Last week we lost a prominent Palestinian educator Rabiha Dajani Mikdadi. Rabiha was born in Jerusalem in 1919 & studied at Bennett College, Sheffield, England where she got a degree in education & social service. She was fluent in Arabic, English & German. Photo Ghada Dajani FB

Rabiha first rose to prominence in the 1940s when she worked as one of the first female presenters on Radio Jerusalem & also as a social worker. Her future husband was impressed by her presentation & an arrangement was made for them to meet. Both widowers, they married in 1947.

In 1950 Rabiha moved with her husband educator and historian Darwish el Mikqdadi (1898-1961) to Kuwait where they contributed to the education of the country's youth. This photo shows her with her Kuwaiti students and her daughter, prominent Arab art historian Salwa Mikdadi.

Amongst Rabiha Dajani's students was Sheikha Salwa Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah (1951-2002), the only daughter of the current Emir of Kuwait, pictured in this tweet. Another of her students is Nabeela Al-Mulla, who in 2004 became the first female Arab ambassador to the United Nations.

In 1964 she founded al Jeel al Jadeed "The New Generation" one of the first two private schools in Kuwait. She also worked at Kuwait Radio and held the post of inspector of girls' schools at the Ministry of Education for over three decades. Photos source: http://ar.theasian.asia/archives/16383 

In the early 1950s her husband Darwish el Mikqdadi took up a post as director of education for the State of Kuwait. Darwish befriended Emir Sheikh Abdallah Al Salem (1895-1965) who subsequently funded Darwish's healthcare in London when he fell ill. Photo source: Salwa Mikdadi

When Algerian resistance icon Djamila Bouhired (born 1935) visited Kuwait on November 25th 1962 (six months after the French occupation ended) Rabiha Mikdadi received her along with Sheikh Abdullah Jaber Al-Sabah (1899–1996) the first Minister of Education of Kuwait.

Last week an obituary was published in @alqabas by Prof Yacoub Yousef Al Hajji ربيحة المقدادي.. مربية ندين لها بالفضل https://qabas.news/5766862 

Rabiha's daughter, Associate Professor Salwa Mikdadi now teaches Arab art history at @NYUAbuDhabi

RIP Rabiha Mikdadi Dajani (1924-2020)