More than a Conference: The International Peace Meeting by the WwF.org

I had the honor to be part of a peace and culture meeting held by the International organization, Women without Frontiers (WwF), in the beautiful island of Rhodes, Greece on September 26-28. The International Intercultural Conference on Women, Peace, and Culture in the Common Cultural Course of the Eastern Mediterranean was more than a peace meeting. For me it was a great social learning opportunity when I was so lucky to meet with and interact in person with more than 70 peace loving people and listened to presentations by some of them. Participants were officials, educators, politicians, and business people from across the Mediterranean, including Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Jordan, Iran, Lebanon, and Kuwait.

The first day began with speeches by local officials and senior educators who expressed support and encouragement to members and friends of WwF. The official ceremony took place in one of the main conference rooms in the Rodos Palace Hotel; the room walls were decorated with lovely portraits and Art peaces by Greek female Artists. There was also a long counter at the entrance of the room where books, including novels and poetry by Greek authors, poets, and writers.


Also, a number of beautiful young ladies from Rhodean high schools, dressed in lovely ancient Greek dresses with the viol head cover, all in soft and lovely cream color, welcomed all of us, the audiences, anywhere we walked in the room, while holding olive branches to express love and peace and support to all good wills (sorry about the quality of the photo - I'll try to find a better one soon). In the evening we were all invited to a real Greek concert when we listened to beautiful Greek songs by a female singer first and then a male singer, and both were more than great (sorry the photos are not good to publish due to the dark light effect). Later we were taken in such a luxurious coach to my favorite part of Rhodes, the Old City, where we had such a lovely dinner that I'm still remembering its taste in my mouth (yum)at the famous restaurant of the Four Season, where Onassis once had dinner there, we were told; such an honor we were given, and I am still emotional about the Rhodean Hospitality that I believe have exceeded the Arabic's.

The first round of sessions began at 9:50 am (Greece local time-GMT+3)on the second day when participants from Kuwait, Farahnaz and I delivered our talks. Farah, who is an Iranian, currently residing in Kuwait gave a complete background information about the activities of the Women's Cultural Society in Kuwait. Her presentation was so informative that I've learned a lot from her about the cultural society of women in Kuwait.

Later, more participants from across the ME and Greece gave informative talks about women and people activities toward peace and the effort exerted to improve their societies in the field of Education and Health, in particular. The second round of sessions began at 5 pm when more participants educated us about the current situations in their countries / provinces / regions regarding ways to empower children, women, and the role efforts of WwF.org branches in this regard.

The day ended with an invitation to a generous typical Greek dinner in the hotel where we were treated like queens and princesses :) The evening began with traditional Greek dances from the various lovely Greek folklore, and the more than excellent food from the Greek cuisine. It was an unforgettable learning experience when I got to know new Greek dishes and then learned how to dance Greek.

Finally, I'd like to express gratitude to the lady behind the scene and her team, Ms. Charoula and the members of the Administrative Board of the WwF.org who made me cry and still emotional because of the wonderful, great, and so organized job; without them this event wouldn't be such a successful learning experience! And, thank you so much for the Certificate; I'll treasure it.

I'd also like to mention that the Rhodean Hospitality didn't end with the lovely tour in the afternoon of the third day; however, the two gentlemen, the IT person and his friend Mike were kind enough to give me a ride to the airport as I couldn't join the other participants who left earlier to catch their flight.

A Big Hug and Thank you to all of you who organized such a successful event and to all those of you behind the scene whom I didn't have the honor to meet you.

Viva the International organization of Women without Frontiers everywhere, and I hope we Farah and I can establish a branch in my beloved country Kuwait!


Love & Peace from Kuwait :)


Slides, audio recording, and all URLs mentioned in the presentation by me and my co-presenters, Vance, Nellie, and Doris at the International Intercultural Conference on Women, Peace, and Culture 2008 can be found at: http://buthaina-wwf-peaceconf08.wikispaces.com/WwF_Conference08

WebPresence 2005: Kuwait Parliament 2008: Give Change a Chance, People!

WebPresence 2005: Kuwait Parliament 2008: Give Change a Chance, People!

Kuwait Parliament 2008: Give Change a Chance, People!

Well, I'm not surprised or shocked by the results of the Kuwait parliamentary elections that were announced finally a short while ago.

As was expected, the same people who prevented reformation plans and change to the better in the country regarding education and health services, especially, have won the elections and will soon be back in the new parliament to resume their negative or destructive practices!

Some friends have blamed the current government for the current problems in the country since it has not tried to implement any of the reformation plans or projects announced earlier. Well, I'd like to ask those friends this question:

How could a 2-year old government start solving critical security, educational, or health problems in the country - that have started about 30 years ago -while working with a parliament that was dominated by Muslim fundamentalists MPs, (representatives of both Muslim Brotherhood's and Salafi movements)?




And now with such results of the parliamentary elections of today, do you expect this 2-year old government to be able to work with yet another parliament that would be probably controlled by representatives of the Salafi movement?

If some of you are happy that Muslim Brotherhood's are not heavily represented in this new parliament, remember that the Salafi's and other conservatives', enemies of change and development, who are even worse than them in terms of pulling the country to the bottom, preventing any kind of innovation, are going to dominate this new parliament.

