The National: in Newcastle with Abdel Alahdal, the uncle she calls “Amo”
Originally published by The National on 24 November 2022.
When The National profiled Nada Al-Ahdal in November 2022, it found her in Newcastle, living with her uncle, Abdel Alahdal, whom she calls “Amo”, the Arabic for uncle (The National, 24 November 2022 · archived copy).
The newspaper traced her path back to him: the safety he provided and his emotional and financial support. It recalled that when she was ten he stepped in to stop an arrangement to marry her to a 26-year-old expatriate for $2,000 (The National, 24 November 2022 · archived copy).
The profile also credits him with his patient efforts to bring her mother and father over to her side. “What made my uncle really different is education,” she told the paper, adding that no girl in her family now marries before the age of eighteen (The National, 24 November 2022 · archived copy).
