Ten years of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz has changed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. King Abdulla was one of the most powerful presidents in the world. He was born in Riyadh which is the capitol of Saudi Arabia in 1924, and he died in 2015. He was the tenth son of King Abdulaziz Al-Saud, but he was the sixth king of Saudi Arabia. He took his position as a king of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after his brother King Fahd died in 2005. King Abdullah changed a lot of things whether inside or outside Saudi Arabia during his life. However, there are two things which are very important that King Abdullah has changed before he died: King Abdullah reconstructed the Makkah Project, and The King Abdullah Scholarship Program.
Makkah is the first place in the heart of all the Muslims around the world because they pray toward Makkah, especially to the Holly Mosque every day five times. Also, around 3 million Muslims from around the world come to Makkah to do Al-Haj for just 7 days. Therefore, Makkah has to be a nice and urban picture for all Muslims, and the downtown of Makkah the Holy Mosque has to be the most beautiful downtown in the world. In fact, Makkah wasn't a beautiful place for most visitors because the area around the Holy Mosque has a lot of old and run down houses. Therefore, King Abdullah ordered the reconstruction of Makkah again and he destroyed all of the old houses around the Holy Mosque. He wanted to change Makkah 180 degrees from an ugly picture to a nice picture so that it would be like other famous cities around the world such as New York, Shanghai, Beijing, London ... etc. Also, King Abdullah ordered the reconstruction of the Holy Mosque again to make it bigger than in the past so it would be big enough for all the new Muslims. Nowadays, around 80% of Makkah has been destroyed to build a new city again with nice Hotels and urban areas. In addition, because Makkah doesn't have an airport, and the only airport near to Makkah is in another city called Jeddah, King Abdullah commissioned the building of a new train between the four cities Al-Madina Al-Munawara wich is the second Holy City after Makkah, Jeddah, King Abdullah Economic City, and Makkah. This train is called "Haramain Train Royal" The train will be available for service in mid-2016. King Abdullah wanted to make it easier than using a car or bus from all of these cities to Makkah. In short, during his life, King Abdullah put Makkah at the forefront of his tasks, and he always was asking about Makkah and what was happening to this project.
The second thing that he developed as a unique program is King Abdullah Scholarship Program or KASP. KASP is a full scholarship for each student in Saudi Arabia whether man or women to continue studying at a major university outside of Saudi Arabia in bachelors, masters, doctorate, and medical fellowships. Students can continue their major in many different countries around the world such as The USA, Canada, China, South Korea, and many different countries in Europe. The goal of this program is to send smart students who have high grades in Saudi Arabia to great universities in theses countries and get the degree with the highest grades possible. King Abdullah wanted these students to get a degree and then come back to Saudi Arabia again to help to build our country in many different ways. He also wanted them to fill the gap in the work markets so they could work instead of none- Saudi Arabian workers. King Abdullah gave a lot of help to this program by the great connection with these countries. For example, the Saudi Arabian embassy in the U.S.A provides a lot of help to students who study in the U.S.A. In addition, King Abdullah demanded this program give each student a full salary every month, full insurance, and full tuition. The salary amount is different from country to country, and with this salary, each student can live the life normally and pay for everything such as the rent, the electricity bill, and the cell phone bill. In short, this program was established in 2005 and it will continue until the government decides to close this program. A lot of students have graduated and gone back to Saudi Arabia to work and marry and start a new family. I'm one of these students who got this scholarship, and I will continue to achieve the king's dream.
In conclusion, King Abdullah helped Saudi Arabia jump 20 years ahead in just 10 years. He changed many different things inside Saudi Arabia that helps this Kingdom to be in the first place. Today, the people of Saudi Arabia have a new King, his brother King Salman. He will continue where his brother left off before he died in the same line, and he will try to push Saudi Arabia to achieve more and more around the world and change the idea that it is only a petroleum country.
References:-
The Royal Embassy of Kingdom of Saudia Arabia
http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/KingAbdullah.aspx
MINA
http://mirajnews.com/article/opinion/memoriam-abdullah-bin-abdulaziz-suadi-modernizer-maverick-king/
The Ministry of High Education
http://www.mohe.gove.sa/en/studyaboard/King-Abdullah-hstages/Pages/default.aspx
