smiled and said "Ya7alayallah bint al Kuwait". "Oh my goodness" i thought "kuwaitis are everywhere, they even own hotels in aleppo" I was pretty impressed. I immediatly told the girls he was from Kuwait. "okhooy inta min al kuwait sa7?" i asked. "la 6al 3omrech and bedoon" ... hmmmm.... bedoon?! i was perplexed, why would a kuwaiti bedoon be in syria?! wouldn't he be syrian?! so I asked "inta moo soory?" he replied that his grandparents are syrians, his dad was born in Kuwait and was in the kuwaiti military and he was also born in Kuwait and was in the Kuwaiti military but he had to leave because he needed to make money and bedoons had no benefits in Kuwait. So I asked " but you have the syrian nationality?" he said his dad recently got it because he needed medical care but Khaled was neither syrian nor Kuwaiti. Anyway, as a favour for me because I was "Bint Al Deera" and "Hatha al Otail killa min kairat al kuwait allah i7afeth-ha" he put me and the girls in the best rooms (the ones that had bathrooms and new bedsheets). Oh he kept asking if I really wanted to stay in his hotel, he said there was a five star hotel across the street, I was so embarassed, I wished he'd shut up about it, I didn't want the girls to think I was a spoiled rich girl! The next day, the americans came to my room and whispered ever so softly so the europeans wouldn't hear them "this place is a dump, do you wanna upgrade to a better hotel?" hehehheeh thank god it came from them!! I said "No this place is perfectly fine" Khaled had the best all you can eat syrian breakfast ready for us the next morning, with maps to all the historic sites and had a little bottles of water ready for us to take on our trip. I was sooo thankful and proud of him, he was respectful, such a gentleman. On our way to see the sites the girls asked me about "bedoons" and what that is, silly me I forgot that they were all fluent in arabic because they are all studying for their PHDs in the history of Islamic art. THAT WAS EMBARASSING!! what do you say when someone asks you what is a "bedoon" why don't they have a nationality if both them and their parents were born in Kuwait and served in the military.

PRISON BABIES!!

here's an article written a year ago by Judith, an expat from New Zealand living in Kuwait:


According to Wikipedia a prison sentence is meted out depending on the philosophical principle used by the court. The most common philosophies of sentencing are:
· Retribution something done or given to somebody as punishment or vengeance for something he or she has done
· Deterrence discouraging somebody from taking action or prevent something happening, especially by making people feel afraid or anxious
· Denunciation a public accusation or condemnation of something or somebody
· Incapacitation to deprive somebody or something of power, force, or effectiveness
· Rehabilitation social welfare training, therapy, or other help given to somebody, for example, somebody who has survived a serious injury or illness or an addiction, that will enable him or her to live a healthy and productive life
· Reparation compensation for a wrong, restoring of something to a good condition
I would like to ask which of these principles is in action here when an unmarried mother and her baby are sentenced to two years in prison before being repatriated. If the baby is already a year old and the mother is now in prison as a means to leaving the country the child will be a toddler before they ever get to interact with the big wide world.
Does the ten months she spends waiting for her case to be tried get deducted from her sentence when it is given?
If the mother is already married in her home country, or she is suspected of having willingly participated in numerous affairs, further strife is brought in to the life of all concerned when the standard sentence is 10 years. This means that any children at home will not see their mother for 10 years.
If, as many self righteous people would protest, the purpose of the sentence is one of deterrence then this needs to be published loud and wide. – Rather like the commonly known death penalty for drug trafficking to Singapore for which the authorities even go so far as to warn passengers as they come in to land. Here in Kuwait, in all literature pertaining to foreign workers coming to this country there should be the black and white warning that it is illegal to have a baby out of wedlock and that the result will be a prison sentence for mother and baby, in which they will be denied all contact with the outside world except through a lawyer and that visits by other concerned parties will be denied.
What happens to the men who are able to father a baby and then be off and away without any consequences? The Social Workers with whom I have spoken are concerned only that the father of the baby is named and then married to the mother of the baby. If this is seen by the mother as undesirable, knowing the possibility of domestic violence makes for anything but a "happy family", it seems that the mother has no choice but the prison sentence. If she is able to name the father but he has already skipped the country she is still a criminal and has to serve her sentence.