Hope this new parliament is dissolved soon so that the government can work effectively at least for a year!

Orange Kuwait!

The picture you see is of Kuwait city shortly after the sand storm hit the country a short while ago :-(

Kuwait University Current Events

Hi Class, I saw this poster in my way out of Engineering College and thought you night be interested in attending the event shown on the picture.

Situation in Kuwait Just Before the Storm!

The video you see shows the news item that I received immediately after the strong dust-storm that hit Kuwait City a few hours earlier. The irony is that while this kind of action was taking place somewhere in the country, mother nature disapproved. The interesting part by nature was that showers of rain followed the storm and the political actions, and everything was back to normal and the weather became nice and clear later.

A Strong Dust-Storm Hit Kuwait!

It was very scary! I felt like our house was being pulled from up and kept looking at the ceiling expecting it to be lifted any minute! The storm took less than 3 or 4 minutes, and then a heavy shower of rain followed that for few minutes. At that point,the call for maghreb (dusk)prayers started, which was heard loud from the mosque opposite to my home. It was a strange experience that happened to us, people in Kuwait City.

The irony is that in the middle of all this the local news I got on my cellphone stated that the interior special forces managed to separate a large group of citizens (all men)near a diwaniya in Asubahia area who were trying to run an illegal pre election meeting!

Education and Public Freedom in Kuwait

Hundreds meet early Wednesday to file a law suit against Jamiyat Al-Islah and MP Abdul Samad at the Justice Palace

Hundreds angry Kuwaiti citizens, including students, parents, and professionals in the public and private sectors in Kuwait agreed to meet early Wednesday to file a law suit against MP Abdul Samad and Jamiyat Al-Islah (Muslim Brotherhood) at the Justice Palace.

The agreement on this action was announced at the end of a Symposium titled, Education and Public Freedom, organized by the National Democratic Alliance, and was held at the Graduates Society, yesterday.

The event expressed strong anger against Jamiyat Al-Islah that represents Muslim Brotherhood Party in Kuwait for issuing and publishing an abusive statement against innocent citizens.

The statement by MB, which was published in main Kuwaiti Arabic dailies on Saturday, lashed out at citizens who supported mixed classes in universities and private schools, and accused them of being the source of corruption in the country by encouraging sexual sins and serious sexual diseases through mixed educational institutions in Kuwait!

Moreover, the conference announced agreement on fling another law suit against MP Abdul Samad for his support to terrorists, like Mughnia, a Lebanese Hizb Allah leader who committed two major acts of terrorism against Kuwait in the 1980s.

More photos here and here!

A Crime Act Commtied by Muslem Brotherhood's in Kuwait

During his meeting with representatives of various groups of Kuwaiti people, including Women and Professional Societies, parents, students, professionals, and individuals, Sabah Al-Mousa, an Interior Security Official announced -(listen Al-Mousa's announcement via the video above)- that "according to Kuwaiti laws, the statement published by "Jamiat Al-Islah Al-Ijtemaei" Society on February 18, 2008 is illegal and confirmed to be an act of crime". "Consequently",Al-Mousa added, "the case reported against "Jamiat Al-Islah Al-Ijtemaei", by the protesters available in AlRawdha police station has been accepted and validated as a felony.

Al-Mousa informed the protesters that they have the right to file a lawsuit against "Jamiat Al-Islah Al-Ijtemaei" Society that represents Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait. Protesters can now start filing a lawsuit through legal measurements and procedures, Al-Mousa confirmed.

Al-Mousa and other officials from the Interior Security arrived at AlRawdha police station after groups of Kuwaiti people, including parents, students, professionals, individuals, and representatives of Women and Professional Societies in the country have gathered at the police station to report a complaint or file a lawsuit against the abusive statement published by "Jaiat Al-Islah Al-Ijtemaei" Society that is located in the area of AlRawdha. The illegal, abusive statement that was published late yesterday, attacked and accused all supporters of mixed education in private and public schools, colleges, and universities in Kuwait of being "evil for supporting sexual sins, and corruption in the Kuwaiti society".

Kuwaiti media, including the the 5 dailies and Al-Watan TV were present at AlRawdha police station but were not allowed to take photo shots or videos of the protesters or the meeting between Al-Mansour and representatives of Kuwaiti people that took place inside the police station, however.

I am greatly appreciative to Al-Mousa for granting me his permission to publish the video I took of part of the meeting inside the police station . A direct link to the video can be found at http://uploads.blip.tv/file/675100


Love & Peace!

Red & Pink Roses- No Orchids!

This is really funny; the flowers shop delivered the roses in the image and took the orchids mistakenly delivered early! Actually my children saw the blogged photo of orchids and immediately called the shop :-D

Happy Valentine's Day World!

The orchids I got from my children :-D

Web 2.0 for ESP: Welcome to Web 2.0 for ESP, Week 2!

Web 2.0 for ESP: Welcome to Web 2.0 for ESP, Week 2!

एवो २००८ वेब २.० फॉर एस्प सेस्सिओं इस नो ओपन!! (थिस इस अ टेस्ट पोस्ट)

This is a test to see how Hindi language is integrated in this blog posts!

PS I'd be greatly appreciative if somebody who speaks Hindi could provide feedback on the accuracy of the title of this post. Just post a comment to tell me what the title of this post says.

Thanks!