Rebecca Torr Gif Daily News - YEMENI Khadija Al Salami fought her way out of a society ravaged by civil war and stifled by ignorance, to become an internationally renowned author and film-maker.
It is hard to imagine how the child bride who once tried to kill herself grew into the successful woman who greeted dignitaries and fans as she signed copies of her autobiography The Tears of Sheba, at La Fontaine Centre of Contemporary Art's Moon Courtyard, Manama Saturday night.
In her book, she documents her personal struggle for survival in Yemen in the 1960s.
Against the backdrop of a childhood, devastated by the impact of civil war, the film-maker speaks about being married off at the age of 11 to a Yemeni she had never met and moving with him to Syria.
The young Ms Salami, originally from Sana'a, was so desperate that she tried to kill herself and her mother fetched her home after just three weeks.
But life was still hard, because the civil war had left her father mentally destroyed and unable to care for the family.
Without financial support from her family, Ms Al Salami realised that the only way she could secure a good future was to become educated and to carve out a career.
Interested in TV, at the age of 12, she got the job of a host for a children's programme, which helped fund her schooling.
Later, she used some of the money to study at Washington DC's Mount Vernon College, US and, after undertaking post-graduation in film production, returned to Yemen to continue working at the Yemeni TV station.
"I had option but to take action and there was no role model in front of me," Ms Al Salami told the GDN yesterday during her first visit to Bahrain.
"For me there were only two choices, either to be against everyone or die.
"I had to fend for myself and get a job and go to school - that was the key to my success.
"I knew at an early age that I should not be like my mother or grandmother and the only way out was to be educated. The TV was appealing to me so I went for it."
To date, Ms Al Salami has made 20 documentaries about Yemen covering history, politics and social issues and hopes that her book will one day be turned into a movie.
Her latest film, Amina, which presents a chilling account of the life of a woman prisoner on death row in a Yemeni prison, was screened following last night's book signing.
While Ms Al Salami continues to make documentaries about Yemen, she also works at the embassy in Paris, where she is Press and cultural counsellor.
She has lived in Paris with her American husband Charles Hoots since 1994, and travels to Yemen more than six times a year.
The film-maker has been honoured several times, the recent one is the rank of Knight (Chevalier) from the French government.
Unfortunately, none of Ms Al Salami's three younger sisters followed in her footsteps, but all her nieces have aspirations to break into communications and she is supporting their studies.
Life has changed in Yemen, said Ms Al Salami, adding that while in the 1960s there wasn't even a school for women in Sana'a, after the revolution, the government built schools for both boys and girls.
"Some of the families felt that it was dangerous to send girls to school because they might learn how to write love letters to boys," explained Ms Al Salami

"Since then all girls go to school and work and it's no longer a shameful thing for them.
"Now we have two female ministers in the government, in human rights and social affairs and one woman in parliament; it's a good step."
Ms Al Salami said she wrote the book to help the world understand Yemen better - both its positive and negative aspects, as well as to show others who have struggled in life that it is possible for them to achieve their dreams.
She also decided to write the book at this time in her career because it was time that people understood where she had really come from.
"Most people think I came from a rich and successful family but I came from a modest one, it wasn't easy for me and I want to tell people that they too can do so," she said.
"After the book came out, I received letters from women in Australia and Argentina, who told me they had suffered similar pain even though they are from different countries and religions.
"I also had letters from men, but they tended to see different things in the book. They liked the history and politics of Yemen."
Bahrain is the first country in the Middle East where Ms Al Salami has launched The Tears of Sheba.
It was first launched in the UK in December 2003 and was translated into Polish in 2005 and into French last year.