https://arab.news/ye25e
RIYADH: Hadiyah, the Hajji and Mu’tamer’s Gift Charitable Association in Makkah, has started implementing its annual distribution of iftar and suhoor meals to pilgrims during Ramadan.
And this year the association aims to hand out at least 1.2 million meals.
The massive distribution will target worshippers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Holy Mosque, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The association said 750 volunteers will help serve pilgrims throughout the holy month.
CHICAGO: Abdullah Al-Ghareibi was in his home in Riyadh about to go to sleep on Jan. 23 when he received an email from the Philadelphia Police Department.
Al-Ghareibi said that he had spent an enjoyable weekend in Washington D.C. with his two sons and returned to Riyadh days earlier, sharing happy memories of the trip with his wife and daughter.
However, Al-Ghareibi told The Ray Hanania Radio show, sponsored by Arab News, that he was “shocked” by an email from police asking him to “immediately” contact their offices regarding a “homicide” and his eldest son, Al-Waleed Al-Ghareibi, 25. Waleed was a university student in his final year studying network engineering.
The father was told his son had been murdered in his Philadelphia apartment building by a 19-year-old suspect, Nicole Marie Rodgers, who was from Atlanta, Georgia. Rodgers was moving out of the building and may have targeted the son for robbery, police told the father. Believing no one was in the building, Rodgers allegedly stabbed Waleed multiple times after she asked for his help.
“Nobody knows exactly what happened. It is just like a logic explanation from police, and the landlady. She (the suspect) didn’t speak and obviously my son cannot talk on his behalf. She tried to befriend just him in the recent days, try to get close. We understand from my son, he was like kind of annoyed. She knocked at his door. His room is on the first floor. She knocked on his window and she said I had forgot the keys and can you open the door for me. She tried to engage in conversation with him. She wanted to find a way just how to rob him,” Al-Ghareibi told The Ray Hanania Radio show on Wednesday, May 31, struggling with his grief.
Al-Ghareibi said that the police believe the murder was driven by the suspect wanting to rob Waleed before she moved out of the building. Police said that Waleed was allegedly stabbed multiple times by Rodgers, who was accompanied by her parents in court. She had expressed no remorse, police said.
Al-Ghareibi said that his family had received extensive support from the Saudi embassy in Washington D.C. as they worked through their pain. Waleed was scheduled to graduate from the university in May, and his father was invited to accept the degree.
“I really thank them, thank the (Saudi) government. They are taking all the financial burden on it,” Al-Ghareibi said.
“But still, just emotionally, it is very hard on us as a family. We need to see the end of it. We need her to get what she really deserves. You think something might happen along the way with the court and lawyers and stuff, jury. You know it is not going to be easy. It’s not going to be easy, but we hope she gets what she really, really deserves. What she deserves is a life without the possibility of parole. That’s what she really deserves. But what will happen, I don’t know. It has caused a lot of hurdles we have to jump.”
Al-Ghareibi said that the university his son attended had contacted him and invited him to a memorial service, and presented him with his son’s diploma during graduation ceremonies.
“It was very touching,” he said. “I wished he received the degree by himself. That’s what happened. You have to live with it. It’s very needless,” Al-Ghareibi said, noting that his wife and daughter had not seen Waleed for nearly three years because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Waleed Al-Ghareibi was one of three Saudi university students who died in the US in 2023, including Abdulrahman Al-Anzi, 29, who was with friends at a tourist location along the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio on Jan. 30 when he fell into the freezing lake waters. He was recovered from the lake but pronounced dead at the scene.
On May 22, Atheer Al-Khalban, 28, was touring Glacier National Park in Montana with friends when she strayed off the trail and fell over a rocky cliff down a gorge into Avalanche Creek. She was spotted by other tourists who tried to resuscitate her but Al-Khalban, who was attending college in Kansas, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Glacier National Park Public Affairs Officer Gina Kerzman expressed condolences to the Al-Khalban family.
“Atheer was hiking a very popular trail in Glacier National Park that is known as the Avalanche Lake Trail. Sometime during her hike, early on in her hike, she went near the water. Nobody saw what happened exactly, but she ended up going in the water. She was swept down through the Avalanche Creek gorge and was pulled from the water by visitors who saw her in the water down below,” Kerzman said, noting that there was a steep drop-off along the rocky edge several feet from the visitor’s path.
“Every year we have fatalities in the park. Last year, I think, we had seven fatalities. The number one cause of death is drowning. Number two is falling, people being up on high levels either mountain climbing or just being at high elevations and falling.”
Al-Khalban was walking several feet behind her friends when she disappeared into the gorge and waters. Kerzman said that more than 3 million people visit Glacier National Park every year. May is the beginning of the most popular season for tourists.
Saudi Arabia embassy spokesman, Fahad Nazer, said that the embassy does everything possible to help Saudi families who are in need and suffer tragedies such as these.
