Dr Delal achieves her goal despite odds

A fair example of woman’s determination and perseverance

This is the first in a series of articles on Dr Delal Faisal Saud Al Zaben, an anthropologist, and a remarkable lady.

D– Editor

By Lidia Al Qattan

r Delal Faisal Saud Al Zaben is a fair example of woman’s determination and perseverance in pursuing her goal in spite of all odds. She was born in an enlightened family surrounding at the time when her country was undergoing a radical transformation into a modern welfare state.

Her mother came from a distinguished family of merchants, the Abdul Al Razak, whose business headquarters was at Bombay, in India, one of its member became the Governor of Singapore.

The father of Delal, Faisal Saud Al Zaben was a man of modern ideas with an open-minded disposition concerning the position of woman in society.

Contrary to most men of his days he rejoiced at the birth of a daughter, deeming it a good omen of success and happiness for his whole family.

Being the older of his two brothers, Faisal Saud Al Zaben took over the traditional family business as merchant of pearls.

During the diving season he used to go around the “Mugasat” (pearldiving zones in the Arabian Gulf) to buy pearls from divers, which he then sold at Bombay, in India. He continued in this activity till the Japanese cultivated pearls flooded the market and practically killed the local industry. He then turned to a more miscellaneous form of commerce. play taken from the classic Arabic heritage. The play was followed by a “farce”, a short, improvised work by student and teachers, which delighted the public and spurred the birth of the local stage movement.

Delal was a little girl when her father took over the family business. During his long trip to India, he always brought back some ready-made dresses for her and her sisters that made them very happy because it was a novelty in town.

In the large family household, shared by his elderly parents and brothers Faisal encouraged his girls to work in the kitchen, in spite there were servants doing the job. No matter how the food turned out to be, he always had words of praise for his girls, this encouraged their efforts and boosted their self-confidence.

Besides training them in good housekeeping Faisal was very keen to cultivate their mind through reading and hiring private teachers for them, mainly in English language and in embroidery.

In such a healthy family surrounding young Delal grew up with a strong feeling of responsibility and eagerness in learning that remained the basis of her amiable character.

Education

Incidentally, at the time she was born, great strides were being made in the field of education in particular, for it was aimed at preparing the new generation for the day when the oil revenues would be pouring into the country and there would be a great need of educated young people when a whole new form of administration would rise to channel the new source of wealth and make the best use of it.

Hence in 1936, when the Education Department was founded, full consideration was given to educate both boys and girls, in spite of the fuss from the conservatives, who deemed that the education for girls was a colossal waste.

Unmindful of their protests and knowing what was best for his country, Sheikh Abdulla

Lidia Qattan

Dr Delal Al Zaben

Al Jaber, the Head of the Department, with the full support of Sheikh Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, the Amir, opened the first school for girls 1937, which was soon followed by many others to meet the growing demand.

By the time Delal began her schooling in the forties; three modern schools for girls were built in town, each at a strategic location and named after it. Hence the – Al Wostiya (the middle), Al Sharkiya (the occidental) and the Qebliya (on the direction of the Holy Kaaba).

During the summer Delal and her sisters also took lessons from a cultured lady in town, Meriam Ja’far, one of the first Kuwaiti teachers.

By the time Delal completed her formal education, Kuwait was undergoing a phenomenon transformation, engendered by innovations in every sector of life.

A new era was in the making, heralded by a spirit of modernization set in action by a full-fledged urbanization, which unleashed an avalanche of opportunities for anyone to take advantage of.

In 1951 the school curriculum was completely revised and based on scientific principles to spur education to its highest levels.

To fight illiteracy in 1956 evening classes were open, ranging from the elementary to intermediate levels, included were the first and second class of higher school. This encouraged those who could not attend normal schooling to gain an education.

Also in that year (1956) the Education Department sent the first batch of girls (seven of them) to the Cairo University in Egypt, against the heated protest of those who stood against it.

The country was in need of all its human potentials, of men and women alike; hence Sheikh Abdulla Al Jaber unmindful of narrow-minded traditionalists, who tried to halt progress, went ahead with his plan.

In this atmosphere of contagious enthusiasm for innovations and opportunities young Delal was completing her formal education and hoping to continue to higher school. But her grandfather, Saud Al Zaben, though an open minded man, insisted that, being the elder of her sisters, six of them, she had to stay home to help her mother in housekeeping and to get married.

Fulfillment

Delal had other ideas in mind; marriage was not one of them. She felt that she was destined for something greater in life than to settle down with family as an ordinary housewife. She was seeing her younger sisters continuing their education and entering the University and that made her yet more determined to stand her ground, knowing she could only find fulfillment in something of her choice in life.

Many asked her hand in marriage but she refused them all.

Admiring her strong spirit and determination to continue her higher school education and to enter university to follow her vocation, her father suggested to hire private teachers for her to continue her schooling at home. But Delal was missing the classroom atmosphere and insisted to go back to school.

Finally, when everything failed, she was allowed to have her way and that made her very happy and eager to excel.

Incidentally she was in her second year of higher school when, at a family gathering during a holiday in Lebanon, she met the brilliant poet and intellectual, Ahmad Meshari Al Aduani, whose poetry filled her soul. In verses endowed with clairvoyant power of inspiration Delal could understand their inner portent, which awakened in her the most vivid emotions of delight and awe. Meeting the poet in person was her dream.

To be Continued