The year 2011 witnessed a plethora of events on the international diplomatic landscape in Egypt. Watani offers its readers a glimpse onto the the most interesting among them which took place during the last quarter of the year.
The year 2011 witnessed a plethora of events on the international diplomatic landscape in Egypt. Watani offers its readers a glimpse onto the the most interesting among them which took place during the last quarter of the year.
Envisioning Tomorrow
A public screening of the winning videos of the Shayfeen Bukra (Envisioning Tomorrow) contest was held last September at the Sawi Cultural Wheel’s Word Room.
On 1 August the US Embassy in Cairo had invited Egyptians nationwide to submit 45-second video clips showing their reactions to the topic of ‘Envisioning Tomorrow’ on the embassy’s Facebook page. Egyptians submitted more than 40 excellent clips, with the public voting for the top 20. The ten overall winners were shown at the Sawi Cultural Wheel. The Shayfeen Bukra Video screening included a keynote speech by international expert Karl Idsvoog on digital media and citizen journalism, and the screening of the winning videos on how Egyptians see tomorrow.
Neel Ganga: Glimpses of Two Great Rivers
The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC) held an exhibition of photographs by Cornelia Kaufmann on the theme of Neel Ganga: Glimpses of Two Great Rivers. The exhibition, which was sponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum. ran, for two weeks last September. Cornelia Kaufmann, an Austrian, began photography at the age of 15. She took the 41 photographs of two great rivers, the Nile and the Ganges, on her extensive travels in India from 1997 to 2004 and in Egypt from 2006 onwards. Through her photographs, Ms Kaufmann captured the beauty of water in all its forms, from the snow and ice of the Ganga’s glacial source in the western Himalayas through to the fertile valleys and the hot, dusty plains and deserts of India and Egypt, where, it has helped give rise to two splendid civilisations.
“In 1997 I was inspired by a dream to make a pilgrimage to the source of the river Ganga and other holy rivers and places, so I set out to visit India,” Ms Kaufman says. “It took seven visits, over seven years, to complete my documentation, which was in 2004. From ancient times the Great Himalayas have attracted pilgrims. The panoramic view of the valley, with the River Ganga roaring through the mountains, creates an amazing impression on one’s mind.
“Since 2006, my destiny has guided me to Egypt. When I saw the great river Nile, I was similarly inspired to travel along the river’s banks, where the ancient culture of Egypt has left its mark with the ancient atmosphere and temples. This is a divine act created by Mother Nature. I hope we can respect the waters of life and save them and keep them clean for the coming generations.”
USAID trains health care executives
The US Ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, joined the Egyptian Minister of Health and Population (MOHP), Amr Helmi, on 22 September to mark the completion of a two-year Egypt-US partnership to improve healthcare in the country by training more than 180 Egyptian healthcare executives in advanced leadership and management skills. The Harvard School of Public Health, supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and local and international pharmaceutical companies worked to provide world class executive education to MOHP hospital and senior managers.
“On the Move”
The Residence of the Ambassador of the European Union in Cairo hosted a reception last October to celebrate the success of an art exhibition entitled ‘On the Move’ in which the work of a number of artists was displayed. Six prominent contemporary—Egyptian and non-Egyptian—artists living and working in Egypt, George Baghoury, Ibrahim al-Haddad, Amre Heiba, Hani Rashed, Xavier Puigmarti and Salah al-Murr, showed the best of their work in the collective exhibition. The exhibition was organised in collaboration with the Mashrabiya Gallery.
This is the fourth artworks exhibition that took place at this exceptional location since 2010. Previous exhibitions showed the works of the artists Hisham al-Zeiny (Peripheries, April 2010), Ahmed Nusseir (Joyful Diversities, October 2010) and Salah al-Murr (Still there, April 2011). The Residence of the Ambassador of the European Union to Egypt has been a place for a broad variety of cultural events and, according to the ambassador, may become in the future a real House of Europe where European and Egyptian cultures and artists could meet, exchange and create.
Italian Language Week
The Italian Cultural Institute in Cairo last month October celebrated the annual Italian Language and Culture Week. Now in its eleventh year, the week aims to promote Italian language and culture throughout the world. This year’s theme was the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy and the title was “Happy Birthday Italy!” The Italian Cultural Institute participated in this year’s edition with a programme rich in cultural events, including theatre, music, cinema, literature, history and art; seminars and screenings, in addition to a theatrical performance.
