‘For me, home has always been a sense of place, or a sense of belonging; feeling like I’m grounded somewhere, and that I yearn for it when I’m not there.’
– ‘Emily’ (not her real name), in Saudi Arabia
‘Emily’ is an American, but grew up moving around a lot, and spent her teenage years living in Mexico. Now with four kids of her own, she has made the move to Saudi Arabia to give them a taste of international life. We have changed her name so she can speak freely about her adventures and what life is like in Saudi. You can see her in the profile photo to the left, looking over the vast, empty desert, but only if you look VERY closely.
‘Emily’ tells us what it’s like being a woman in a country where her husband has to sign off on her every decision, from how to landscape the front yard to each and every withdrawal she wants to make from their joint bank account. And she talks about what life is like during the pandemic under 24-hour curfew, and what she misses most about the time when she was allowed to go further from her house than the garbage bin alley.
Photos courtesy of ‘Emily’.
This episode features music by Meydän under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Podcast produced by Sarah Bringhurst Familia on the canals of Amsterdam.
