Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi
I didn’t expect to meet the Saudi Cultural Attache in USA, Dr. Mohammed Al-Eissa, when I attended Khaled Alhusaini "majlis" in Makkah, last week. I saw Dr. Al-Essa last time in his office in Washington in 2007. As Deputy Editor of Alwatan newspaper then, I was to speak to the Saudi-American Relations Conference, hosted by the Saudi Student Club in Iowa.
The representative he sent to receive me at Dulles International Airport waited for hours. When I finally made it to the Cultural Mission, I explained my delay. At the time, Saudi male travelers were taken on arrival to a security office for investigation about the details of their visit. It took me hours in waiting for my turn, after a fourteen-hour flight, plus "three hours" in Jeddah airport — as required for US-bound flights. Questions asked were similar to the ones already answered during the tedious visa process.
Dr. Al-Eissa was upset and asked me to attend a meeting the next morning with US representatives of different civic and security agencies to discuss this and other issues that affect our students and visitors’ experience in the States.
In the meeting, I told the gathering that Saudi students are the best "ambassadors for peace" to and for America. From the heart of the Arab and Muslim world, where US policies are hurting its image and interests, come tens of thousands of the brightest youth to attend school and experience the American way of life. Years later, they will return enlightened men and women, new leaders of a new age, with the impression and knowledge you gave them. They will be our and your best agents of friendship, tolerance, understanding and cooperations. You can’t risk all that great potential with bad first-and-last impression in the points of entry to your civilization, as they enter and leave.
My audience were impressed and promised to solve the problem. They did, as Dr. Al-Eissa confirmed. Saudis in recent years are treated no different than other visitors, and students are experiencing the best America has to offer.
He also shared with me some good news, and gave me the permission to share them with my dear readers.
In his seven years in office, Dr. Al-Eissa has seen the Saudi student population grow from a few thousands to over 115,000, with dependents. They spread all over the states, attending the best American schools in law, administration, science, medicine and technology.
“I served the public thirty-seven years, but I regard my years here as the most educating and enlightening. On personal level, I feel fulfilled. My relations with those kids and their families are becoming the best part of my life. I meet them after graduation everywhere during my home visits — in airplanes, airports, hotels, public and private departments. Last night, I met one of them in an elevator of a hotel in Makkah he now manages. As a professor, you know the feeling! It is the best reward of our work in education when you see the fruits of your labor so alive and bright, and they shower you with so much love and gratitude. Nothing I ever experienced equals that!,” Dr. Al-Eissa explains.
In what he told me that night, I particularly like the fact that there are now 240 Saudi student clubs, fully integrated into their academic organizations. They receive full support from their universities, and need only occasional help from the Saudi Mission with national festivals and unique activities, like the conference I attended in 2007. It heartened me to know that twenty five presidents of these clubs are elected Saudi women, trusted and admired by their fellow students and university officials.
Dr. Al-Eissa believes in equality. He managed to win the loyalty and gratitude of so many students and their families. During my visit, I heard from many, across the board, who felt that their connections, tribal, regional, sectarian, and sex identity made no difference. They all received the same attention and services, opportunity and rewards. That, Dr. Al-Eissa affirms, is at the heart of the King Abdullah Scholarship Program, which is in its ninth year now, and was extended last year up to 2020.
“Our kids are learning here how to connect with the different other and deal with an open mind and heart. The values of sympathy, tolerance and cooperation are very much needed in our world. To start, we should know how to make a productive dialogue with each other. Then, it becomes easier to represent the true peaceful nature of Islam to all,” says Dr. Al-Eissa.
I sincerely hope and pray that this program’s noble objectives are realized and our kids learn not only science and technology but also civilized ways of communication.
