WATANI International
14 March 2010
Helping hunger victims
The UN information office in Cairo announced that Mahmoud Yassin, who is counted among Egypt’s top actors and who is gifted with a particularly deep, soft and melodious voice, and Tunisian-born Egyptian actress Hind Sabri have been selected as ambassadors of the World Food Programme for Fighting Hunger. The programme’s latest plan aims to spread awareness and collect donations to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
Mr Yassin and Ms Sabri have made TV appeals calling for support for the victims. The programme needs some USD279 million to feed two million people and provide logistics services to the victims for the coming months. It was distributing food 24 hours after the earthquake struck, and up to now it has distributed more than 1.5 million tons of food, meaning some five million meals.
With hunger a problem the world over, Ms Sabri made another appeal. “For the first time in history, a billion people live silently in almost forgotten spots in the world close to death because of hunger,” was her rallying cry.
Mr Yassin’s TV appeal for the victims of the Haiti disaster was in support of the “Fill Cups” campaign. In various countries, red plastic cups are used to present a meal of rice or barley for school children. The campaign is trying to use this image to convince a greater number of people to help fight hunger in the world.
Filling one red cup costs a mere USD0.25 but gives a child a healthy meal in a school day. In some countries, this is the only meal the children have for the whole day.
Italian gift
All the books on display at the Italian pavilion of the Cairo International Book Fair, which was held during last January and February, have been presented to the libraries of Egyptian universities by Italy’s ambassador to Cairo, Claudio Pacifico. Mr Pacifico handed over to Hani Hilal, Minister of Higher Education more than 2,000 volumes. The gesture reflects the Italian government’s wish to spread Italian language and culture among Egyptians, especially at university level. The books cover a wide variety of topics on history, literature, art, Egyptology and religion.
Japanese landmine assistance
Egypt has a huge number of landmines; residents in affected coastal areas have long grown used to facing dangerous accidents. While the Egyptian government has made significant efforts to eradicate landmines, the Lyons New Horus Club has been aware that it is also important to address the problem through the civil sector. The club has been conducting a campaign to raise public awareness of the danger of landmines, and the Japanese government has extended a grant amounting to USD26,636 for the project.
The grant falls under the Japanese Government’s Assistance Scheme for Grassroots and Human Security Projects—a scheme by its flexibility and timeliness particularly geared to the requirements of the grassroots. This scheme was launched in Egypt in 1994 and, until March 2009, 124 projects had already been implemented, costing some USD5.21 million.
Lending young refugees a hand
Also under the Japanese Assistance Scheme for Grassroots and Human Security Projects, the Japanese Embassy in Cairo has extended a grant of EGP113,000 to the Catholic Relief Service to improve the educational environment in refugee community schools in Cairo.
Refugees residing in Egypt usually live in substandard apartments in poor quarters in Cairo. Volunteer groups run schools for the refugee children, but more often than not these schools are under-funded and consequently have problems with lack of space, lack of trained professionals, and lack of educational tools.
Climate change and water security
In January 2010, the European Union launched three research projects in Cairo focusing on Climate Change Impacts on Water and Security. These projects are funded by the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7), the EU’s main financial instrument supporting research. Forty-four institutions from all over the world are involved in the projects, receiving an overall contribution from FP7 of more than 9 million Euros. The research consortiums include three Egyptian researchers from Suez Canal University, Zagazig University and the Environment and Climate Change Institute of the National Water Research Centre.
The three projects form a cluster that focuses on investigating the climate-induced changes on water resources and their impact on security in southern Europe and neighbouring countries. Because of its specific geographical and political situation, the Mediterranean area is particularly vulnerable to climate change and water scarcity. Saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers as a resut of rising sea level is likely to become an ever increasing challenge, as well as the amount of precipitation and the frequency and severity of droughts. Integrated research represents a key component of decision-making regarding adaptation and mitigation of climate change impacts at local and regional levels.
The research cluster is composed of two projects in natural science and one in social sciences. It includes studies on the Nile River basin, and thus it can make significant progress on the understanding of climate change impacts in this region, resulting in possible recommendations on adaptation or mitigation action plans. The three research teams will establish synergies among related scientific developments and work together to disseminate their findings to policy makers and other relevant stakeholders.
Rites of spring
Martisor is the traditional Romanian celebration of the beginning of spring, held on the first day of March every year. The name Martisor is the diminutive of the name for March, meaning little or dear March. The coming of spring is celebrated with wearing red and white ribbons and giving loved ones gifts in red and white wrapping. The colours are the emblems of purity and the vigour of the new life heralded in by Spring.
But the red and white also have their source in several popular legends. One says that the sun came down to visit the people, warm them up, and dance with them following a long, hard winter. The wicked ghoul, forever evil, abducted and imprisoned the sun. Everyone grieved the loss of the sun, and a young man who decided to free her had to take an arduous journey throughout the summer, autumn and winter until he reached the ghoul’s castle early in Spring. A fierce fight broke out between him and the ghoul; the young man set the sun free, but was injured and bled to death. Hence the red and white of the Martisor.
The Romanian embassy in Cairo held the Martisor celebration earlier this month. Ambassador Gheorghe Dumitru welcomed his guests who were treated to repertoire of Martisor traditional songs performed by members of the Romanian community in Cairo. Sharing the joy, a group of Egyptian children performed the famous Egyptian song It is spring. The Martisor, Mr Dumitru said, was a celebration of life reborn.