Don’t Get Caught Reading!

I guess somewhere in my subconscious mind, I saw something like this coming, but it was still deeply disturbing!!

Remember my Injaz class? Where I volunteer once a week with 8th graders in a girls’ public school? Remember that reading program we started, getting them a bunch of books, and promising to reward the most active readers?

It’s been going very well; at first I was a bit limited in the stuff I thought they’d like, getting them a diverse collection but mostly with classics, Narnia, biographies, Jibran, and a few others. Then I became a bit less cautious when Abu Ali reminded me that 8th graders are not to be undermined and that there are great works of modern Arabic literature that they’d love. That was when he gave me some of Ghassan Kanafani’s, Najeeb Mahfouz’, and Abdul Rahman Munif’s. I hadn’t read all of them, but I went ahead and gave them to the girls.

I’ve already written about this part and about some of the girls who have been reading one book after the other, averaging two books per week. This is the exciting part of the story; the part that was drawing the biggest grin on my face and adding a dose of sheer goofy satisfaction to my day. But today there’s another story!

Yesterday, as I went down to ask the principal about something (and this is another story), a teacher in her office took me aside and told me she wanted to talk to me about something.

“Are you the one giving the girls all these books?” she asked

“Yes.”

“I thought you had a specific curriculum for Injaz”

“Yes we do, but this is something extra I wanted to do, to encourage them to read.”

“No need for such things! If you want to encourage them to read tell them to read their school books first!”

And this coming from a teacher!! No wonder the state of knowledge in the Arab world is depressing!

“Well I want to encourage them to read stuff besides their school books, to expand their knowledge and imagination.”

“Yes but we’ve received complaints from some parents who were very disturbed by some of the books,” she said. “I know your intentions are good, but it just doesn’t work here. I’m going to have to ask you please to stick to your program’s curriculum.”

…


So, back to the classroom, I was getting the girls to remind me on a piece of paper of the books they’ve finished so that I can take the top readers out to lunch. There was this one girl whom I asked casually “so did you read anything?”

“No, I took one book at the beginning but didn’t get to finish it because my father caught me!”

… what? Taking drugs?

“Caught you? What did he tell you?” I asked.

“He said ‘put this ridiculous stuff down and go do something useful!’”

“And…?”


“Nothing; I didn’t take any other book because I didn’t want him catching me again!”


…

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Well that might have been my last official session before they start their exams, but I promised the girls that we’re going to do some volunteer work together in their semester break; they want to prepare a play and perform it at an elderly home. I just hope I don’t get blacklisted by the school or by the parents before we get to do that :)

Original "Ammani" Music Live at Jafra Tomorrow

I was thrilled when I got an email from my good friend Najati, telling me that his colleague in Rum Group, Yazan Rousan, will be performing solo tomorrow at Jafra Cafe.

Yazan's songs, lyrics, and music style are all original, reflecting Amman and youth in Amman. Add to this the fact that Jafra is a great place; I went to a concert there a few weeks ago, and the post about it is on the way :)

Jot it down on your calendars; tomorrow, at 8:30 pm. Entrance is free of charge.




PS. This is going to be a dilemma for Rania, because it coincides with Karim Said's concert with the Orchestra of the National Music Conservatory. It's always like that in Amman, when there are interesting cultural and musical events, it seems like the calendar runs out of days to schedule them, and they all come at the same time!!

Do you know how to use a washing machine?

A work colleague just got back from her wedding leave, and some of the other women in the office gathered around her desk to welcome her back and share some of their newly-wed stories.

"Yeah the first few months I didn't cook anything either. We spent it alternating between my parents' place and his for lunch!"

"Oh not just that, we're taking turns sending the laundry to my mom and his, until we learn how to use the washing machine we bought."

"Yeah I used to do that too. Enjoy it while you can!"

Huh??!! I couldn't keep my mouth shut at that moment, and I just peaked from behind my desk and asked in shock "You send your laundry to your mom??!!!" She looked at me – the kiddo who doesn't know what they're talking about – laughed in confirmation, and then went back to the conversation.

Then I paused as I was staring at my PC screen. I don't know how to use a washing machine myself! Neither do any of my friends for that matter – guys and girls. Most of us have working moms who are busier than we could ever be, yet we always take it for granted that there would be a hot meal waiting at home, and we complain if the pair of pants we threw in the laundry basket took longer than usual before being washed! If I feel that all those newly-weds should be ashamed of themselves for their total dependency on their parents, shouldn't I be ashamed of myself and my generation of working 20-somethings who are selective in the type of independence they demand.

I still remember the question that my Finnish friend asked me when she found out that we continue to live with our parents until we get married; "Do you pay rent or pay your parents some compensation?" and I laughed and said "Of course not. We're a very family-centered culture, and it would be a scandalous thought to pay your parents rent or something!!"

