The 2010 Middle East/Africa Regional Conference is now over. All the participants have departed the conference and most have reached their homes after many hours of flying. We hope that you have all enjoyed your time at the conference and will start Chapter partnership as well as share the PTPI experiences that you have been through with others in your Chapters or communities.
Early morning we started our day with a beautiful Alexandria weather. We have visited Women and Child Protection which hosts 150 orphans from around Alexandria and 100 women who have been abused. The offer them free housing, education, developing, working skills needed and makes sure that they have a better and brighter future. We then headed to the Medical Research Institute which has various departments that do Research and Development in the fields of Cancer, Kidney transplant as well as provides education courses and trainings to doctors. It was definitely an inspiring morning.
The Qait Bay fort and Morsy Abou Al Abbass Mosque were the next stop. Lots of group and funny picture were taken. "The Citadel of Qaitbay (or the Fort of Qaitbay) is a 15th century defensive fortress located on the Mediterranean sea coast, built upon/from the ruins of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1477 AD by Sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa'it Bay.'' Wikipedia
The first Annual Meeting for the Middle East/Africa Region was held today. This meeting is where all the Chapter representatives and all the Trustees in the region meet to discuss regional issues and vote on decisions. The regional by-laws and the Regional Executive Committee has been elected. The newly appointed committee members are:
Hany Adly - Regional Chair
Megan Van Eck - Regional Vice-Chair
Irem Ebru Gursoy - Regional Secretary
The conclusion of the day as well as the conference was the session of Dr. Mohamed Kazem with his initiative: In Search of Understanding Initiative. "In Search of Understanding" is a Public Diplomacy initiative fostering and promoting the Culture of Peace, it is mainly based on underlining and stressing what is shared and common among us all as human beings hoping to contribute to the alleviation of existing mutual distorted stereotypes and images among the Peoples of the world. It also calls for tolerance, understanding, sympathy and above all empathy regarding existing or seemingly existing differences; it is hoped that with these ingredients combined we would ideally and gradually be heading towards mutual harmony and acceptance, hence paving the way for a better tomorrow for all.
After Dr. Kazem's session, we had the closing remarks of the third annual Middle East/Africa Regional Conference. Then certificates were distributed as well as an elegant farewell dinner was hosted.
Pictures are below:
Arriving at the Women and Child Protection Center
The kids welcoming everyone to the center
Welcome introduction at the center
Arriving at the Medical Research Institute
Touring the institute
Group picture infront of the Medical Research Institute
Hany Adly leading the first Annual Meeting
Votes during the Annual Meeting
The newly elected Regional Executive Committee
Dr. Mohamed Kazem's session; In Search of Understanding
Dr. Mohamed Kazem's session; In Search of Understanding
Thursday, October 21 was quite an active day starting with the Chapter Presentations hosted by Mary Jean Eisenhower. We have all listened to amazing presentations and yearly reports from all the Chapters that were present, below are the Chapters represented:
PTPI's Ankara, Turkey Student Chapter
PTPI's Beirut, Lebanon Chapter
PTPI's Cairo, Egypt (CairOdyssey) Chapter
PTPI's Durban, South Africa (Hillcrest High School) Student Chapter
PTPI's Tel Aviv, Israel Chapter
The next sessions was Bio-Energy and the Environment by Ahmed El Dorghamy which caught the attention of everyone. All the delegates wrote down all the things that they will do to personally make a change in their community to have a better and sustainable world.
Lunch was on the Mediterranean Sea.
We then stopped by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
"Bibliotheca Alexandrina or Library of Alexandria: is a major library and cultural center located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. It is both a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, and an attempt to rekindle something of the brilliance that this earlier center of study and erudition represented." Wikipedia
Inside the library we have had a local tour of the entire library with all it's departments, museums and exhibitions. We visited the Antiquities Museum, the Impressions of Alexandria Exhibition, Sculptures without Boundaries Exhibition, Anwar El Sadat Museum and the Ancient Egyptian History Exhibition.
We have realized that we have a lot of followers on our blog, we received many messages from people who were concerned that our post from yesterday didn't go up on time. We apologize for the delay!
Wednesday, October 20 is the official first day since Tuesday was just the arrival. We started early with breakfast and then headed to the American Center in Alexandria were Mary Jean Eisenhower welcomed everyone to the conference and officially started the program. We then had an ice-breaker session by Barbara Capozzi, everyone shared their PTPI aha moment. It was a very special segment were everyone shared their experiences about their involvement with PTPI. Then we had the Climate Change Impact on the Region session by Lama El Hatow. We were all very inspired by her and we came out of the session with a personal action plan to make a difference and really do something about Global Warming.
This year's conference theme is: It's about the choices YOU make!
After El Hatow's session, we all really understood that each choice we make impacts everything around us and could either destroy or keep the Earth safe.
The day was rounded off by an inspiring discussion with Dr. Nadia El Awady. Her session: Reach New Heights; Personally and Professionally. Sharing some words from the session: It's amazing what you can achieve if you try, if you put your heart behind it there is nothing you can’t achieve. Another one: It's the journey not the destination that matters. Her session was very inspiring, giving new insights and perspectives to problem solving on personal and professional challenges. It was truly life changing! No one could understand how inspiring she is until you sit down and listen to her adventures and challenges; on her way to the summit of the tallest mountain in Africa, Kilimanjaro. How to control your will at looking and look at the bigger picture. What we will all take home is: Take baby steps to get where you want to be.
Everyone then enjoyed the Catacombs and the Pompeys Piller.
The day then ended with a huge celebration during the conference's opening dinner on the 15th floor of the hotel over looking the Mediterranean Sea. It was a formal dinner and we all enjoyed mingling and eating a PTPI logo off a huge cake.
Enjoy the below pictures from the first day!
Mary Jean Eisenhower giving a certificate of appreciation to the American Center in Alexandria for hosting the sessions of the conference
Our Delegation very concentrated during one of the sessions
Lama El Hatow during the Climate Change Impact on the Region session
Everyone was eagerly waiting for October 19, 2010 to come to Egypt for the conference, everyone has arrived safely to Alexandria, Egypt and now the day is over. Unfortunately we have couple of the delegates who couldn't make it and we send them all the best from the conference! Registration started early this morning and lasted until 6pm. Then we all went for dinner were we all had a chance to mingle and break bread. Tomorrow we have a full day with speakers coming in talking about Global Sustainability and we will definitely share with you all the details when we are done tomorrow. Below are pictures from today, Enjoy!
PTPI's Registration Desk
Delegates are hanging out while others were arriving and registering to the conference
People to People International (PTPI) Middle East and Africa Regional Conference is a yearly event that brings our chapter members and supporters from the region together. During the conference, participants discuss international affairs and cultural understanding, develop leadership skills and attend sessions that will help them make the world a better place. This event is a perfect opportunity for the chapter members to share their ideas about their programs, develop action plans and organize programs in collaboration with other chapters that promote PTPI's mission of Peace through Understanding.
For more info about People to People International visit our website: www.ptpime.org
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