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Lifting the Veil From A Deadly Disease
29 October 2007
Laura Bush Speaks With Saudi Women About Breast Cancer
By Faiza Saleh Ambah
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, October 25, 2007; Page A13
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 24 -- When gynecologist Samia al-Amoudi was found last year to have breast cancer, a disease that still carries an intense stigma in this conservative country where women are forced to cover in public, she decided to share the details in her newspaper column, shocking many Saudis.
But the 50-year-old single mother insisted on telling her story in more than 30 television, magazine and newspaper interviews, trying to force a spotlight, she said, on a disease believed to be the leading cause of death among Middle Eastern women.
This week's visit to Saudi Arabia by first lady Laura Bush, who is on a regional tour to raise awareness about breast cancer, is a windfall to Amoudi's battle to bring the issue to the public, she said.
"The fact that there is a lot of media coverage of your visit, and people know you are here only for the purpose of spreading breast cancer awareness, that gives it importance and will really help our campaign," Amoudi told Bush at a "Break the Silence" coffee meeting Wednesday with other breast cancer survivors.
Bush is visiting the Persian Gulf region as part of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research, launched in 2006 with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and this week in Saudi Arabia. She described the initiative at its launch last year as "the very best kind of public diplomacy."
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