During an inspiring interactive session titled after her book «In My Right Eye, a Garden», Emirati author Dr. Fatima Mohammed highlighted key moments from her human experience and her long struggle with her son Zayed, who was born with one eye, at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. She explained how she turned the challenges of illness into opportunities and a message of hope and acceptance of difference, aimed at children and families.
Dr. Fatima recalled poignant scenes from her experience as a mother, focusing on the main health and psychological difficulties she faced at the beginning of her treatment journey, and how she dealt with them through faith, patience, and continuous support.
She emphasized the profound impact of this experience on building her son's personality, confirming that family support and conscious upbringing contributed to enhancing his self-confidence, enabling him to face reality with steadfastness, and to see difference as a source of strength rather than a physical or psychological obstacle.
Afterward, the session moved on to reading selected excerpts from «In My Right Eye, a Garden», written by Dr. Fatima in a style close to a child's sensibility, to bring her experience closer to young readers, parents, and mothers. This shed light on the meanings of love, empathy, and belonging, and then, on the world of people of determination in a positive spirit eager to transcend the limits of disability, appealing for a future full of successes and inspiration, which the audience, children, and families interacted with within a framework of warm storytelling.
The session reinforced several social and psychological messages that Dr. Fatima had come to the festival to convey.
Dr. Fatima told «Al Ittihad» on the sidelines of the session of her happiness at attending the prestigious literary festival and her pride in sharing her experience with its audience.
«With all pride and gratitude, I had the honor of participating in this leading cultural event that gives literature a vibrant space for influence and inspiration,» she said.
«I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire festival team for their elegant organization and for providing this platform to promote a culture of reading and instill its importance in future generations, for its great impact and value in building a more conscious and humane society».