These are my observations, and I may have been misinformed. However, if anyone is able to enlighten me to the value of the "rehabilitation, deterrence, denunciation, incapacitation, or reparation" of a woman and baby serving a sentence in prison then I would be interested to know about it.



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On my last trip to the women's prison here in Kuwait, I saw a lot of prisoners locked up with their babies, they were from many nationalities, some were Indian, some Sri Lankan, Philipinas and 10 Kuwaitis, their crime? having babies out of wedlock. Their ages ranged from five months to 4 years old. When lights were out at 9pm some kids would start crying because they still wanted to play or were afraid of the dark, they usually get beaten by the prison guards along with their moms for this behaviour. It costs the state 10kd/day for each prisoner (food and sleep accomodations), the states also provides diapers and formula milk which costs even more.

We met with officials from the ministry of interior, ministry of social affairs, ministry of health and the human rights commitee in the parliament about this, they were all very sympathetic but that was as far as it went, they all had no interest in taking up this matter.

Our concern also was that these poor children that knew nothing outside of the prison walls were also living with murderers and drug dealers side by side, not even seperated in a different ward.

Anyway, Luckily we were able to mention this problem to the Amir of Kuwait Shaikh Sabah, now 33 ladies will be going back to their countries with their babies and the Interior Ministry is looking to change the punishment from imprisonment to deportation. Kuwaiti women's children with go to the orphanage untill they finish their sentence then they'll go back to their mothers.


I would love to know your views about this, care to share?

Farah Restaurant

http://www.alommah.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6048


I will write about this later..




I don't want to get into too much details but a couple of years ago the restaurant (farah) in salmiya burnt down and caused the whole building to catch fire, which I was told was owned by the restaurant owners. The building did not have emergency stair cases or sprinklers, one of the filipino ladies living there had to throw herself out of the window causing her to have her hip replaced. Her case for two years did not even reach the courts because the "Makhfar" , as a favor to the owners, kept the paperwork hidden, she wants compensation and her case in pending in court.

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh my god!!!! found this clip on You tube, this is unacceptable! Oh my god!!! If anyone figures out what the cop is saying let me know please. I'm so sorry for this. I am copying this on a cd and handing it to the ministry of interior myself, let's see what they think.



http://youtube.com/watch?v=LO4Txj3VmAs




On a different note, but just as sad.... and i blame the parents completely because nannies are not suppose to raise our kids, they are hired to help the mom and to babysit and not be the only care taker.






http://youtube.com/watch?v=jVuYpgl7rKc



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Personally, when my daughter was born I made many mistakes while handling her, I needed to make these mistakes in order to learn how to become a mom and how to adjust and bond with this new (most rewarding) job. I can't imagine what it would be like if the nanny made the mistakes I made..... sent back to the recruitment agency? deported? jailed?

Committees?!

As I was getting 'Social Work Society' started, some members and I decided to have different "committees" to cover different issues. When I discussed it with my mother, her reaction was unenthusiastic, when I asked her why she said "Every ministry in Kuwait is overloaded with committees, the more there is, the less you accomplish". Oddly enough, as I was searching my petit bibliotheque (that's an understatement, it's more like 2 shelves with a couple of books) I found a little book of quotations, the first page I opened said "A committee is a group of the unwilling, chosen from the unfit, to do the unnecessary". hheheheh.



note: the author of the quotation above is "unknown" according to the book.

I read this on national Kuwait's website and I think it's a raw depiction of injustice, I hope it helps you understand the importance of this issue.


http://www.nationalkuwait.com/vb/showthread.php?t=9434