Ibtissam Foundation

It was a privilege to meet Madawi Abdurahman Al Saud, the founder of the Ibtissam Foundation this morning(third from the left in the photo). I had already been introduced to her work by an article that David Axtell had circulated to BACC members. She clearly has a passion not only to help those who are caught up in what has been described as the 21^st Century’s form of slavery and has worked in shelters set up for women and children who have been trafficked in the UAE, but to work towards leglislation that will be adopted across the GCC. To that end she is pursuing a PhD in Brunel University London to give weight to this issue in the Gulf. Over the weekend the Ibtissam Foundation had a stand at the BIC, which made her aware of some of the challenges that the Foundation faces in this field.

I was delighted to invite her to be our next St Christopher’s Day Dinner Speaker in May next year (date to be confirmed) an opportunity that she readily accepted. Once the date has been agreed, we will need to get it widely known and into peoples’ diaries and we hope to invite not only those from the expatriate community, but also friends in the Bahraini community, particularly those who are opinion formers and changers. It has been good to support the work in Nicosia through the sale of dolls; this is to address an issue of fundamental human dignity on our doorstep.