“Ensuring the safety and well-being of Saudi citizens living or visiting a foreign country is among the highest priorities for any diplomatic mission around the world. It certainly is the case for us here in the embassy in Washington D.C. Over the decades, hundreds of thousands of Saudis have visited or studied in the United States. The overwhelming majority have a pleasant and productive stay,” Nazer told Arab News during the radio show interview, saying that it is one of the Kingdom’s “highest priorities” to keep Saudi citizens safe.
“However, occasionally accidents and tragedies do occur. As you said, over the past couple years we have had some tragic incidents that led to the deaths of a few young Saudis. As soon as we became aware of such tragedies, we immediately contacted the families of the deceased to provide any assistance that they may need. We also stay in touch with local authorities to make sure that we have all the details and we share these details with the families as soon as we obtain them.”
Nazer added: “Of course, our hearts go out to the families of these young Saudis. There is nothing more tragic than the death of a young person. However, I do have to stress that these are isolated incidents. We have no reason to believe that Saudi students or Saudis in general are being targeted in the United States.”
Al-Ghareibi, Kerzman and Nazer made their comments during an appearance on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show,” broadcast on Wednesday, May 31 live in Detroit and Washington D.C. on the US Arab Radio Network and sponsored by Arab News.
You can listen to the radio show’s podcast by visiting ArabNews.com/rayradioshow.
RIYADH: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) has distributed food packages in Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan.
In Afghanistan, around 350 food packages were distributed to orphans and widows as well as needy residents in Kandahar Province, and benefited 350 families affected by the floods this year.
In Jindires of Syria’s Aleppo governorate, 1,580 food packages and 1,580 hygiene kits were given out to families affected by the earthquake in February.
The center has also sent its first aid shipment to Sudan via the Saudi relief sea bridge, comprising 50 tons of food products.
The KSrelief aid aims to alleviate the suffering of people affected by natural disasters of floods and earthquakes across the world in different cities, benefiting thousands of families in need.
CAPE TOWN: Saudi Arabia is keen to develop future cooperation with the BRICS group to achieve collective prosperity, Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah said on Friday.
The BRICS group consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The Saudi foreign minister participated on Friday in the ministerial meeting of Friends of BRICS in Cape Town, South Africa, held under the theme, “Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism.”
In his speech at the meeting, Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that the Kingdom was keen to advance its future cooperation with BRICS by benefiting from the potential and capabilities possessed by both sides.
This aimed to fulfill joint interests and achieve prosperity for all, the foreign minister said.
Saudi Arabia was the BRICS group’s largest commercial partner in the Middle East, Prince Faisal said, affirming that trade relations with the BRICS countries had witnessed great growth.
“This reflects the growing and developed relations with the countries of the group,” he said.
The total value of bilateral trade with the countries of the BRICS group increased from $81 billion in 2017 and $128 billion in 2021 to surpass $160 billion last year, the foreign minister said.
The Kingdom shared basic values with the BRICS countries, represented in the belief that relations between countries were based on the principles of respect for sovereignty, non-interference and adherence to international law, Prince Faisal said.
These principles also included the existence of multilateral frameworks and collective action as reference points in the face of mutual challenges.
Saudi Arabia, along with BRICS countries, also believed in the importance of peace, security and stability in order to refocus efforts toward national development and common prosperity, Prince Faisal said.
The Kingdom maintained its commitment to working with international partners to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, he said.
He added that Saudi Arabia also worked on intensifying global efforts to enhance food and energy security amid recurring crises and supply-chain issues.
The Kingdom was a pioneering country worldwide in humanitarian and development aid and was among the top 10 donors to low- and middle-income countries, Prince Faisal said.
Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Rassi, undersecretary of the foreign affairs ministry for international multilateral affairs, and Saudi Ambassador to South Africa Sultan Al-Liwiahan Al-Anqary were also part of the Saudi delegation at the meeting.
RIYADH: The Misk Art Institute’s latest Masaha Residency art showcase features 11 global and local artists and two writers whose projects explore tradition in the context of social development.
The fifth cycle of the three-month cross-cultural program brought together an international cohort of artists to develop fresh, research-driven art projects. Through architecture, music, and culture, several artists discovered traces of their own homes in the Saudi landscape.
Fahdah Althonayan, director of the education department at Misk, told Arab News: “Each cycle has its own uniqueness. Within this one, we had the opportunity to experiment with dual artists … it is a new thing that we tried with (them) to work together on their artwork, which surprised us as well.
“The variety of Saudi, khaleeji, and foreigners from different continents was amazing. It is an enriching experience.”
Ilyas Hajji, a photographer, and Nastya Indrikova, a researcher, are a Russian duo who worked on reconstructing the Hajj pilgrimage route, which was often dangerous.
Although it was modernized, many still struggled to make the trip from Russia, including the Muslim population in Dagestan during and after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The pair used items brought back from Hajj to highlight the effect on millions who were free to travel after the union’s dissolution.
