From a wonderful childhood in lush green Penang to a successful academic and social life in London and now a prominent figure in Bahrain – it is all documented in a book by the first Malaysian woman to arrive in the country.
Rashida Ariff Tadayon moved to Bahrain in 1968, two weeks after marrying her husband Hussain Tadayon, who she met as a student in London.
She immersed herself in community and welfare work and, in 2007, was presented with the Pingat Kelakuan Terpuji – one of the highest medals for outstanding Malaysian citizens.
However, having spent less than a third of her life with her parents in Malaysia, Mrs Tadayon hopes to share her story with her family through her book My Journey Beyond Borders.
“The book is something that I want to pass on to my children and grandchildren and is also for close friends who have known me for a long time,” she told the GDN.
“I have a large family in Malaysia, but when you go on holiday you don’t talk about your life because you don’t want to bore people with what you have been doing in details.
“I felt that they really missed out on a big chunk of my life and so writing a book is a good way of documenting what I have been doing.
“There are also lots of stories in the book that my grandchildren can relate to as well.
“I did a lot of things during my childhood and this is where I thought that writing a book could make them know what their grandmother was like.”
Brought up in a philanthropic family, Mrs Tadayon started the former Rotary Ann’s Club, the first in Bahrain in 1987, and was involved in various fundraising events.
She served as president of the Bahrain Garden Club and for many years was an unofficial representative of Malaysians in Bahrain, welcoming and hosting fellow citizens who arrived here.
Passionate about dancing from a young age, Mrs Tadayon choreographed performances while part of the Kesatuan Melayu United Kingdom (KMUK) student body in London where she attended secretarial college.
She was general secretary of its cultural group and later taught Malay dances to European women in Bahrain, where she was also secretary of the Awali Repertory Theatre Society – successfully bringing together different expat communities to showcase their different cultures.
In addition, Mrs Tadayon founded the Malaysian Club of Bahrain and became its first president – a post she also held at the Awali Ladies Hospitality Group.
She was also among the few who refused to leave Bahrain during the 1990-1991 Gulf War.
“Most of my friends left, but I insisted on staying here because at that time I didn’t want to be away from my husband who was in charge of the refinery in Bapco,” said the mother-of-two and grandmother-of-four.
“Both my children were in the UK by that time to study and they kept telling me to come and stay with them and my parents insisted that I return to Malaysia, but I refused.”