Family History Digital Project
My paternal great grandfather was born in the year 1909 while my great grandmother in 1915 in Wadi-ad-Dawasir, Saudi Arabia. My maternal grandparents were also born around the same time, 1910 for my great grandfather and 1917 for my great grandmother. They both lived in Bisha. My grandparents lived in the period when Saudi was ruled as an absolute monarchy. In the early 20th century King Abdulaziz led a series of successful wars that led to the establishment of the Republic of Saudi Arabia in 1930. During this time, the country began opening up to other countries through the development of diplomatic missions, some being in London and Cairo. The country also began thawing relationships with the United States which led to the entry of some of their advanced technology in the country. President Franklin Roosevelt visited the country in 1945 which was during the reign of President Lbn to establish future relationships with the country (Hart, 2008). Thereafter military of the country was trained on how to operate the more sophisticated equipment and better fighting techniques, in an exchange of oil trading partnership between the two countries.
Thereafter, my paternal grandfather was born in 1939, and my grandmother in the year 1945. They also lived in Wadi-ad-Dawasir and went to Al Fanoos School. My maternal grandparents were born in, 1937 for my grandfather and 1943 for my grandmother. They went to Daylami middle and secondary school. They lived when the country was booming with the oil business. The oil deposits were discovered in the 1930s which led to an increase in diplomatic relationships in other countries. In the mid-20th century thereafter, major oil explorations were being made in the country which led to the increased wealth in the country. My paternal grandparents who are still alive continues to tell us how life during that time was much better. The price for food was cheaper becomes of a stable economy. Many jobs were available because of the mining opportunities that had been created and also the growth of other industries as a result of this, air transport and road transport for example.
My father was born in 1968 and went to Riyadh School while my mother was born in 1972 and attended Delta School. They lived in Riyadh. My parents have also lived through some of the most historical events in Saudi Arabia. From 1990 to 1991, for example, there was the Gulf War where Saudi Arabia together with other countries such as the United States led 35 other coalitions into forcing Iran from the invasion of Kuwait (Halliday, 2004). Iran had entered Kuwait to destroyed several oil wells in the country with the claim that Kuwait had stolen its oil through slant drilling. After their defiance to retreat the country under the instructions of the UN, Saudi coupled with other countries went in to intervene. The war tool about 8 months with some of the Saudis being drafted in the war. Fortunately, my parents being health care workers, they were not a part of the war.
I was then born in 1995 in Riyadh. During my time, there was the Twin Tower Terrorist Attack that was linked to Saudi. I was however too young to make out of what was happening because it was in 2001. 19 men from Al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes two of which crashed into the twin towers that led to the death of 2973 people (Myjer & White, 2012). 15 of these men were said to be Saudi Arabia nationalities which therefore made the US question the country’s involvement in the mass killings. The situation was even compounded with Saudi’s refusal to let US reports interview the parents of the alleged terrorists. The relationship between the countries was then under a lot of tension but only for some time unit, other presidents came in to restore the alliance.