Download - El Djazair News Letter -January 2010
came true. I learned a lot, espe-
cially about myself and others. Beside all the visits and activities
that I was given the opportunity
to experience, I was also grateful
to the United States because it
gave me the opportunity through
the MEPI program to meet differ-
ent people from the Arab world
and I can say now that I have
sisters and brothers from all over
the world.
Yasmina Boumerah
It all started when I read a note
at the university describing the U.S. Embassy’s educational ex-
change programs offered to the
Algerian students. After visiting
the website, I chose to apply for
the MEPI Leadership Program.
Following a long selection proc-ess I was selected with four other
Algerian students to take part in
the Middle East Partnership Ini-
tiative-Student Leaders Program,
a five-week program in the USA.
We first had to stay in George-
town University with 20 other
Middle Eastern students.
The GU program consisted in
main two parts, an academic part and a study tour.
The academic part was divided
into two kinds of classes. The
first was about the US history,
government, society.
The second one was about lead-ership skills which I have to say
was my favorite part. In this
course we focused on self devel-
opment and how to work until we
can reach our vision to make a
change, during that time we had
a lot of interesting site visits
such (Capitol Hill, White House,
Supreme Court...). At the end we
had to give a presentation and a final project about what we have
learnt. After two weeks in
Georgetown University we had to
leave to Wausau, there we spent six days with host families and
we also learnt a lot about com-
munity service and voluntary
work by visiting different places
like women community, the
neighbor place and the good
news project.
My host family was so kind and
lovely, they did their best to put me at ease and I really felt as if I
was a part of the family. I loved
them, and I now refer to them as
‘my American family’. I have
tried my best to represent Alge-
ria so I cooked for them some
Algerian specialties and put
henna on the hands of my Ameri-
can sister Maria. I am still in
touch with them via internet and it's amazing because my host
mother is a French teacher which
enables her to talk to my mom.
After this stay, our next destina-
tions were the states of Georgia
and Alabama where we learned a
lot about civil rights and about
Blacks in America and their fight
by visiting different museums. We also visited CNN and the
Coca Cola museum.
Five weeks passed and it was
time to leave. It was so hard to
say goodbye.
My experience was a dream that
A word from the Alumni
The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI)
The Middle East Partnership
Initiative (MEPI) is a Presiden-
tial initiative founded to sup-
port economic, political, and
educational reform efforts in
the Middle East and champion
opportunity for all people of
the region, especially women
and youth.
The MEPI Students Leaders program
awards scholarships to outstanding
students for a five-week summer
intensive program in the United
States at a diverse network of ac-
credited institutions. Participants
enroll in courses on leadership prac-
tices and capacities at their individual
institutions for approximately four
weeks. All institutions will have par-
ticipants from multiple countries.
Following the academic residency
period, participants will join in an
educational study tour running ap-
proximately one week.
Deadline for applications for this
year’s program is February 3rd,
2010.
more info on:
http://algiers.usembassy.gov/mepi.html
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
January 2010 Issue 2
Inside this issue:
A word from the
Alumni
1
US Embassy on
1
The Desert
Festival
2
U.S. Anthropolo-
gist in Bardo Mu-
seum
2
Interfaith Dialogue 2
RELO visit to Al-
geria
3
Up coming events 3
MEPI Participants from
different countries.
U.S. Embassy on
3
Video contest
& ManUp
4
As part of the cooperation be-
tween the U.S. Embassy in Algiers and the Algerian Ministry of Envi-
ronment, Urban Development and Tourism, the First Nations Dance Company (FNDC), a Native
American dance troupe, was in-
vited to perform in the Interna-tional Festival of Desert People in
Timimoun, December 17th -18th, 2009.
The FNDC was created in 1991 in the Navajo’s reserve based in Fort
Defiance in Arizona. Their per-
formances consist mainly of Pow-wow Native American traditional dance and music. Their shows also include pieces of music played with
the local flutes.
The dancers all come from differ-ent tribes such as: the Kiowa, the Comanche, the Apache, the Mari-
copa, the Zuni, the Caddo, the Navajo, the Shoshone-Bannock, the Lakota, the Dakota, the Blood, the
Blackfoot, the Cree, the Choctaws and the Cherokee Indians, a reason why the FNDC’s members proudly say that they do not come from
Los Angeles, Chicago or New York, but that their dance company
is geographically located in an In-
dian reserve in Arizona, and it is one of the few dance troupes in the U.S.A and Canada that can
state this.
The FNDC is without any doubt one of the best known professional
Native American dance troupes in the world.
