Community empowerment

Ahlan wa sahlan…welcome to Jordan. It’s great to see so many of you; thank you for making the effort to be here.

You know, it’s not often I stand in front of a group of men and women known for their talent, drive, and success… who have contributed so much to their professions... and who are officially recognized as ‘young’.

You hail from every corner of the globe... from politics… arts… business… civil society.  Each of you has made your mark, and earned your reputation.

Thank you, Sheikh Nahayan, for those kind words – and, more importantly, for your commitment to women’s education.

I am delighted to be here with all of you… to be a part of this conference… and especially, to share the program with such inspiring women leaders. 

I am sure everyone here, throughout our lives, has learned a great deal from the women around us – our mothers, grandmothers, sisters and friends. 

(Office of Her Majesty – Press Department – Zermatt) - Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, on Sunday, called on the world’s young movers and shakers to claim their stake in how the future unfolds, challenging them to become the dynamic engine of change and global progress.

“For all of us here,” Queen Rania said, “the next 15 years have immediate, urgent relevance – in all our roles, as business leaders… politicians… public figures… or perhaps as parents”.

(Office of Her Majesty – Press Department – Amman) - Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, on Sunday, joined a group of Jordanian and international students, at the Kempinski Hotel in Amman, for the 4th annual session of the Amman Model United Nations (AMMUN) Conference to discuss the key role of youth in addressing the global challenges of terrorism and extremism.

(Office of Her Majesty – Press Department – Amman) - In a gesture of outreach to the world's youth and in recognition of the common human values that bind us as a 'global family', a group of Arab youth, on Tuesday, presented Her Majesty with a message in a bottle to carry through to the youth of the world.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department – Madaba) Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, UNICEF's first Eminent Advocate for Children, visited Al Faisaliyeh Primary Health Care Center in Madaba, to promote the center's advancement in providing quality health care access for the governorate's youngest citizens and their mothers.

(Jordan Times, Petra - Dead Sea) Participants in the second Young Arab Leaders (YAL) forum concluded their two-day meeting on Monday by issuing recommendations on development of the youth sector and empowering young Arabs to assume leadership positions in their communities.

They also agreed on accelerating plans to build educational programmes, jointly with specialised institutions, to train and produce, on a scientific basis, a generation of young Arab leaders.

(Jordan Times - Amman) Her Majesty Queen Rania on Tuesday joined a group of schoolchildren attending a performance of “Stop,” part of an educational campaign designed to raise traffic awareness among schoolchildren.

The play is one of the activities implemented by the National Traffic Awareness Campaign, which was launched by Queen Rania, in cooperation with the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) and the private sector.

(Jordan Times, Press Department - Amman) Nahed was at first uncomfortable learning new ways of weaving.

Moving away from traditional techniques and designs she had learned and developed through working with the Bani Hamida initiative, she found it difficult at first to create modern products.

“It was strange at first, and even though it is just work, I like the way it turned out,” she said.

Recently, I read about the miraculous story of baby Amillia Sonja Taylor who was born safely in a Florida hospital, after only 22 weeks' of gestation. Measuring no longer than a pen, Amillia overcame the odds, to enter the record books as the most premature baby ever to survive.

As a mother of four young children, I know the indescribable joy that the birth of a baby brings...and I can only guess at the relief and happiness that Amillia's parents felt taking her home from the hospital, four months after she was born.