Palestinian artist Areej Kaoud, who lives and works in London, took to the marketplaces of Riyadh to find a sense of belonging in her piece “Still Hungry.”
“In all these spaces, they pick things. You think that the owner is just trying to sell you things but he’s also trying to heal his own uprootedness,” Kaoud told Arab News.
Kaoud’s studio is the backdrop for a video documenting the offerings of a market staffed by diaspora from other countries, who preserve and share the traditions of back home.
The studio wall is covered with phrases including “Can one heal uprootedness with food?,” “Is being home a state of ‘non-hunger’?” and “Insatiable in diaspora.”
Liao Lihong, a Chinese artist living in Paris, merged an abacus with the shapes of a qanun and an oud to create a unique musical instrument.
“When I studied in China in elementary school, we had a class using the abacus, but now we do not use it anymore because we have calculators,” she said. “But the sound (they make) was always in my mind. The idea is when people use the abacus to calculate numbers, it also plays music."
Aleena Khan bolsters Saudi Arabia’s historical first — a female astronaut and her colleague reaching the International Space Station last month.
Her artwork “A Calling from the Moon” toys with a popular myth in Pakistan that the Adhan, the call to prayer, was heard by Neil Armstrong on the moon.
Her work draws comparisons between the moon’s landscape and an Arabian desert.
She said: “I started to draw what the material on the moon looks like and then I sourced anything that looks similar to it and took it to the desert and shot it.
“What if these landscapes were one?”
In the fragments of Riyadh’s demolished architecture, artist Dia Mrad found hope for their new beginning in his studio. The Lebanese photographer spent months researching and photographing changes in the city’s neighborhoods to create the work “Traditions of Change.”
In line with his practice, which looks to extract narratives from a built environment, he screen-printed fallen pieces of debris with photos of homes that are scheduled for demolition in Riyadh.
“The Kingdom goes through cycles of change — every 30 or 40 years, a big change happens. The latest change that’s happening is Vision 2030, and it’s such a massive change that it’s affecting everything and it’s manifesting largely within the built environment. The history of a city is embedded within its materiality,” Mrad explained.
The exhibition, which spans various mediums including installation, textile, silkscreen and Arabic writing among others, can be viewed at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Arts Hall in Riyadh until June 10.
RIYADH: A Saudi speech-language pathologist with a passion for the arts has made a name for herself creating dolls for children with special hearing needs.
Marya Al-Sunbul’s interest in art began at a young age when she started drawing and painting as a hobby but initially her career path took a different route.
She said: “I did not get encouragement ... because it was during a time when most artists either became art teachers or had trouble finding a job.
“So, I decided to take the medical route and studied to become a speech-language pathologist and completely stopped drawing and painting.”
Al-Sunbul had a moment of epiphany five years ago when her father passed away. She described it as being “in a state of shock,” and she asked herself, “why wait? Why don’t I go back to doing what I adore and fulfil my dreams?”
She returned to painting and joined a workshop with Saudi artist Zaman Jassim, but it was no longer the same for her. “I felt as if painting wasn’t my passion,” she added.
Her admiration for handmade crafts and love of “color and creating things by hand” sparked her interest in learning how to crochet.
She said: “After scrolling through a website with the most beautiful, crocheted shawls decorated with flowers and bursting with color, I decided not to purchase anything, but instead create them myself.”
The world of crocheting became an “ocean of lessons” for her.
“Every time I learned something new, before I could even finish learning it, I was anticipating the next thing,” Al-Sunbul added.
At the peak of her fascination with crochet she was learning six or seven techniques at a time.
“It took me to another dimension and all the colors were so joyful. Whenever I looked at crochet shawls, I would be amazed.”
She discovered amigurumi, a Japanese method of crocheting that is used to create stuffed dolls and animals.
Al-Sunbul said: “Amigurumi is a more complex method than crocheting a shawl because it requires a lot more tugging and calls for a particular type of yarn.
“My hands hurt for an entire week due to the intricate work, stitching, and manual strength needed, but I really enjoy making them.”
She also took an online course to improve her skills and to learn how to make specific styles of amigurumi with detail that gives the impression the dolls are drawn.
In her work as a speech pathologist, Al-Sunbul often makes dolls for her young patients.
“My focus is on children’s hearing rehabilitation using cochlear implants, so I made a doll that is wearing a cochlear implant to represent a child with hearing impairment. It made me really happy to have done that,” she added.
Al-Sunbul makes custom-made dolls for customers throughout the Kingdom, along with pieces using macrame, a type of crocheting technique that involves knotting instead of weaving.
She is currently working on expanding her collection of crocheted items and dolls for a future exhibition.
“Creating handcrafted art made me calmer and more focused. It offers a great sense of relaxation and I absolutely adore that,” she said.
For more information on her work visit Instagram at @crochetmarya20.
