Hey there, it's Kendra again!
Tay's under the weather this week - recovering from some sort of tooth removal, yuk!
Glad I don't have to deal with that.
Anyways, it's also been a year since she started writing for Adam, so we're going to put up one of her early posts!
- Kendra
Raif speaks no English. He's never been to America. He grew up in a land with no free speech and limited hunan rights. But, that doesn't make him a monster. As a matter of fact, he is the opposite. He is peaceful and open hearted. He is witty and, at times, sarcastic. And, he uses his gifts to speak for those who have no voice.
He is a writer like myself and it shows in his book. He has a heart that seeks out the good in the worst of humanity. He is very much like me, in mind and body. He is thin and lanky, so much so that most were amazed that he'd survived his first 50 lashes and was still strong enough to call his wife and check up on his little ones a week later. He is selfless, and brave, and courageous. To put it simply, he is a beautiful human being with a heart of gold. He is a fighter. I pray he will be freed soon.
"I wanted to advocate for change and respect for freedom of speech, to call for women and minorities’ rights, and the rights of the indigent in Saudi Arabia.
......
Imagine living your daily life, enacting all of its details, in a small 215 square-foot room, accompanied by more than thirty people accused of a variety of criminal activities. In prison, I socialized with people confined for criminal offenses: killers, thieves, drug lords, and pedophiles. My interactions with them altered many of my faulty understandings in regard to the world of criminals.
Before my imprisonment, like any other person, I would go to bed after I checked all the windows and doors in my home, for fear of criminals. Now, I lived among them; I slept, ate, showered, changed my clothes, celebrated and cried, got angry, laughed out loud, and screamed my lungs out... all while surrounded by their leering eyes. I focused on changing my way of seeing them. I pulled the curtain from the other side and started to explore the depths of their world.
It took me a while, but I came to the conclusion that criminals laugh, too. Yes, they fall in love, feel pain, and are capable of deep, soft human emotions." - #RaifBadawi
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