Hazem Ghorab - Studying The Origins Of Our Issues In Order To Wipe Away Our Foot Prints

Poet Wendell Berry gave a speech where he talks about how we should resolve the ecological imprint caused by mankind. He speaks on how we should erase our ‘footprints’ by following these seven points:

·      . We should not work or think on a heroic scale, instead work on a scale that is limited to our capabilities.

·      . Damages done by industrialization cannot be fixed by more industrialization.

·      . We must move on, meaning that instead of just lingering on one issue that cannot be solved, we must move on and find other issues to solve.

·      . We must give up the notion that we are too good to do our own work. This statement is related to slavery and the abuse of workers. We shouldn’t let other humans do jobs that could also be done by us.

·      . Make locally adopted economies that are based on our local nature.

·      . Learn the sources that have caused these issues and learn how to solve and avoid them in the future.

·      . We must also understand that these measures are radical.

The main point that got my attention in this speech was the point about how we must give up the notion that we are too good to do our own work. The first thing that comes to mind is how workers are treated in the UAE. These workers are hired on low incomes and are forced to work extra hours just to get the job done; but the interesting thing about this is that these workers are not locals, instead they’re mostly Pakistani workers that have traveled from their original country with the notion that they will be making more money. After the hard work that these men do, it is very normal for the people to not like the outcome of their work without considering the hard work and extra-unpaid hours that has been contributed. The bottom line is that if we are not satisfied with a certain job that has been done, maybe we should be doing it ourselves since we seem to know more about it instead of throwing the blame on innocent hard workers who only follow the rules they’ve been given.

Furthermore, Wendell Berry talks about how we should learn the sources that have caused the issues. What I have noticed is that people usually linger around the issue thinking about how they should solve it for too long until the issue gets even worse. What people should do is just what Wendell Berry said, which is to study how this issue started so that in the future we can prevent it from happening again. A saying comes to mind that goes like “it’s too late to cry over spilled milk”, which was the case of the BP oil spill incident, the managers of BP wasted their time trying to get apologize to get the public’s approval when instead they could have found a solution for the problem they have caused and studied how they should prevent another spill.

Hazem Ghorab - Virtual Against Reality

In order for us to be distinguish between the virtual and the real communities we must first look at the factors that separate and connect them together. For instance, as a mean of communication, the virtual community lacks the communication attributes that are present in real communities like eye contact, body language, listening, etc., it depends more on the writing style in order to show the tone that the writer is intending to present.  

Also in virtual communities, the presence of the receiver is not necessary since time synchronization is not important (ex: emails, SMS, etc.). 

Physicality and space in real communities are essential, which gives it more authority where the communication can be more controlled. 

When it comes to Identity, real community is much more trust worthy because the receiver/sender is physically in front of you; but in the virtual community, identities can never be certain since the receiver on the other side does not have to show their true identity.

In today’s world, whether we like it or not, we are a part of two communities, a virtual and a real one. I for one am trying my best to keep a balance in both worlds in order to be part of the social agenda. But if I had to choose, I would stick with the virtual community, even though people will argue that it’s harder to communicate. That maybe so but what I have realized in virtual communities is that because of it’s unrestricted time and space, it has made staying in touch with people so much easier. I can easily communicate with a person on the other side of the world where the timing would be completely different and I don’t have to wear socially accepted attire for me to converse with that person.

Hazem Ghorab - Diaspora: A Journey To A Better Life Or A Fake One?

Diaspora is a term that is usually related to the migration of the Israelis to countries outside of Palestine. But what I’m referring to is the general concept of a group of people, that aren’t necessarily Israelis, leaving their countries to settle in a different place making them expats instead of locals. This migration could result from different reasons, whether it’s for better security, better labor, better lifestyle, or even just for the sake of leaving their own countries. The main reason why my family decided to leave their homeland (Egypt) and settle in the UAE was because they had this idea that raising their children in Egypt would not be safe and would not offer them the best education and lifestyle. This rationalization convinced my relatives to do the same thing, so my father’s brother and his wife and my mother’s sister and her husband decided to follow them. Today, I am sad to say that this was a failed diaspora; none of their intended goals were achieved, at least not the way my parents expected it to be. 

Through out my education years, my family and I have come to realize that there really isn’t anything special about the education in the UAE; sure they might have fancy names and are mostly American public schools, but the bottom line is their not that good. It turns out that education in Egypt is actually considered to be better and much more accredited than here. I’ve noticed that my cousins in Egypt that are of the same age as I am, are actually much more knowledgeable than me in mostly everything.  