A.B
for a year of English lessons. The 1st place winner also received a
notebook computer. On December 10, Ambassador
Pearce hosted a reception at his residence in Algiers to honor the
three winners, guests included members from the different reli-gious communities in Algiers,
scouts, journalists and other em-
bassy’ contacts. The reception was a
good opportunity to:
Promoting mutual understanding and cross cultural and religious
exchanges
On the occasion of the holy
month of Ramadan and in conjunc-tion with the Algerian Muslim
Scouts and with the cooperation of
several local newspapers, PAS has sponsored an Interfaith Dialogue
writing competition for Algerian high school students. Over 60 students participated and sent
essays written in Arabic, French and even English. Members of the local clergy (Muslim and Christian) and press served as judges. Three
winners have been selected to have their essays published in the local press, and received a scholarship
Outreach to Algerian youth, a targeted audience for U.S. counter-
terrorism strategy.
Fostering the youth reflection and
writing skills.
W.S
A Native American dance troupe at the Desert Festival
Interfaith Dialogue Reception for Contest Winners
American Anthropologist Nicole Waguespack Assists Bardo Museum
tion at the end of 2010 or be-
ginning of 2011. Her visit
showed the USG’s commit-
ment to capacity building and
preservation of culture heri-
tage. Adila Talbi admits, “We
finally got these items classified,
thanks to our friends at the
American Embassy.” Talbi
discovered Waguespack on a French TV5 documentary and
notified the American Embassy
that she had found the person
she wanted to work with on
the Native American classifica-
tion and publication project.
We look forward to the publi-
cation and the opening of the
exhibit.
American anthropologist, Dr.
Nicole Waguespack traveled to
Algiers as a guest of the Bardo
Museum and of the U.S. Em-
bassy. During her stay, she
worked with Adila Talbi at the
museum daily to catalog items
for a major publication on dif-
ferent Native American arti-
facts (that the Bardo has had for over 50 years in the base-
ment) for a future exhibition.
The Bardo hopes to re-open,
after a long period of construc-
“We finally got
these items
classified,
thanks to our
friends at the
American
Embassy.”
Page 2 El-Djazair Alumni Newsletter
the First Nations Dance
Company (FNDC) per-forming in Timimoun, Algeria.
The Christian Clergy rep-
resentative reading one of the winning essays.
Regional English Lan-
guage Officer (RELO), Ms.
Ruth Petzold, visited Algeria on
December 13-18. During her
visit she trained teachers in
Algiers and Constantine on
how to improve their English
teaching methods through en-
gagement, participation, and
entertainment.
In Constantine the RELO met
with English Language Fellow,
George Boeseger, to monitor
his work at Ecole Normale et
Superieur and at Mentouri
University. The RELO also
conducted a workshop at the
American Corner for future
teachers of English.
While in Constantine, Petzold
observed an Access class in
session and trained Access
teachers on higher level tech-
niques to use with their stu-
dents. The RELO was also a
guest on Bonjour d’Algerie
(Good Morning Algeria) and
gave a 20 minute interview
about our English Language
Programs in Algeria. The pro-
gram has a 30% market share in
Algeria and is also watched by
more than 400,000 Algerians in
Algeria and those living abroad.
of the page can view comments
posted by the Public Affairs
Section and others. It is an-
other way to socially engage
our audience and to ensure
that we are using every possi-
ble tool to reach different Alge-
rian populations.
The U.S. Embassy in Algiers
inaugurated the Alumni and
Educational Advising Facebook
page.
The aim of the page is to offer
a place for commentary and
exchange about current pro-
grams and alumni experi-
ences. It is the perfect accom-
paniment to the El Djazair
Newsletter. Fans
RELO Ruth PETZOLD Visits Algiers
U.S. Embassy Algiers, Alumni & Education Advising on
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Historical Perspective
award-winning documentary,
writer/director Thomas Fried-
man takes a look on Reverend
King's ideas, actions, and influ-
ence on the fight to end racial
segregation. Narrated by Ar-
thur Berghardt, the program's
highlights include rare archival
footage, photographs, and in-
terviews with King’s associ-
ates.
On the occasion of his birthday
celebration which occurs every
third Monday of the month of
January, the U.S. Embassy in
Algiers is organizing screenings
of this documentary on January
19th, 2010. The first one is in-
tended to the ACCESS pro-
gram students in Algiers and a
second to the Embassy com-
munity and contacts.
