As a Kuwaiti citizen that has spent her whole life living out of her country, I find myself being asked a question that always stuns me. Why move back to Kuwait? And so I think to myself, where do I begin? Does one really have to explain the love that he/she has for his/her country? If so, then I shall start by saying that I am grateful for being a Kuwaiti. I love my country for the opportunities that it has given me. I love my country for the rich history that our ancestors created. I love my country for our cultures and traditions that are deeply embedded in my core. I love my country for the contrast that it offers between two colliding worlds, the traditional and the modern. I love my country's sunrise and its sunset. I love its coastline and its desert. I love my country for the safety blanket that it lays on its citizens.
So where is it that I am going with this, you might ask? Very simple. There is a book that explains perfectly why it is that I would choose my Kuwait over any other country a hundred times over. Why Did I Choose Kuwait by Samah Oueslati is the perfect explanation of why it is that I love Kuwait. Filled with proses and poetry written by the talented Oueslati, as well as beautiful images and touching quotes, it makes me wonder why it took a foreigner to describe our beautiful country so eloquently. Flip through it once, and I am sure that at least one of the images will grasp your heart. Read through her little poems and if you’ve been in Kuwait, you’ll understand exactly what it is that she is referring to you. Inspired to write the book because she too was asked continuously why it is that she had chosen to live in Kuwait, she used her wit and penned her thoughts and created a marvelous coffee table book to explain her sentiments and to showcase the things she loved about Kuwait.
Whether you are from Kuwait, France, or any other region in the world, I am sure that somewhere there inside you lays a small part of you that is in love with the country that you come from, or maybe just like in the case of Oueslati, your newly adopted country. I love Kuwait, but this is not to say that I am unappreciative of all the life experiences that other countries have given me, but for me, Kuwait comes first and shall forever remain that way. So next time you get asked, Why Kuwait? and you feel the same emotions that I do, tell them to go grab Samah Oueslati’s coffee table book and have a skim through it and finally, remember to cherish this beautiful, small country of ours that deserves more love and nurture than we could ever give to it.
You can get your own copy of the book at That Al Salasil Bookshop at The Avenues mall, Bait al Sadu and Violet Concept store. It's important to note that 10% of the sale proceeds will be donated to Khair Al Kuwait Charity Foundation to support their charitable activities.
– Ghadeer Al-Otaibi