As for my lifestyle, I’m close to loosing my Egyptian culture due to the diversity of the cultures around me. One would think that the United Arab Emirates has an Arabic culture; on the contrary, it’s actually as westernized as any other western country. So now I’m not just losing my Egyptian culture, but I’m also losing my Arabic culture, instead, I lean towards being an American than being an Arab.

These websites are related to my diaspora because of the following:

·      http://saraghorab.wordpress.com

I was glad to find a website that is created by a stranger that is in the same family tree as I am. Sara Ghorab is a Poet and a Philosopher, and in her website she talks about all the living issues of Egypt and the Egyptian people.

·      http://www.masrawy.com

A perfect website to stay in touch with my Egyptian side. It a website designed in a teenage friendly way by young adults. It talks about everything that is related to Egypt, whether its news, sports, films, books, etc., all in Arabic. When I visit this website, I feel like I’m an Egyptian again.

·      http://www.internations.org

An online community made for expats all around the world. It doesn’t matter whether the user is an Egyptian expat, Indian expat, Filipino expat, etc. the number one purpose for this website to connect all expats together around the world. 

Hanan Ahmed Ali - Egyptians in Saudi Arabia

What is Diaspora? Diaspora comes originally from the word disperse which means scattered. Diaspora is the scattering of people who come from the same country in another country. So I will be talking about the Egyptians dispersed or scattered in Saudi Arabia. Egypt is a poor country and the rates of the unemployment is high, so people choose to travel abroad to earn their living. In one of the articles I read that the top destinations for Egyptians are Saudi Arabia, compared to the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. Whenever I go for Umra I find a lot of Egyptians in Saudi Arabia more than any other country I’ve been to and this is why I chose Saudi Arabia to talk about. Talking about the strong relations between the two countries, in 1939, Egypt signed a construction agreement in Riyadh which Egypt implemented some construction projects in Saudi, which needed Egyptians to go and work for those companies. Geographically, it takes one hour to travel by plane from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. Egypt and Saudi share identical policies, which makes it easier for Egyptian expatriates to live there. When I thought about this topic, I asked my friend who lived and worked in Saudi for three years and she said that despite the strict rules and regulations they have in Saudi, she still felt herself at home, as there is a majority of Egyptians living in Saudi. In one of the articles it said that the last twenty years witnessed the exchange of numerous visits between the two countries, on all levels and it also said that the volume of Egyptian-Saudi inter-trade was estimated at $7.4 billion in 2008. This is the Egyptian Diaspora information I found interesting to share and would like to hear comments and would be grateful if anybody would like to share their experiences.

Refrences

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/31/133365410/Egyptians-Elsewhere-In-The-Middle-East

http://www.sis.gov.eg/en/LastPage.aspx?Category_ID=59

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Diaspora
http://www.masrawy.com/

Maha K. ElSalhy - Egyptian Diaspora

Diaspora, when I was asked to look for the meaning of this word it amazed me that the definition that kept appearing was always related to Jews. After research a bit more I gladly discovered that it is linked to Jews because they are almost the first Diaspora that still exists till this day. If you are still wondering what it means I will spare you the search just keep reading.

Now the direct meaning of the word Diasporas is a group of people that are living in a different country away from their homeland. LIKE ME! But this still doesn’t explain why it is always related to Jews in every dictionary that you cross by.

You know how those internet dictionaries capitalize your first letter when typing the word. That was the reason behind  the Jews reference, if you capitalize Diaspora then you are referring to Jews that were scattered after the destruction of their temple thousands of years ago and still are scattered all over the world trying to unite in the modern Israeli state. On the other hand if you don’t capitalize the first letter then you are talking about anyone who lives in a country that is not their homeland.

There are no synonyms for the word and if you ever type it in small letters dictionaries and websites do not identify it as a real word.

So for this research I was looking for three websites that are concerned with Egyptian Diaspora in U.A.E. amazingly while in the process I realized that there are almost 3.9 million Egyptians living abroad and this was in 2006. A huge number when you think about it. This is more than the population of Dubai. I am one of those 3.9 million. We used to leave our country simply because life there was extremely hard. Most of the people that leave their country do so to work. In my case it is slightly different my parents refuse to go back to Egypt simply because it is an unsafe, corrupted country that doesn’t feel like home. Same reasons the younger generations started a revolution. So a very good way to stay in touch with more Egyptians and feel like you are at home is through the internet.

First website that is mainly directed to the Egyptian Diaspora:

http://www.el-shella.com/

this is my favorite of all. Needs a new graphic designer to create a better layout to the website but other than that the content is great.