A seminar focused on the parallels between the Egyptian and Italian fights for freedom in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Italian Language and Culture Week, first launched in 2001, is one of the most prominent and internationally recognised events for the promotion of the Italian language.
The week concluded with the inauguration of the Literary Café of the Italian Culture Institute, dedicated to Carla Maria Burri, Cultural Attaché and then Director of the Italian Cultural Institute from 1991 to 1998.
Italian-language students participated in photographic and writing skills contests.
Anna Lindh Journalist Award
The winners of the 2011 edition of the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Journalist Award were handed their awards on 7 October by Prince Albert II in Monaco, in a ceremony that brought together media and civil society figures from across the Mediterranean region. Among the prize-winners was the Palestinian blogger and writer from Gaza Asmaa al-Ghoul for her commitment to freedom of expression and her courage in facing repression. Mohamed al-Dahshan from Egypt also won a prize for his exceptional writings on social change in Egypt during the 25 January Revolution. His works, which were published in several international publications, “made the voice of young Egyptian activists heard all over the world”, according to the award jury.
Freemuse Swedish Award for Essam
Egyptian singer Ramy Essam, who provided the soundtrack for the Arab Spring at Tahrir Square, was the winner of the 2011 Freemuse Award. The artist was handed his award at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday 21 November 2011.
After eight years spent trying to break into the music business, it took less than two weeks for Ramy Essam to turn from a struggling artist into a celebrated “Singer of the Revolution”. His song Irhal (Leave) became an anthem of the protesters at Tahrir Square and he is now working on an album of songs inspired by the events at the beginning of the year.
The Freemuse Award Committee stated: “Ramy Essam played an important role during the Egyptian revolution and suffered severe beatings and torture as a consequence. He personifies the powerful role that music played in the Arab Spring.”
Kids Read
The global bank HSBC signed on to sponsor the British Council’s “Kids Read!!” programme aimed at supporting and developing children’s reading skills in and out of the classroom. HSBC and the British Council##s presence across the MENA region enables this programme to reach over 55,000 children from more than 75 schools in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria and Pakistan. HSBC’s sponsorship of this regional programme is worth approximately USD457,000.
“I am delighted to see this new collaboration between the British Council and HSBC working for the first time together to support language learning for young children. Giving young people access to English is a vital part of a child’s education in a globalised world,” said Martin Davidson, Chief Executive of British Council.
The year-long programme involves supplying participating schools with specially selected books, conducting workshops led by experienced British Council trainers, story telling sessions in a community atmosphere and a web-based competition highlighting the environment and financial education.
In addition to providing financial support, HSBC also encourages its staff to participate in this cause by teaching reading skills to the children. Volunteerism is greatly encouraged at the bank, and in 2010 over 2,800 HSBC staff donated over 14,000 man-hours to a range of worthy causes across the region.
AUC lead students
The American University in Cairo (AUC) welcomed 54 new Egyptian students whose undergraduate education is fully funded by United States Government scholarships as part of the Leadership for Education and Development (LEAD) scholarship program.
“The program is designed to shape the next generation of Egypt’s leaders — smart, sophisticated, skilled men and women committed to civic engagement, social responsibility and global awareness,” noted AUC President Lisa Anderson.
Jointly run by USAID and AUC, the LEAD programme provides full scholarships to 54 exemplary students each year, one male and one female from each of Egypt’s 27 governorates, to pursue studies at AUC.
Human rights courses
The Embassy of Canada in Cairo has held a training course for journalists, bloggers and NGO representatives. The course was supervised by Nadine Medhat of the political and media section in the embassy and the guest lecturer was Canadian journalist Rachel Pulfer, who represented the Canadian Journalists for Human Rights (JHR)association.
Ms Pulfer presented concentrated lectures on a variety of topics including the importance of training and awareness of the organistion’s work in certain countries such as Liberia and Congo; defining the real role of human rights in the press and how best to cover it while keeping out of danger; and how to improve press coverage and use it as a supporting factor in reporting human rights.
Ms Pulfer stressed the importance of spreading awareness of human rights worldwide in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued in 10 December 1948. The declaration contains 30 articles, among them the right to enjoy equal rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind, whether based on race, colour, gender, language, religion, political views or opinion, and national or social origin. Neither, according to the Declaration, shall anyone be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right includes freedom manifest one’s religion either alone or in community with others and in public or private, and to change one’s religion or belief. Other rights include freedom of expression of opinion and thought, and spreading such thought by any means, without limitation; respecting the rights and freedoms of others; and meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and general welfare in a democratic society.
