I INSIGHT I

A new choice for the frail elderly

Independent Living with
Supportive Services

A new caring alternative for
the frail elderly is now
available at the exciting new
and elegant West Bloomfield
Nursing and Convalescent
Center.

Sadat's Widow

Continued from preceding page

• Deluxe semi-private or private
mini suites all with private

baths and a beautiful view of
a courtyard or wooded
grounds.

• Town Center Plaza with a
It's called Independent Living
snack shop, beauty salon,
with Supportive Services. It's
flower and gift shop and an
the choice between
old-fashioned ice cream parlor.
independent living and skilled
nursing care for the elderly
• Fine dining in an elegant
person who needs the
dining area with meals
essentials of living such as
prepared by an executive chef
housekeeping service, meals,
and served by a courteous,
laundry service and
friendly staff
medication, if needed.
Licensed nurses are on duty 24
hours a day.
• Exciting and varied activities,
planned and supervised, to
Residents in this program can
keep residents involved and
enjoy a relaxed, elegant
happy
atmosphere that includes:
Honor us with o visit. Weekdays 9 o.m-8 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday, noon-5 p.m.

An Affiliate of William Beaumont Hospital

• Pastoral and weekly Sabbath

services provided by Rabbi
Moshe Poker

Ariat-Stng 6445 West Maple • West Bloomfield, Ml
Phone: 661-1600

1

Caw,-

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also available:

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ON THE BOARDWALK
6885 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD
WEST BLOOMFIELD (313) 855-3118
HOURS: M, T, W, F 10-6; Th. 10-8; Sat. 10-

Tables • Desks
Wall Units
Bedrooms
Dining Rooms

For
Appt.
Call

10 Years Experience & Expertise in the Design
of Affordable Laminate, Lucite & Wood
Furniture

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• BUY—SELL—TRADE

68

FRIDAY, MAY 5, 1989

661-3838_/

colors of the walls of the
houses were as if they had
been painted yesterday. The
people were very warm and
friendly. I was very proud- of
them, of our history, of our
country and its heritage and
what we have given to the
world."
This from the 55-year-old
daughter of an Egyptian who
worked in his country's Min-
istry of Health and whose
mother was from Sheffield,
England. Mrs. Sadat's non-
Arabic demeanor can be trac-
ed to her mother, who
brought a western woman's
assertiveness to the Raouf
household on Roda Island.
(Indeed, this Nile River
island, linked by bridges to
Cairo in the eastand Giza in
the west, could be a metaphor
for Mrs. Sadat's life, with its
attempts to bridge east and
west.)
While her friends' mothers
were relatively retiring, as
Moslem tradition required,
Mrs. Sadat's mother was
outgoing and assertive. Mrs.
Raouf sat and talked with
guests and taught her
children to be independent.
She ate her own British food
and, although her children
were being raised as Mos-
lems, had a Christmas tree
each December. Mrs. Raouf's
sense of self, as a wife and as
a woman, had much to do
with her daughter's sense of
self. No female milquetoast,
for example, would have ap-
propriated for herself, as did
Jehan, the title of Egypt's
"First Lady" while her hus-
band was president. No
previous president's wife had
used the title. And no
previous wife had worked for
family planning programs or
women's rights.
At 16, Jehan (Persian for
"the world") married Anwar
Sadat. As is the Egyptian
custom, their wedding cere-
mony lasted all night. At
dawn, the groom took Jehan
to the base of the Great
Pyramids of Cheops.
"Many times," Mrs. Sadat
has said, "I had seen the
pyramids. But standing there
with my new husband, I saw
everything through different
eyes. Could our love endure as
the Great Pyramid has en-
dured? . . . Never have I felt as
full of hope: for my husband,
for my country, for all the
riches and wonders of Egypt
that had gone before, for all
the promise that lay ahead.
From the beginning of our
marriage, our love for each
other was intertwined with
our love for Egypt. Surely, it
was God's will to draw us
there."
It may also have been God's
will that her husband had

what Mrs. Sadat calls "the
courage, vision and guts" to
break the impasse between
Israel and Egypt.
"He understood," she says,
"that peace and prosperity
are two sides of the same
coin."
Toward cementing that
peace, she and her husband
traveled by boat from Egypt
to Haifa in 1979 after the
peace treaty had been signed
in Washington. As their boat
neared the Israeli port, jets
and helicopters saluted them
overhead and the Sadats
could see thousands and
thousands of Israelis waiting
to greet them on the shore.
Jehan turned to her husband
and said in the midst of this

Clearly, Mrs. Sadat
is saying that if
she, with her loss,
can be forgiving of
Arafat and his PLO
followers, so, too,
can the Israelis,
with their losses.

warm greeting, "Why were
we waging war against each
other? Why were we killing?"
And he answered, a bit impa-
tiently, but maybe also proud-
ly, "Stop it, Jehan. Stop it.
There is no more war now.
Stop it. It's over now. It's
over."
And it may also have been
God's will that the Sadats be
separated in the 32nd year of
their marriage. Since then,
Mrs. Sadat has become more
of a public woman than she
had been while her husband
was alive. She has received
honorary doctorates from 12
colleges and universities and
nine international awards, in-
cluding Planned Parenthood's
Margaret Sanger Award. She
She must also face her fami-
ly's trauma that still lingers
— and, probably, always will
— from her husband's
assassination.
"He was such a wonderful
grandfather," says Mrs. Sadat,
"a wonderful husband. He
cared for his family as he
cared for everyone else."
Her four grandchildren
were with her at the parade
ground as her husband was
killed. Not until five years
after the assassination could
they sleep without
nightmares. The worst to suf-
fer was her eldest grandchild,
Sherif, now 12, who was
especially close to Sadat.
Asked how she sleeps, and
whether the nightmares still
plague her, Mrs.Sadat
answers with a pensive sigh.
"Ahhh," she says, "I'm trying
my best." ❑