Second website:

http://myegy.com/

A very popular website among Egyptian. You can rarely pump into an Egyptian that has not come across this website

And finally my third website:

http://a7a.me/

a 7 a is interestingly a common expression used among the young generation to express their objection on a certain topic. This website shares the experiences of various Egyptians through posts ended with an a7a

Pavan Premaney__Imprinted

Before we explore the realms of mankind’s impression on the environment, we must first understand the meaning of Ecology. Ecology is the technical and scientific side of ‘environment’. It includes physiology, evolutionary biology and genetics.

What Berry pleads is that mankind’s activities takes an enormous toll on the ecology and most the times, it is not reversible. Mankind’s activities and lifestyle is severely destructive to the ecology and we need to make a change.

Berry sets an agenda to solve this crisis, an agenda which several people around the globe, adhere to.

 The 7-step agenda states,

1.     Start with the bare minimum. Don’t try to influence the world on the global scale.

2.     Correct the common error in thought, which states that industrialization, can be solved by industrialization.

3.     Learn the sources of our economic lives.

4.     We must learn the sources and costs of our own economic lives.

5.     We must learn that we need to clean up our own messes.

6.     Support local produces.

7.     This is a global issue and cannot be performed by any expert or politician alone.

He explains the fundamental steps to conserving our society and how simple it is to start going about it, if we just put in a small effort for the greater good. In this case, the rewards exceed the costs.

While all the steps in the agenda are important, one supersedes the rest. Step number 5, which explains our that we need to do our own work, I feel, is the most important. We need to focus on the fact that this ecological change is not concentrated on a handful of people in the society who are intellectually and financially strong, but instead, it is a societal effort. It will take a behavioural change in the mass of the people to achieve this. As Berry states, “ We must give up the notion that we are too good to do our own work, or clean up our own messes”.

In the end, it boils down to all the steps a regular household can take to make a small difference. And when these seeming small differences are clumped together, it can make a massive ecological impact for the better. 

below are some key points on how to make a small change: -

i)              Switching from incandescent light bulbs to florescent lights is an easy change, and very cost effective, as florescent bulbs require only a small fraction of how much a regular light bulb requires.

ii)             Turning up an Air Conditioner by just 3 degrees can save 1050 pounds of Carbon Dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

iii)           Travelling by just 18 km lesser per week in a car can prevent up to 900 pounds of Carbon Dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Other healthier options include walking or cycling.

iv)           Recycling just half of the aluminium, glass and paper waste of a household in a year can save 2,400 pounds of waste per year.

v)             A slightly more drastic change can be driving a hybrid car. It can save up to 5,600 pounds of Carbon Dioxide per year.

These are some of the most basic ways to make an impact. First, the general populous of the globe needs to adhere to this, then if they can, make more of an effort to making the environment and the ecology as a whole a safer haven for the future generations.

In an effort for extra research, I went looking for videos to better understand, and I stumbled upon this one, which is truly eye opening.

 Citation:

Mankind’s Ecological Imprint. By Wendell Berry. Ukiah Online Blog. 2011. Web. 5 May 2011. <http://ukiahcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/wendell-berry-on-mankinds-ecological-imprint/>

Asma Hinawi _ Syrian Diaspora

Syrian Diaspora

What is Diaspora: 

The term “Diaspora” is used to refer to the dispersion of religious or ethnic groups from their homelands, either forced or voluntary. The word is also used to refer to those people as a collective group and community” (Smith). What am going to take bout under the title of the term Diaspora is Syria Diaspora which means the Syrian communities out of their original country. 

Three website about Syrian Diaspora:

http://www.syria-news.com 

Syrianews is a mean of media that is related to Dash dot. This website launched in the begging of 2005. The main station of this website is in Damascus. This website is mainly about Syrian news and it publishes a lot of issues about Syrian population around the world.

http://www.family-help.com

This website is talking about the sex education. It also provides useful information about sexual relationship. Moreover, it affords tips of how we practice healthy sexual relations. Besides that, it has medical information that helps us to protect ourselves from harmful and unhealthy sexual relationships. I was really impressed by such a web site because we have very close mentality about such subject in Syria. Also, people do not take such information serious enough to make them an educational topic. What I liked the most about this website that it is supported by the ministry of health in Syria which make the information that the website provide very valid and trustful. 

http://www.souria.com/ar/about.asp

This website is about a huge Syrian community in the internet. It has members from all over the world. The main objectives for the website are:

To define the history of Syria 

To cover the Syrian social events

To provide maps for Syrian cities

This website also provides the historical and modern places in Syria and it considers one of the biggest travelling guide for Syria. Moreover, it represents the natural site   in Syria. In addition, it has its own magazine that discuses Syrian issue which also the members can purplish in it. 

Work cited

Smith, S.E. “What is a Diaspora.” Wise GEEK clear answers for common questions, wiseGEEK, 2003-2011. Web. 3rd june, 2011 &lt; www.wisegeek.com &gt;.