Princess Sultana's Circle

that she had been purchased for the
pleasure of only one man, a rich man from the Middle East, a man by
the name of Shadi.
    Veena had never met Shadi,
as he had selected her from a book of photographs. He was staying
at the home of one of his Pakistani partners, and he had not wanted
that man or his family to know that, while in their country, he had
purchased a young virgin.
    Veena finally came
face-to-face with Shadi several days before leaving Lahore. The
seller of young girls had taken her to a coffee shop where Shadi
could give final approval of his purchase. The meeting was so
fleeting that Veena did not exchange a word with her new owner. She
was disappointed to see that, indeed, he was a young, strong man.
She remembered what the other girls had said about the sexual
appetites of young men, and she was frightened. But Veena had no
say in her future. And, too soon, the day arrived that Veena was to
forever depart from her country.
    On the plane ride from
Pakistan to Saudi Arabia, Shadi’s male servants had sat with Veena
in coach-class, while Shadi remained in first-class. Within two
hours of their plane landing in Riyadh, Shadi had left for the
desert to visit with his parents and other family members. He had
taken Veena and several other servants along on the trip with him.
Veena claimed that Shadi never once spoke to her on the trip,
although she saw him staring at her on several
occasions.
    Waiting until after the
family retired, Shadi had taken his two cousins into Veena’s
quarters. He had told his two cousins, “Here is that whore I bought
in Pakistan.”
    Although Veena had prepared
herself to have sex with a man she did not know, she had never
imagined that her first sexual experience would be a brutal assault
by three strange men.
    After being roughly
stripped of her clothing, she had been raped first by Shadi. Veena
wept as she declared that she had never known such pain! After all,
her mother had never screamed during the sexual act with her
father. She had no idea that a man’s sexual organ was so big, and
would hurt so much.
    When she had begun to cry
and plead for them to stop, the men had merely laughed and covered
her mouth. When the third man climbed on her, Veena truly believed
that she was going to die from the assault. And then, miraculously,
she was saved. But what was to become of her now?
    While my sisters and I
wished for nothing more than to send Veena back to her parents, we
realized that her family’s poverty might once again drive them to
sell Veena.
    I was the one chosen to
tell Veena that it had been decided that she would live in Sara’s
home, to help my sister care for her younger children. My sisters
and I knew that no one in our family would dare take any action
against Sara, for this sister is greatly loved by
everyone.
    The joy I saw reflected on
Veena’s face at this news justified every moment of fear and anger
I had undergone to free this young woman. Still, my sisters and I
were brokenhearted to hear Veena’s story, for we knew too well that
there were many thousands of similar stories. We sat together for
many hours discussing what we might do to stop this ongoing and
senseless abuse of innocent women and girls.
    During this sad time, the
world was shocked by the death of the lovely Diana, Princess of
Wales. Princess Diana’s death momentarily took our minds away from
Veena’s cruel life. Several of us had met this extraordinary woman
during the years she toured the world as a royal princess. Although
none of us could claim to be a close friend of Diana, we had all
admired her. Now, we could not imagine such a young and vibrant
woman on the way to her grave.
    During the days before her
funeral, watching the television coverage of her life, I learned
much good about this Princess that I had not known before.
Apparently, no person was too poor or too sick to attract this good
woman’s attention. And, she was well-known for faithfully following
up on her interests with continuing assistance and commitment. In
her tremendous kindness, Princess Diana proved that one person can
make a real difference. Every act of kindness generated by this one
person resonated as a pebble dropped in water, as a ripple which
then spread far beyond the original gesture.
    This idea flowed so
strongly into my mind that I finally began to understand what I
might do to help other women.
    I called my sisters
together.
    “ I suddenly realize the
only way we can help women, is to do what