JEDDAH: There will be many a tear shed when Judy Houry leaves Saudi Arabia on Friday. Throughout her time in the Kingdom, the British therapeutic ridng instructor, has changed the lives of children with disabilities and brought comfort and hope to their parents.
She has given a home to unwanted dogs, and to retired and homeless horses. She has sponsored a Saudi woman to study abroad, and has cultivated a spirit of service and compassion among young Saudi teenagers, men and women.
For all the good she has done in the Kingdom, Houry has been made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), and has been given a medal by Queen Elizabeth “For God and the Empire,” as the medal states, for her service to the community.
But Houry does not give the award much importance, dismissing it as something trivial. She is like that, a straight-talking, no-nonsense woman of purpose and vision.
Houry first came to Saudi Arabia in 1974. She fell in love with the country, and found a sense of belonging among the people of Jeddah.
As she learned more about Saudi culture and heritage, she knew this is where she wanted to be.
Open Skies’ founder and volunteers with Arab News’ Essam Al-Ghalib at Al-Aseel Equestrian Club in Jeddah.
“It was an enchanting place,” Houry, who is in her seventies, told Arab News. “I named it the magic Kingdom back then. The American Army Corps used to clean the streets and they were spotless. Jeddah back then was miniscule. Taxis only cost SR1 ($0.27) to go anywhere, and there was no air conditioning in them, windows or sometimes even doors, and there were only two hotels in the city.”
She has built in Jeddah a place for healing, happiness and joy.
“The odds were stacked against her when she started this,” said Nabil Khoja, 60, a retired aircraft mechanic who has known Houry for 15 years, and who knows how hard she struggled to make her vision come true.
“First she’s a foreigner, second she’s a woman, and third she isn’t Muslim. Despite having all these things against her, she built this and she built it with love, a lot of work and determination.”
Khoja is talking about Open Skies, the only therapeutic riding establishment for disabled people in the Kingdom that uses horses for healing. Houry has been growing it since its foundation 19 years ago.
Open Skies rider and volunteers
“Instead of being in a clinic, you have a live horse under you,” Houry said. “The movement of horses is exactly like the movement of people, so for someone who is physically disabled and in a wheelchair when they’re on a horse, all their limbs and organs are moving as if they themselves are walking. It tones up the muscles. Those who can’t be upright on a horse lie on it. That opens up the chest so they breathe better and all their muscles get used. Physically it helps their bodies.”
While Open Skies is unique for Saudi Arabia, it is not the only such facility in the world. Houry had to travel to Texas in the US to receive training and certification in hippotherapy, a form of physiotherapy using the movement of a horse to replicate the sensory and motor output of the human pelvis in walking.
“This is an international thing. I didn’t come up with it,” Houry said. With the diploma she received in Texas, she began her journey.
But even after she leaves Saudi Arabia, her legacy will continue via a young Saudi woman called Latifa Momenah.
“Latifa went to the same place in Texas and also studied therapeutic riding,” Houry said. She had to learn about all the muscles in a human and a horse.
Momenah also had to learn about 70 disabilities, what causes them, their effects and how to treat them. There are usually 10 students and only about five pass. She came first in her class.
“Latifa is very ambitious and a very hard worker,” said Houry. “She came as a volunteer, never left and got more and more involved. Then she asked if she could go do her diploma. We got sponsors to pay for it, and she went all by herself despite never being out of the country before. She went to Texas for two months, did the course and is qualified to take over. She’s got her bachelor’s, and she’s going to do her master’s at some point.”
Female volunteers
Open Skies is based in Al-Aseel Equestrian Club. The facility houses 100 horses, and Open Skies owns nine of them.
Some of those horses were donated to Open Skies, and others Houry bought with funds from donations and through businesses sponsoring them.
“This one belonged to Saddam Hussein,” Houry said, pointing to a regal-looking horse. “If Open Skies had the paperwork for him, he’d be worth a lot of money.”
Open Skies costs SR240,000 a year to operate. That includes renting the space, veterinary care, food, and the salaries of the grooms and driver. “The landlord only raised the rent on us once in the past 19 years,” Houry said.
Apart from the grooms and driver, everyone at Open Skies is a volunteer. “We take anyone as a volunteer,” Houry said. “If they want to come, they come. If they don’t like it, they don’t come again. Very few have ever disappeared.”
Arab News met with some of the volunteers last week. They all share the same sense of loss over Houry’s departure, including Marwan Banjar, 19, a volunteer coordinator who began volunteering two years ago.
“I love to come here. I started coming with my brother,” Banjar said. “He’s a disabled child. I used to drive him here then stay in the car. Then one day they had a volunteer shortage and asked me if I could be with my brother to help. I loved it, and my brother has gained flexibility and is more self-confident.” Banjar added: “I feel sad that Judy is leaving. I feel that the place might lose its spirit.”
VIDEO: Briton bids adieu to ‘magic kingdom’ that enchanted her for 43 long years
Houry immediately interrupted and said with passion: “Don’t say that Marwan. The spirit is in the riders and the volunteers.”
Mansour Al-Bugami, 22, has been volunteering since September 2015. “She taught us all to be simple about ourselves,” he said.
“She pushed us to develop our relationship with the kids. She taught us that life isn’t what you do or where you are, it’s about how you respond to everything and everyone. When you’re a kid you always manage to smile, no matter what the conditions are. It’s a really beautiful thing in life.
Nora Muhmoud, 17, began volunteering at Open Skies last year. “In the past I didn’t really do much charity work but after I met Ms. Judy I began.
“It became my life and I have been doing it ever since,” Muhmoud said. “I’m going to miss her like crazy. She built this place. It’s hers. While it will be sad we will continue to follow in her dream.”
For Khoja, volunteering at Open Skies has been a passion, and although seeing Houry leave saddens him deeply, he is determined to continue on with Open Skies and be part of its future.
“I began volunteering when I was 50,” he said. “I’m a horseman, I enjoy an active life and I love seeing the children smile. When they are happy the expression on their face is priceless. There are no words to describe that she is leaving. She’s a very amazing woman.”
Volunteer Maram Al-Darwish, 25, said: “It’s very rewarding being here. You make a difference in a person’s life. Coming out here, for the children, it is special and it is more special for us. We feel like the soul of Open Skies is leaving. But we are going to make her proud.”
Adam Hilal, the longest-serving volunteer with Houry, is practically her right-hand man.
“I’ve been with Judy for 17 years,” he said. “We will be sad. But this will go on and I will be here with it. She’s like a mother to us all. She is kind to me. She respects me. She has put a lot of responsibility and trust in me. She values my input. I pray she enjoys peace in her retirement.”
Others who make up the heart and spirit of Open Skies, and will continue after Houry has left, include Hilal’s nephew Adam, Lude Serilla and Nemia Tesoro.
“I love them all,” Houry said as her eyes welled up with tears.
