Saudi Arabia 2017: To Be Haya
Hayya would never admit it, but being her is not easy. At twenty-eight, she remains unmarried—an anomaly among her people, where her mother and grandmother were brides at thirteen. She is beautiful, intelligent, yet bound by traditions that leave little room for choice. Born in the heart of the desert—a land never conquered, never tamed—she is a believer, unwavering in faith, just like those before her. Doubt may whisper at the edges of her world, but it never lingers. Life, however, has not been kind. Her brother died recklessly, swallowed by speed and carelessness. She grew up in a military village—a place of fifteen hundred houses sinking into the scorching sand, ruled by discipline and the shadow of her father, a high-ranking officer. Despite her age, Hayya cannot leave the family farm on her own. Even a forty-kilometer trip to the nearest town requires her father’s approval. Only then, and only in the company of a male relative, is she permitted to go. Yet Hayya is no f...