From Kansas to Cairo

Listening to President Obama's speech in Cairo yesterday, I was struck by how many themes resonated with what Mercy Corps is doing in the Middle East.

He talked about his desire to "create a new online network, so a young person in Kansas can communicate instantly with a young person in Cairo." And that's what we're doing with the Global Citizen Corps, connecting dozens of young people in Gaza and Iraq and Lebanon and Syria with each other and with high schoolers throughout the Pacific Northwest using Internet forums and videoconferences.

Speaking about economic development, Obama talked about "education and innovation" being the "currency of the 21st century, and in too many Muslim communities, there remains underinvestment in these areas."

We too believe that Information and Communications Technology can be a powerful vehicle for supporting social and economic development. We've set up about 20 computer-literacy centers in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria and Iraq, like the one in the poor southern suburbs of South Beirut, where people can obtain Microsoft-certified computer training and other courses.

He talked about the inportance of women's literacy. He said "a woman who is denied an education is denied equality," and that the U.S. will "partner with any Muslim-majority country to support expanded literacy for girls."

We began a women's literacy program in Iraq in 2005, using previously unemployed female teachers to provide three months of accelerated Arabic language, math and culture lessons in 57 literacy centers. Since then our women's education programs have brought literacy, mathematics, culture and rights lessons to more than 12,000 women.

And then of course he talked about the stalemate between Israel and Palestine, and how we must find a way forward. Our Israeli-Palestinian Negotiating Partners network brings together over 90 prominent Palestinians and Israelis to learn advanced negotiation skills and build the relationships that are critical to a successful peace process. And we're building bridges between leaders in both the Middle East and the U.S. as part of our Interfaith Cooperation Initiative.

So the path ahead resonates very much with our efforts in the region: conflict management, women's literacy, and using Internet technology to accelerate development, particularly for youth.

It was a historic speech, and it will be used as a reference point for many years to come — either as a background for unrealized rhetoric, or as the start of a new relationship. I fervently hope it's the latter.

On Monday, June 8, 2009 (6:00 am), Ed Gragert wrote:

Hello David,

We in iEARN picked up on this reference to networking young people as well.

Since we are connecting young people in all states (including Kansas) with those in 125 countries (including Egypt), we would welcome the opportunity to work with Mercy Corps to approach the Administration on how it can work with the private sector to support existing great programs like the Global Citizen Corps and iEARN.

Ed Gragert
iEARN-USA
http://us.iearn.org
http://iearn.org

On Monday, June 8, 2009 (2:46 pm), Amie Wells wrote:

I completely agree David, thank you for sharing.

Everyday, as a staff member, Im privileged to read comments and discussions, view pictures and watch videos posted by students participating in the Global Citizen Corps program. I've even been lucky enough to be part of a few video conferences where cultural barriers seemed to disappear within minutes just because students could see one another, ask questions and learn from each other.

It was exciting to hear Obama's speech and even more so, to be a part of that future.

On Monday, June 8, 2009 (5:00 pm), Greg Tuke wrote:

In listening to Obama's speech I was reminded of something said a couple years back by someone in the tech field: "We now have developed all the tools we need to communicate, but few of the tools we need to understand."

Obama's speech was one that called for understanding, and for action to demonstrate understanding of our shared interests. It was powerful. But as he said, one speech is not going to fundamentally change things.

You read this in the dialogue among the young people in Gaza on the Mercy Corps blogs. Several, when asked by their U.S. counterparts what they think of Obama's visit to the Middle East, say they feel some reason for hope, but its a "wait and see" kind of hope.

Obama called for Israel to end the settlements. And he called for Palestinians to "curb anti-Israeli rhetoric in schools." But when asked in the blog about this, one Gaza youth said this week "It's impossible to curb it because (it's not) realistic. Could you tell me how can you curb this matter while Palestinians are living under Israelis domination and oppression. If I'm one of whom my house was demolished and my brothers were killed and I'm daily insulted by Israelis and by their apartheid, I won't take it that easy you talk about."

This is a very tough road he is asking us all to be on. But it is a real change to be challenged by the President to do so. And to have some small paths already carved out, and have some communication tools to work with like we are using in Mercy Corps, gives me some measure of hope.

To have these blogs and live video conferences (yes, we just did one with students in Kansas talking to Iraqis) where understanding is beginning to be shaped, and programs where young people in the U.S. and United Kingdom and Middle East are sharing ideas then going out into the community to get others involved in the discussions, that's a start.

Last week some students at the University of Washington (UW) decided to take the discussions they were having with students in Gaza on the Mercy Corps blog into the streets. They interviewed on camera other UW students about what they knew about Gaza, and their views on a two-state solution in Israel. They shared the video on line with their friends in Gaza and in other on-line social networks to talk more about what they learned. The responses by those interviewed were pretty discouraging. Many had not heard of Gaza, or had no opinion. But these students were reaching out to try to engage others, taking action to get others engaged — which is the first step toward understanding.

We need a lot more of this. And I, like you David, think Obama may be one spark who can light the fire. If we don't all blow it out before it takes hold.

Greg Tuke
Program Director
Global Youth Engagement, Mercy Corps

On Tuesday, August 18, 2009 (4:02 am), ali Abduel Hussein hadi wrote:

Yes, I agree with David, in Iraq we have made many literacy compaigns for women. Also there was a connectivity program in the south which aimed to exchange the thoughts among iraqi youths and american youths.

Ali Hadi

Mecy Corps-Iraq

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Blog Post Posted June 5, 2009, 4:03 pm by David Holdridge