Saudi Women For Black Men

Yeah, the show was interesting, it's too bad we don't get too many American shows here in Canada. A lot of stuff we can only watch online. I bought my favorite series on DVD, stuff like The Wire, Hercules The Legendary Journeys, Andromeda, Buffy, Angel, Roswell, Highlander, Forever Knight, The Invisible Man, Babylon Five, Smallville, Heroes, Charmed, X-Men Evolution, Reaper and Blade The Series. Jannah is fascinated by U.S. television, especially the science fiction and horror stuff. I love that about her. Still, I couldn't help thinking that maybe I cared more for her than she did for me.

We'd been going out for twelve weeks now, and I have yet to meet her people. Whenever I asked Jannah about her family, she was deliberately vague. One night, she hit me with the awful truth. I came to Canada to escape my family, Jannah said, and when I pressed her for more, she finally relented. In 2008, Jannah came to Ontario, Canada, from her hometown of Habala, in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia. Her parents, Basilah and Jabril Alzahrani were poor farmers. Basilah won an international scholarship funded by the Saudi King himself after her academic success at the prestigious King Abdullah University of Science and Technology made her famous.

I looked at Jannah with admiration. I always knew she was smart but I had no idea she was an internationally renowned scholar. Why come to Ottawa, though? A gal like her should be at Oxford University in England or McGill University in Montreal or maybe even Harvard in Boston. Canada is more tolerant of immigrants than the U.S. or Britain, Jannah all but snapped when I queried her on the subject. I held my hands up. Clearly this was a sore subject with her. I'm sorry sweetie, I said, and gently touched her shoulder.

Jannah took a deep breath, smiled faintly at me and then continued. As soon as I arrived in Ottawa I enrolled at Carleton University and applied for political asylum, she said wistfully. The reason why? Her parents back home were pressuring her to marry some old guy whom she couldn't stand. And since Jannah dared stand up to her family, something unheard of in Saudi culture, there was a real chance she might get hurt if she ever returned home. I nodded understandingly, though I knew nothing of immigration issues. I was born in Canada. What did I know of what immigrants from other countries went through to get here? Well, that night, Jannah Alzahrani, the woman I call my beloved, schooled me on those issues.

Jannah told me about her desperate struggles in the Capital. Her English wasn't so good when she first arrived but it improved to the point that she lost her middle-eastern accent in just six years. The Canadian government eventually granted her refugee claim, but she wasn't yet a permanent resident and citizenship was something she could only dream of. In the meantime, she could work legally, and toiled away at her three jobs to pay for tuition and rent. I earned all that I have, Jannah said proudly, a fierce gleam in her pretty eyes.

One day you'll make it and I'll help you every step of the way, I told Jannah, and hugged her fiercely. Jannah looked at me and smiled sadly. Don't make promises you can't keep my beautiful dreamer, she said, gently stroking my face. Then she got up and fixed herself a drink. I watched TV, thinking about all those things Jannah had said. That night, as I lay in bed next to her, I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about her struggles and the things she yearned for. Things I took for granted. I'm a Canadian citizen, Jannah is not. Her social insurance number expires annually and must be renewed regularly. Ditto for her work permit. And her health card only lasts a year, before she has to get a new one. Mine lasts five years. Everywhere Jannah goes she must carry all types of ID in case the police stops her, a scary scenario, given the fact that the Harper government likes to deport foreigners, especially Muslim ones, every chance they get.

Jannah Alzarahni is an intelligent young woman whom Carleton University has celebrated for her academic prowess, yet she lives the life of a second-class citizen here in Ottawa. As a citizen of a Third World country residing in North America, she's constantly made to feel less than. And Jannah is forever on the outside looking in. I desperately wanted to help her, to let her know that she wasn't alone. Yup, I wanted to take Jannah in my arms and protect her from the world, like any real man would. The question is, would she let me? I fell asleep with those questions on my mind. I said a silent prayer to Allah and entrusted my life and hers in His hands. Whatever will be will be. I closed my eyes, and drifted into dreamland.