Prof Badriya takes Kuwait’s cause on her global tour of lectures
Kuwait’s invasion revives childhood memories of Iraqi aggression
This is the third in a series of articles on Prof Badriya Abdullah Mohammed Hadi Al Awadhi, a lady of eminence.
At her arrival to Dubai airport at 5 o’clock on the next morning, Saturday the 3rd of August 1990, in spite of the laps of time she was still in a state of shock, still not quite aware of what was happening, for in booking her next plane she was insisting on going to Kuwait, in spite of she was being told no plane was landing there since the first hours of the Iraqi invasion.
Finally, when two and a half hours later she landed at the Manama airport, in Bahrain, the flow of refugees and the tales of their ordeal brought her back to the somber reality of having lost her homeland. That moment of realization was the saddest in her life; it hit her with the full force of a traumatic experience that for the first time in her life she felt afraid, uncertain and lonely; such a feeling released a floodgate of emotions that made her determined to do all she could to redeem her country.
Soon regaining a hold on herself during the week Dr Badriya was in Bahrain, she helped organize and coordinate volunteering efforts, she then left for Cairo, Egypt to be with her mother and become fully involved in the liberation front.
As an expert in the field of Legal Arbitration there was a huge work for her to be done. Her first involvement was playing a major role in the teamwork engaged in setting the legal basis on which the Kuwaiti government was soon established at Taif in Saudi Arabia. Having fulfilled her first objective, she then became fully engaged in a global tour of lectures, symposiums and conferences on invitation by Universities and International Organizations in the United States, Canada and European countries.
Lidia Qattan
Speaking on behalf of her country and on other issues related to international law Dr Badriya could remain objective and in full charge of her emotions most of the time. However there were instances, especially during the last phases of the liberation campaign, when at the peak of her emotional stress she could not hold back her tears.
Those are moments in everyone’s life, when even the strongest individual is compelled to surrender.
Such an emotional reaction is not a sign of weakness, but simply a natural expression of human nature, most intimate and overpowering surging from the depth of our soul.
It can be triggered by a variety of stressing causes of which the loss of one’s country is by far the most compelling.
To a person his homeland is life itself. It is the imprint of its early thoughts, moods and experiences out of which forms the nucleus of its personality and all the attachments.
It is the conglomeration of earliest experiences and memories by which a person is emotionally bound to its place of our origin, making him feel homesick when he is far away in a foreign land. It is this yearning that becomes stronger when the individual is under stress. It becomes irresistible when one loses his country through foreign occupation, then the feeling of belonging becomes so emotionally overpowering that it prompts one to action, even to ultimate sacrifice.
The first time Professor Badriya Al Awadhi succumbed to her emotions was upon her arrival to Paris coming from Cairo. She was in the beginning of her world tour of lectures and seminars, hence in a glow of emotional trepidation.
In presenting her passport at the control, the officer turned to her colleague saying that Kuwait being under Iraqi occupation, the passport was no longer valid.
Fluent in French language Professor Badriya Al Awadhi understood every word that was being exchanged between the two officers.In normal circumstances she would not had taken it personally, but in that moment she was deeply hurt.
Painfully reminded that she had no country to go back to, that blunt remark fell like a stab on her heart; almost without realizing it, tears began flooding her eyes and run down her cheeks. She was wearing dark glasses but that could not hide her emotional state. In noticing it the other officer took kindly to her, trying to amends the situation. His colleague too began to apologize, but the harm was done, for she could never forget the incident nor the pain and the anger she felt in that remark.
Many decades did pass since then, but the incident remains a painful reminder of the day when she felt afraid in a foreign land.
The next time Dr Badriya succumbed to her emotion was during the last phases of the liberation campaign, when the world coalition army was underway in freeing her country. She was at a seminar being held at the International Red-Cross Organization at Geneva when the discussion of the strategy that was to be implemented in the aftermath of liberation, affected her so deeply that she was moved to tears.
Noticing her emotional state and her struggle to hide it, her colleague kindly assured her that everything possible was going to be done for the rehabilitation of her country. That touched her yet more deeply and shattered her last attempt in hold back the tears. Once the floodgate of her emotion burst open there was no holding back. The more she tried, the stronger was her need to let go. Seeing such a habitually strong lady in tears affected everyone in the audio, even tough men were touched.
In another instance Professor Badriya Al Awadhi made head-lines in the local media when during a press conference in Italy, attended by women reporters, she was overpowered by her emotions
The conference was centered on human rights, enhanced by numerous reports of young girls in Kuwait who had been viciously abused or tortured and killed for defending their country. Photographs of their mutilated bodies smuggled out by the Resistance, along with other documented facts, and raised a wave of indignation and compassion so strong that she was moved to tears.
In noticing her emotional state those around tried to comfort her, but that simply triggered an uncontrollable flow, which she had been trying so hard to hold back. Soon everyone else was in tears; the incident was a headline success.
During the last two months, while the war of liberation was underway, Professor Badriya Al Awadhi was back in Bahrain heading the team of experts in a campaign of environmental rehabilitation, which was to be implemented in the aftermath of Kuwait liberation.
As Director of the Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment, she was attending her office from early morning till late into the night, organizing and coordinating every effort. At the same time she was commuting to and from Dhahran on conferences and symposiums on the issue.
She was in Dhahran when the American base was hit by an Iraqi rocket and seventy young soldiers met their fate in the attack. The hotel in which she was staying was not far away. It was in the middle of the night, when startled by the sound of sirens she got-up to investigate the happening.
In beholding the tragic scene of blood and destruction, the loss of so many young lives moved her so deeply that the experience remained indelible in her mind.
Finally it was the climax of the ‘Desert Storm’, the shortest war of liberation in human history. On the last night everyone knew that in matter of hours Kuwait would have been set free. Dr Badriya Al Awadhi was holding a seminar with experts attended by ambassadors, when her colleague announced that her country was set free.
Though she had been expecting it, in that moment she felt such an intense relief that she almost fainted from joy. There were happy tears in everyone eyes but she did not cry. She was in such an ecstasy so intimate and powerful that no word could describe the feeling or the state of mind she was in.
In that moment all the pain and anguish she felt through the long months of growing tension melted away in a glow of kindled emotions.
All that is beautiful and holy in life was in that moment concentrated on her to behold and treasure; the thought that her land was free and that she would soon be back home, brought back the subliminal rendezvous of all the memories which in her new state of mind was enhancing the feeling of rebirth, the like of which she never experienced before or since.
To be continued