The Nile and the Alps
After five exhibitions in Switzerland and France, Adel al-Basiouny’s The Nile and the Alps opened last month at the Embassy of Switzerland in Cairo. The featured paintings reflect Basiouny’s ideas and impressions captured over the course of his residence between the Alpine region and Egypt over the past two years, and his contrasting experiences in the two areas. The event was attended by the Swiss Ambassador, Dominick Furgler, and Abdel-Moneim Kamel, chairman of the Egyptian Cultural Centre.
“This exhibition is important for me as an ambassador because the artist, Adel, is Egyptian and lives in Switzerland, but has an Egyptian mentality and identity,” Mr Furgler said. “He observes and reacts with the Swiss lifestyle, and it inspires him to make paintings of Switzerland. I think it is exciting that an artist can have points of view of two different cultures. As we see, the exhibition contains paintings he produced while thinking of Egypt, and others with colours that express Switzerland.”
Adel Basiouny said he hoped through his paintings everyone would see what he saw. “I started this career in Geneva when I was 59,” he added. “It began as the result of a strong desire for expression, and this desire reached the area inside of me that wanted to exhibit, participate and record”.
The Swedish Embassy celebrates St Lucia’s Day
The Embassy of Sweden in Cairo celebrated St Lucia’s Day, the annual festival of light that falls on 13 December, with a candlelit concert of songs and hymns performed by the children of the St Lucia Choir. The Swedish Ambassador, Malin Kärre, expressed her appreciation of the choir and her pleasure in the event.
Egypt-US cooperate on business degrees
There will soon be more opportunities for Egyptians to gain American university-level business degrees, thanks to a new initiative by the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt and the University of Toledo in the United States to offer joint MBAs in Egypt.
“This cooperation will benefit both the Egyptian and American people by creating jobs, fostering innovation, and sending a message of confidence to the world that Egypt is a world-class destination for tourism and foreign investment,” United States Ambassador Anne W. Patterson told guests at the signing last month in Cairo of a memorandum of understanding launching the initiative.
“Moving forward, we are eager to work with the Egyptian government and the Egyptian people on more projects of mutual benefit to our two countries,” the ambassador said.
The joint MBA programme will enable Egyptian students to complete a full American business degree without leaving Egypt. Consisting of 11 courses spread over 15 months, all the classes will be conducted at the American Chamber’s Career Development Centre in Egypt.
New Valley Week in Cairo
The Wadi al-Gadid (New Valley) governorate, which encompasses many of the oases in the Western Desert, is the largest in Egypt and the least populated. To showcase the region’s local products, the Italian Cultural Centre held a New Valley Culture Week, which was inaugurated by the Italian ambassador to Egypt, Claudio Pacifico and regional governor Tareq al-Mahdy on 12 December. The show was in aid of small crafts enterprises in the New Valley oases.
Safe maternity
The first training course on Safe Maternity was completed last month. The course, which taught 17 midwives from South Sudan on the principles and techniques of heath care for the mother and child during childbirth and post-natal, ran for three weeks and aims at improving such services in remote areas where expert health care may be nowhere near. The effort is a joint venture between Italy, Egypt and South Sudan.
“New Egypt” in photos
The Delegation of the European Union in Egypt launched its fourth annual competition for amateur photographers in Egypt. This year’s theme was “New Egypt”. The winner, Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, is a salesman from the coastal town of Port Said, and was awarded a prize of 1000 Euros for his phot “Move forward Egypt”. The second winner, who was awarded a Digital SLR camera, was the senior programme specialist Emad Karim. A new special award was established this under the name “The Mohammed Hassan Award” for the best journalistic photo. Mohamed Hassan was a young photographer who was among the winners of the first photo competition organised by the Delegation, and was injured during the January Revolution in Egypt. The winner of the special prize was Mustafa Ahmed Abdel-Atti, an engineer.
The twelve winning photos have been used to produce a 2012 calendar, each photo constituting the picture of a month. The best thirty photos were displayed in an art gallery in Cairo, and included in the competition catalogue. The aim of the competition is to promote and stimulate creativity among amateur photographers in Egypt, and to give them an opportunity to showcase their work to a wide audience.