Alahmed, M. (2015). An Emerging Mystery: A View of Saudi Arabia through a Photographer’s Lens. Solutions 6(2): 23-26. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/article/an-emerging-mystery-a-view-of-saudi-arabia-through-a-photographers-lens/
Perspectives An Emerging Mystery: A View of Saudi Arabia through a Photographer’s Lens by Maisam Alahmed
Sebastian Farmborough
An Emerging Mystery
I
was born and raised in Alkhobar, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Growing up in Saudi, I honestly had everything a girl like me could ask for in this world: a loving family, a good education, free health care, and a safe and secure environment. According to the standards of the world happiness report, I was happy, and I truly did feel extremely blessed and content. While wars and conflicts were being waged across the globe in places like Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, and Lebanon, while people starved in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, and Burundi, and while girls were being trafficked in places like Thailand, Cambodia, and India, I was safely
tucked in a bubble that made my world seem like a paradise compared to any other place. How could anyone not want to live in Saudi Arabia? Eventually, the right time came for me to explore and experience the world outside of my safe haven, and I decided to go to the United States to pursue higher education. However, what I saw of how the majority of the West perceived Saudi Arabia appalled me. Women are oppressed in Saudi, one would say. Yet here I stand, an independent college student with my full tuition paid by my government. Women are confined to their houses and are not allowed to leave without a male guardian, another would claim. Yet I spent my teenage years hanging
out at the mall with my friends and dining in restaurants across Khobar Corniche beach. Saudi is full of terrorists and safety problems, some would argue. Yet I have never felt safer and more respected as a woman than in my hometown. The perception of Saudi was terrible, and the knowledge was lacking. I found myself constantly having to defend my country, my leaders, our values, our culture, and our religion, as the gap between our two cultures continued to grow. When Sebastian Farmborough first accepted a job in Saudi Arabia to teach English to executives at a petrochemical company, he expected to stay there for a year, save some money, fly under
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