A unique documentary that
tells the story of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s extraordinary
life.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was
a staunch advocate of peaceful
resistance to injustice and racial
violence; he stood at the vor-
tex of the U.S. civil rights
movement of the 1960s. He became a national leader, and
his death at the hands of an
assassin in 1968 was grieved by
both blacks and whites. In this
Upcoming
events at the
U.S. Embassy
Algiers
Page 3 Issue 2
-
Ruth PETZOLD—Regional English Lan-guage Officer-
All you need to know about educational programs and
academic exchanges available
for Algerians:
http://algiers.usembassy.gov/
Alumni Coordinator/Education Advisor at the U.S. Embassy:
Create a Create a video short that completes the phrase “Democracy is…” The Prize
An all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., New York and Hollywood.
Gala screenings of the winning videos in Hollywood, New York and Washington
Exposure to filmmakers and the U.S. film and television industry. Meetings with democracy advocates from government, media and civil society. The Timeline
SUBMISSION DEADLINE - MIDNIGHT GMT JANUARY 31, 2010.
Challenge semifinalists will be selected on or about March 31, 2010.
An independent jury will narrow down the semifinalists to 21 finalists on or about May 15, 2010.
The general public will vote online for the winning videos May 15 – June 15, 2010.
Seven winners – one each from the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Middle East/North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South & Central Asia, East Asia/Pacific and one anonymous winner – will be announced in mid-June 2010. The six publicly identified winners, one from each of the six geographic regions, will travel to the United States to claim their prize in the fall of 2010. The Details You must be 18 or older to enter. Videos can be any style: fiction or documentary, animated or live action. Videos must be no longer than three minutes. Videos must be in English or have English subtitles. Contestants may enter anonymously, but anonymous winners cannot collect the grand prize. See contest site for a complete list of rules, www.videochallenge.america.gov.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Man Up as “a brilliant campaign which
captures the heart of young peo-
ple. Using music and soccer as a catalyst
for change is the best way to motivate
young leaders to transform how women
and girls are treated in every country, in
every city, in every home around the
world.”
“Violence against women is not just a
women’s issue, it affects all of us,” says
Jimmie Briggs, Man Up’s Co-Founder,
Executive Director and renowned
author, journalist and activist. “Everyone
needs to be part of the solution. We
owe it to our daughters and their daugh-
ters.”
Man Up’s call for applications falls during
16 Days of Activism to End Gender
Violence, an annual campaign that has
been used as an organizing strategy
Man Up Calls on Young Leaders to
Stop Violence Against Women at
Global Summit, World Cup 2010
Immediate Call for Applications
NEW YORK, December 9, 2009 –
During The World Cup 2010 in South
Africa, Man Up will bring together 200
young men and women from 50 coun-
tries at the launch of a five-year cam-
paign to stop violence against women
and girls. The call for applications to
become a delegate to Man Up’s Young
Leaders Summit is being announced
today.
Delegates to the Summit will learn how
to plan and execute initiatives in their
native countries and will be offered a
multitude of resources and guidance
from renowned non-governmental
organizations, athletes, musicians and
artists throughout the five-year cam-
paign. This same cadre of delegates will
gather again in Brazil at The World Cup
2014 to share their experiences and
demonstrate how youth can make the
world a safer place for women and girls.
“Half the world’s population is at risk,
and has been since the beginning of
recorded history,” declares Karen
Robinson, Co-Founder, Managing Direc-
tor of Man Up, and former Education
Director at Amnesty International,
referring to the statistic that one out of
every three women around the world
has been beaten, coerced into sex, or
otherwise abused in her lifetime. “Man
Up is committed to changing this persis-
tent injustice by supporting young peo-
ple in leading a grassroots, but globally
connected and supported movement.”
Yvonne Chaka Chaka, legendary South
African musician and UNICEF Goodwill
Ambassador who performed at the
opening ceremony of the FIFA Confed-
eration Cup in South Africa, describes
around the world to call for the elimina-
tion of all forms of violence against
women.
Visit Man Up’s website to download the
application: www.manupcampaign.org.
About Man Up
Man Up is an international campaign that
mobilizes young leaders in a movement
to stop violence against women and
girls. Harnessing the universal power of
music and sport, Man Up provides
innovative training, resources and sup-
port to young men and women and the
organizations that collaborate with
them.
Man Up was announced at the Clinton
Global Initiative in September 2009 in
partnership with Vital Voices Global
Partnership. Man Up is funded, in part,
by NoVo Foundation, V-Day and Ms.
Foundation, and is fiscally sponsored by
the Alliance for Peace Building, a 501(c)
(3) public charity.
For further information, contact:
Jessica Greer Morris
Communications Director
ManUp Campaign a global initiative
ManUp is an international campaign that
mobilizes young leaders in a movement
to stop violence against women and girls