JEDDAH, 11 November 2002 — The delegation of American Women for International Understanding (AWIU) has returned to the US after a gruelling but very rewarding two-week visit to Saudi Arabia.

Led by Marianne Alireza, the 16 delegates visited Jeddah and Riyadh, making contact with individuals and organizations in the interest of greater understanding and developing strong personal links with Saudis.

Martha Atherton, president of the AWIU, described the visiting group as “21 century nomads. We have travelled widely, stopping at oases of culture very different from our own. We made the trip to the Kingdom in the spirit of the nomad, visiting Jeddah and Riyadh for refreshment, both in learning and in spirit.”

Asked to sum up their parting impressions of the Kingdom in just one or two words, the group responded with “awesome, fantastic, sincere, extremely positive, hospitable and loving.”

“The Saudis were far more willing and open in sharing their concerns and telling us about the real issues that concerned them than we were. They seemed to be entirely comfortable, understanding that we did not arrive as guests in their country with any kind of political agenda.”

Kathleen Hunt observed ironically that one of the more difficult appointments to make was with the US Embassy. “I’m a Pollyanna; I’d like to believe they lost our reservation!” Their reception with families and organizations in the Kingdom proved fulsome and overwhelmingly generous.

The group intends to use their experiences to make contact with other groups and organizations in the United States and present a different view of Saudi Arabia from what is commonly seen.

“We came with preconceptions,” said Martha Atherton, “of course we did. It was unavoidable, because the only information apart from the first hand input from Marianne Alireza, all we knew about the Kingdom was gleaned from the US media.”

Asked how she felt now and what her reaction to the Kingdom was on leaving, she said, “Simply blown away!”

The group hopes to follow up on this visit with another some time in the future.