2008

Ayman is a soft-spoken 14-year old boy from Jabalia City, Gaza. His family is poor, as his father has been unemployed since March 2006. Ayman’s parents have already sold almost all their furniture to pay for food and schooling for their children. Recently, after collecting a governmental food handout, Ayman’s father had to sell the milk to get the money for the journey back home.

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEC8p5VN1-I]]

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsIc--Cb9D0]]

FZ Queen Rania. Thank you so much for doing this.

HMQ It's a pleasure to be here

Françoise Crouïgneau: Your Majesty, we know of your commitment to cross cultural dialogue. What is your main message : to fight against misunderstanding, stereotypes and intolerance? To fight against poverty and violence and, at the end of the day, for peace?

Queen Rania: I believe many of these issues are inter-related…but, yes, I’m deeply committed to building greater understanding between people of all cultures, religions and backgrounds… showing people that we have so much in common… regardless of race, religion, color or creed, people share the same concerns and values.

(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.

(Jordan Times, Press Department - Amman)
Her Majesty Queen Rania on Monday distributed 800 coats to students at the Umm Ammar Secondary Comprehensive School in Al Mahatta.

Launching this year’s “Winter Coat Campaign” on behalf of His Majesty King Abdullah, the Queen visited the school’s kindergarten and several other classrooms, according to a Royal Court statement.

(Jordan Times - Amman) Her Majesty Queen Rania on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the Queen Rania Distinguished Teacher Award steering committee, during which members focused on the award’s future action plan.

The Queen expressed satisfaction with the award’s effect as a tool to enhance teachers’ performance. The committee, comprising representatives of the Education Ministry, the private sector, and non-profit institutions, endorsed an award for distinguished school principal, to be launched next year.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Amman) Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, on Monday, paid a surprise visit to a girls’ school in the capital, where she met Tawjihi students.

The Queen spoke with the students, who were leaving examination halls, and enquired about their performance in the tests.

The Tawjihi winter session exams started on December 26, 2007 and will continue until the 17th of this month.
 

Thank you, Aase

Two years ago, I met a girl named Maha, from a village in Yemen.

In her world, few girls ever receive an education. But Maha dreamed of going to school… learning to read and write… making friends… maybe even going to university.

Her father loved her, but he was a traditional man. Girls didn’t go to school. If she went, the village wouldn’t understand; they would condemn and ostracize his family. Even her brothers were against it. Only her mother fought for her daughter, even though she had never gone to school herself.

"Good afternoon everyone.  It’s a pleasure to be with you all in such a wonderful setting; and thank you, Klara, for your generous introduction.  A biography I read about you recently began: A literary superstar. Arguably Poland’s most famous writer after Joseph Conrad.  I’m sure those of us who’ve enjoyed your writing over the years would agree.

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhhduCc8YsI]]

"You know, I couldn’t help but notice when I was preparing for this conference:

If you Google “Jordan,” you get almost 184 million hits.

If you Google “United Kingdom,” you get 358 million hits.

If you Google “United States,” you get 795 million hits.

But if you Google “Google,” you get 1.9 billion hits.
Just in case any of us were wondering who really rules the world…!