French president honors Al-Salami [Archives:2007/1035/Letters to the Editor]

By: Shafika Al-Gumaee
[email protected]
A million thanks to the French government and special thanks to French President Jacques Chirac who, through French Minister for Cooperation and Development, Brigitte Girardin, encouraged and honored Yemeni women in general and Khadija Al-Salami in particular.

Al-Salami has worked as a consultant media director at the Yemeni embassy in France and recently was honored for her cinematic work and literary accomplishments portraying both individual and social issues, as well as for her role in developing bilateral relations between Yemen and France. Her work also will help inject more women's ideas into the political current.

My dear friend Khadija, congratulations for being honored by the French president and being given the chance to serve your country by using your natural gifts of thought and love. Not only were you honored, but Yemeni women as well.

We thank you for your hard work for Yemen and for humanity at large. I want to stress that your artistic medium is exactly how your people and others need to communicate more often.

I'm not surprised that you first received recognition from a foreign nation like France rather than from Yemen, the land of your birth, but that time will come.

We need to remind people of their history and the role of women who helped advance Arab peoples. Many try to hide and erase our most honorable past, which includes examples such as Sheba, Arwa and Asma, who are more famous outside of their own country. We'll be determined to bring them, along with all others like them, back to life in the Arab world in order to stand as examples of women's achievements. We'll never allow anyone to erase such women's historical achievements.

I wish you more success in the future!

Shafika Al-Gumaee

[email protected]
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