FOLLOW YOUR HEART AND HAPPINESS WILL FOLLOW

From the Land of the Northern Star to the Heart of Bahrain: A Story of Faith, Friendship, and Connecting Women Worldwide

I was born under the sign of Aquarius, in the heart of the coldest winter, in the land of the Northern Star, into a Christian Lutheran family. From my earliest memories, music was woven through my life like a quiet thread of light. As a child, I was always a little different. I lived in my own world, and inside that world I often felt lonely.

Then, as a teenager, a new door opened. I began corresponding with young people from all around the world. I loved writing letters to my pen pals, sharing stories from my life, and waiting with excitement for their replies. Their envelopes arrived carrying fascinating stories, photographs, and exotic stamps, each stamp seeming to hold a small adventure of its own.

It was a time before smartphones and computers, when people expressed themselves through handwritten letters and printed photographs. I loved that time. Through those wonderful pen pals, I no longer felt lonely. Looking back, I understand that it was a time of real connection.

There was something beautiful in choosing different pens, trying to make my handwriting graceful, folding a letter carefully, and sending a piece of my heart across the world. Today we are so used to typing our messages and adding only a handwritten signature, but back then every letter felt personal, alive, and full of care.

Those friendships, stretching across so many countries, made me fall in love with our colourful Planet Earth. They awakened in me a desire to see beautiful countries, learn many languages, and understand different cultures and traditions. Through those letters, the world became wider, warmer, and more familiar to me.

As I grew older, I began to travel. I visited the countries where my friends lived, and I often travelled alone. I enjoyed my own peaceful space and wanted to explore each country not as an ordinary tourist, but by reaching its roots: its people, culture, traditions, and everyday life. I loved every country I visited, because every place has its own unique people, its own beauty, and its own soul.

Time passed. I got married, gave birth to my two sons, later divorced, and raised them with the values I believed in deeply. I wanted my sons to be educated, cosmopolitan, and respectful of people from all nationalities, cultures, and backgrounds. I wanted them to value humanity and to speak many languages. I am grateful that I succeeded. I raised sons who respect all human beings and who can communicate in many languages.

One day, however, I had to face a truth that was both natural and painful: my sons had grown up and wanted to continue their own lives. My eldest son got married, and my youngest decided to move into his own apartment. It was a great shock for me, because for so many years my life had been focused almost entirely on my children. I did not know how to continue, or how to live my own life without them beside me all the time.

I began searching within myself. I asked what goals I wanted for my life and where my path was meant to lead. I travelled alone to many places in search of myself and of meaning. In Greece, I spoke for a long time with a Greek Orthodox priest under an orange tree. I travelled to Vatican City in Italy, hoping to find my connection there, but it was not meant for me. I travelled to India as well. Although I did not find exactly what I had been searching for there either, India taught me something unforgettable: a person can be among the happiest people in the world even without having very much.

India became a great turning point in my life. I was raised in a country where many things, such as home, food, and security, could easily be taken for granted. In India, I saw real life in a different way. I saw neighbours helping one another and living in harmony, even when they came from different religions. One neighbour might be Hindu, another Muslim, and another Christian, yet there was no difference between them. They respected and helped one another. They were kind to each other.

One day, some neighbours would cook and share their food with others; the next day, other neighbours would do the same. People had very little, yet they shared what they had. They cared for one another and carried beautiful smiles on their faces. They were always there for each other.

All of this goodness reflected deeply into my own life. I began to understand that we do not need very much. Being good to one another is a form of richness. Caring for each other and helping each other are among the most important things in life.

During this period, I was also reading a great deal about different religions. When I began focusing on Islam, I felt that the logic and clarity of this religion were very close to me and easy for my heart to understand. I continued reading more and eventually listened to a recitation of the Quran. At that time, I did not understand Arabic at all, yet something in the recitation found its way into my heart. I felt that I wanted to become a Muslim. I did not know any Muslims then, so all the information I received about Islam came from the internet.

My very first visit to Bahrain happened by chance. I had a four-hour stopover in the Kingdom. At that time, my knowledge of Bahrain was very limited, so I decided to take a quick tour to get a feeling for the place. I took a taxi from the airport and drove around. I cannot fully explain what happened, but I fell in love with the country from the first moment I landed. Deep inside, I felt that Bahrain was a place to which I would love to return, a place where I wanted to stay for a while, get to know its beauty, and learn more about Islam.

I fulfilled that dream in August 2009, when I returned to Bahrain for one month. I had decided that Bahrain would be the place where I would gain more knowledge about Islam. I arrived without knowing anyone, yet somehow, I had a good feeling and a strong trust in the country.

As a woman, I felt safe walking and driving alone in Bahrain. Nobody disturbed me. The only thing that happened was that local people stopped to ask whether I needed any help. This was something completely new for me, and it touched me deeply.

I became a Muslim just one day before Ramadan and began the first fasting month of my life as a Muslim. At first, I was a little worried about how I would manage, because my mornings had always started with water and coffee. Yet fasting was much easier than I expected, and my first Ramadan passed very quickly.

When Ramadan ended, I felt as if I knew almost all the people of Bahrain. During that blessed month, I became acquainted with so many kind people. They invited me into their homes for iftar and made sure I had everything I needed.

My month in Bahrain passed too quickly. When the time came to travel back home, I felt that I could not leave this beautiful island. The hospitality of the Bahraini people, their caring and generous souls, their welcoming arms toward guests, and their enormous hearts were irresistible. I felt this is my place. This is where I want to stay.

I decided to prepare for my move to Bahrain, so I returned home to finalise everything there. One month later, I came back to Bahrain, and a new page of my life began. I have now been living on this land of the Two Seas for seventeen years, and I have loved every single day here.