She was still surprised and said to me "yeah but that's taking advantage of your parents! You guys have it so easy!"

Well, we do have challenging economic conditions and many young people are desperate for jobs that barely pay enough for a decent middle-class lifestyle… but still, we are a dependent spoilt bunch in many ways! The ones who went to college away from their hometown are a bit better in this regard. I know many parents though who do everything in their power so that their son or daughter wouldn't have to go to university in Irbid or Kerak or something… "7aram yitsha3talu!!"


So what am I waiting for? To go do my grad studies abroad so that I can be forced to take care of myself on my own in every aspect? It's easy to slack until that happens… but I guess with my mom reading my blog, I'm gonna have to start standing behind my word and walking the talk! One of the hazards of blogging ;)

Debating Skills Programme

This was such a refreshing piece of news to read in the morning; a step in the right direction. I hope we'll see more of that and on a larger scale. Perhaps then our next generation of MPs would reflect more civilized behavior than what we're seeing now!! Respect for democracy does not come through laws and regulations, it has to be embedded in culture and practice… and we still have a long way to go!!

Since the Jordan Times only archives for one week, I'll post the entire article below.

Jordan Times -
Tuesday December 12th, 2006

Islamic Scientific College wins debating championship

By Cheryl Haines

AMMAN — High school students from the Islamic Scientific College emerged triumphant on Sunday after winning the final competition of a six-week long debating skills programme run by the British Council.

Entitled “Debating Skills Training and Competitio,” the programme targeted grade 11 students, introducing them to the techniques of debating, researching arguments, and critical thinking.

“We focused on developing confidence and celebrating difference in opinions. We may not agree [with all points of view] but we are able to accommodate them and we are not threatened by them,” Charlie Walker, director of the British Council, told students before the final competition began.

The motion debated at Sunday’s final was entitled: “To compete in a modern globalised world, it is acceptable to sacrifice our language and culture.”

Judging the competition were public speech consultant and trainer Zein Ghanma, Sarah Hildersley, head of trade and investment at the British embassy and theatre director and actor, Nabil Sawalha.

While students from the Islamic Scientific College and National Orthodox School — the winners in the semi-final competition — were made aware of the motion last week, they were only informed of which side they would be debating a mere 10 minutes before the final began.

With only minutes to prepare their arguments, each student from the schools’ three-person teams presented a four-minute speech to the opposing team and their classmates in the audience. After each team’s speeches were through, one student from each team offered a rebuttal.

Ironically, “we didn’t agree with this side,” noted one of the participating students from the winning Islamic Scientific College team, which argued for the motion, adding that it was her and the majority of her classmates’ first time participating in a debate.

“It helps us develop teamwork and accept others’ ideas,” one student noted of the debating skills competition, “but, you also develop skills to learn how to talk to people and push your own points.”

Sareen Hairabedian, 16, from the National Orthodox School conceded her team’s defeat with a positive attitude.

“It gave me more confidence in myself and helped me be able to research different topics and work within a team.”

English teacher Iain Philip emphasised that the competition was “more of a process than an end result.”

By encouraging students to express opinions in a public setting and use evidence to support an argument, he said, they develop a range of skills and techniques they can apply in other academic settings.

The debating competition came about after focus groups were conducted at several high schools last year.

The British Council has cooperative agreements with various schools across Amman, facilitating English-language training and skills development programmes.

Focus groups indicated an interest by both students and teachers in conducting debating skills training and competitions between high schools.

Sunday’s participating students were selected through internal competitions organised by their teachers.

The Philadelphia and Rosary schools also took part in the programme.

TechWadi, Content Development... and More

The picture above was taken 25 minutes after the scheduled starting time of the first panel session on the second day of the Jordan ICT Forum. While seats filled up a little bit more gradually afterwards, attendance remained much smaller than it was on the first day, which is a shame because the sessions and workshops were much more interesting.

One of the things I found very refreshing, was the number of Arab-Americans among the speakers who are leaders in the ICT industry in the US and worldwide, and their desire to bring investment back home. One person, Ray Milhem, is a Vice President and GM at Motorola, and he is part of a group who founded Tech Wadi. Tech Wadi, according to their website, is "Silicon Valley's premier professional association for Arab-American technology executives. Our mission is to foster connections, relationships, and entrepreneurship among the Arab-American technology community in Silicon Valley and beyond."

Another example is Suhail Calis, founder and CEO of Tocali Games. He was one of the speakers in the very interesting and important session on Content Development in the Region, which tackled the issue of the tremendous lack of localized Arabic content. He has successfully launched over 25 game titles on Playstation, Nintendo, Xbox, and others. He has been researching market readiness for adver-gaming, and says that now there is a niche for it here that they want to invest in.



He talked about examples of how game companies internationally buy the rights to FIFA Champions League or the NBA or NFL, and then their games are hits. But what is it in this region that would inspire a hit game?

I think the opportunities for content development in the region are huge. We have people like Hajjaj taking Abu Mahjoub into animation, we have the Princess Sumaya University of Technology creating a new department that offers a degree in computer animation, and we have companies like Rubicon already taking lead with a project like Ben and Izzy. There’s still so much that can and needs to be done though.

Technical issues like the need to invest in the network infrastructure were discussed at the forum. And I think one key question was, as brought up in Ahmed’s post regarding 4MB and 6MB broadband, do you wait for there to be enough demand before taking the risk of investing in the network to be able to offer more, or do you create the demand by making it available and accessible?! I don’t think that mobile operators waited for people to say that they really need to have cell phones before making it available for very affordable prices. And now you look at the Jordanian community and you have people from all walks of society, all ages, and all economic backgrounds, tell you that they need it and cannot live without it! I would debate that, but this is not the point I’m driving at. I’m wondering whether or not Philippe Vogeleer, Chief Strategy officer at Jordan telecom, had a point in his response to the 4MB broadband question.

One of the speakers present on the first day was the director of the Licensing, Communications, and Information Technology Regulation Commission of Saudi Arabia, and he talked about Saudi Arabia’s plans for market liberalization. Now he was asked “what’s the point of liberalizing the market, if you still have strict content regulation?” His answer was that Internet monitoring and regulation has been moved to their commission, and that there are plans to change some of the current policies restraining content. I’d take that with a grain of salt, but I found it interesting nonetheless. I’d love to know what the Saudi blogosphere might say of that.


That’s it from me for now. If I remember other interesting points spurred by the forum I'll let you know.

Thoughts from the Jordan ICT Forum

Yet another blogger at the Jordan ICT forum today :) It only makes sense for us JP bloggers to stick our noses in such an event - Roba, Ahmed, Isam, Laith, Ameen, Mohammad, and MommaBean, (whatever the reason or work channel that got us there) right?

For those of you who don't know, the Jordan ICT Forum has been taking place once every two years since the year 2000, following the launch of the REACH Initiative - Jordan's IT Strategy (in October 1999).

Some of the main targets for this 5-year strategy were:

30,000 new jobs
$150m in Foreign Direct Investment
$550m Annual IT Exports

…To be achieved by the year 2004.

So, I have in my hands now the IT Industry Statistics for 2005 prepared by Intaj (Jordan's Information Technology Association). We have:

- An export revenue of around $163m (105% growth from 2004)
- $93m in Foreign Direct Investment
- … and… a meager 10032 jobs in the IT sector (with a growth of 17.7%)

I'm not the cynical empty-half-of-the-glass person, and we have some good achievements which were highlighted today by the director of Int@j, but what I was curious about is why the forum is not intended, at least partly, to evaluate the execution process of Reach 1.0 and where we have failed to achieve the targets. It's great to look to the future and to have a new plan set and ready to move forward, but we always seem to have a problem with evaluation. I mean, when we only reach one third of the job target, we should at least question where our strategy failed to deliver!!

I can go off on a tangent and wonder where the government's evaluation and investigation after the ITU elections is, but again, I will leave it for that separate post that I've been intending to write for the past two weeks.

So, back to the ICT forum and some of today's interesting discussions… a key point that is being put forward is how to increase internet penetration. If we look at the GSM network, mobile operators have reached a remarkable 90% penetration rate of the addressable market (75% of the population). Internet subscriber penetration in Jordan is at 2.37%!!! Ahmed mentioned the comment from Fastlink's CCO, Bashar Arafeh, on how we can achieve the goal of 50% internet penetration rate, and it's basically about the cost barrier. He described how, five years ago, mobile operators had to pay millions in subsidizing handset prices, but this is what has made the difference in the penetration. He said that perhaps ISPs should do the same for PC prices, and then he pointed out the problem of the high bandwidth costs ISPs are paying, simply making the ISP model one that doesn't work.

Yet we can't talk about Jordan's education initiative, or the e-government project, with the current internet penetration rate! It's the urgent challenge to be addressed. Or perhaps it's all connected… as one speaker mentioned, many parents wouldn't get internet at home because they want to protect their children from its negatives – adult content, obsessive instant-messaging, and the likes. But when kids at school are required to do their homework and research using the internet, parents will no longer be able to keep it out!

Will the coming few years bring us packages of 4 GB broadband subscriptions for 10 JDs per month? Now that would be progress to look forward to :)

More on the forum tomorrow… or by now I should say in a few hours. Some of today's interesting topics include Media and Telecom Convergence (NGNs, IPTV, Mobile TV, and "Triple Play"), Financing of Innovation, and Regional Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centers. I'll keep you posted :)