After returning to Bahrain, I became a local tourist guide, because I loved showing the beauty of this country to guests visiting the island. The beautiful Land of the Two Seas drew me deeply into its heart. From that moment onward, I felt a strong urge to tell the whole world what a beautifully diverse country Bahrain is. It became a beloved mission: to share my story about Bahrain with the world and tell a tale whose every page is filled with flourishing details.

To make this dream come true, I established my own company and named it Stella Polare Boutique Events. The name Stella Polare means Northern Star, the star famous for remaining steady in the sky while the whole northern sky appears to move around it. England's national poet and famous playwright, William Shakespeare, referred to it when he wrote, 'I am constant as the northern star.'

I truly hope that Stella Polare Boutique Events will carry an abundance of bright light, connecting Bahrain with the world and reaching every corner globally, opening unlimited channels of connection and communication while unleashing many opportunities.

I began organising events in Bahrain as well as international events outside the country. I held several successful events in Finland. At my last event there, a group of Bahraini ladies spoke about the status of women in Bahrain and the GCC. I did not expect the topic to be so interesting for the Finnish audience, but I discovered that perceptions about women in the Gulf were very different from the reality.

From that event, I understood that I needed to organise more events with and for women, to create more awareness of one another, to help women know each other better, understand one another, learn from one another, and inspire, motivate, and support one another. By understanding and supporting each other, we can make this world a much better place to live.

This vision led me to establish the Stella Women Around the World organisation. My first event, in collaboration with two amazing women from Estonia, was entirely dedicated to women and was held in Tallinn, Estonia, in March 2019. We had a group of fifteen ladies from Bahrain and one lady from Saudi Arabia representing the Gulf region. The symposium focused on three topics: Women in Three Religions, Women in Crises, and Women as Entrepreneurs. The event was a huge success and proved to me that such events for women are truly needed and should continue every year in a different country, involving more women.

After that, I began preparing a new event: the international conference Women in Innovation & Creativity Globally, planned to take place at the Sofitel hotel in Bahrain from 25 to 29 March 2020. There was immense interest. More than one hundred women from outside the Gulf region, representing forty countries around the world, planned to join us. We prepared a unique international programme with a two-day conference, a fashion show, and a gala concert. All of us were excited and counting the days until the event would begin.

Then COVID-19 destroyed all our plans. Our long-awaited event was postponed first to September 2020 and then postponed again to March to April 2021.

It was shocking news for all of us. In the beginning, it seemed impossible to believe what was happening in our lives. Countries closed their borders, and people became stuck in their homes. Many businesses were hit very hard by the lockdown. Many people lost their jobs. Many became sick, many recovered, and some did not survive.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed our lives completely. It showed us how quickly everything can change and how little we know about what may come next.

After living with the virus for more than seven months, I believe we have all learned a great deal. The most important message was this: never take anything for granted.

Yet even in that difficult time, I also found lessons and blessings. Suddenly, we were all given time: time to think, time to listen, time to be with our families, and time to organise many things we had never had time to do before.

But I also felt that isolation was heavy for many of us. We could not meet in person, we could not travel, and many of us were separated from the warmth of real gatherings. I wanted to keep the ladies connected, and I needed that connection myself as well. We needed to feel that, even during such a hard time, we were still together.

So, during COVID, I organised twenty-six webinars to connect women across countries, hearts, and homes. I began this online journey under the name The Hearts Talk, because I wanted the conversations to come from the heart and reach the heart. These webinars became a way for ladies to meet, share, support one another, and feel less alone.

The first webinar was called The New Reality - What It Means for You. It opened an honest conversation about the new world we had suddenly entered and how each of us was trying to understand it. After that, the conversations continued with many meaningful themes, including fashion, beauty, lifestyle, creativity, inspiration, and the power of women standing together.

Those twenty-six webinars were not only events. They were moments of comfort, hope, and connection. They reminded us that although the world had closed its doors for a while, our hearts could still remain open. We could still speak, listen, learn, laugh, encourage one another, and continue building bridges between cultures and countries.

After COVID, or perhaps while the world was still partly living through COVID, I organised a smaller but very meaningful conference in Bahrain in August 2021. The conference was called Women in Leadership - Creating a Better Future TOGETHER. Fifty-four ladies joined from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Switzerland, Dubai, the United States, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Bahrain, Germany, and other countries.

That conference was very special. After such a long time of distance, screens, and uncertainty, we were finally able to meet in real life again, face to face. Even though the world was still careful and still healing, being together gave all of us hope. It reminded us that we were not alone. We were together.

From that moment onward, my belief became even stronger: women need spaces where they can meet, speak, share their experiences, and support one another. Whether online or face to face, these gatherings create something powerful. They build courage, friendship, understanding, and hope for a better future.

To this day, my mission continues. I still believe deeply in connecting women around the world, creating meaningful events, building bridges between cultures, and showing the beauty of Bahrain to the world. Every chapter of my journey has taught me that life is not only about where we are born, where we travel, or what we achieve. It is also about the hearts we touch, the people we bring together, and the light we choose to share.

We still have time to become better people. Time to ask forgiveness from those we have offended. Time to care for each other. Time to drop arrogance. Time to drop jealousy. Time to drop envy.

Time to unite and stop hatred because of religion, skin colour, or ethnic background.

Time to love each other and do everything we can to make this world a much better place, where we can all live in harmony together.

Contact and Social Media

Amina Leelo Weewo / Stella Polare
My Social Media Links
Stella Polare Boutique Events Website: www.stellapolarevents.com
Stella Women Around the World Website: www.stellawomenaroundtheworld.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amina-l-alghamdi-407a1499/
LinkedIn Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stella-polare-boutique-events/
Instagram:  @stellapolarebh
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/stellapolarebh/
Facebook Profile: https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100040622051712