Tadamunn Conference, Tadamunn Conference, Tadamunn Conference!!!

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I have been in Egypt for over a month, but it feels like I’ve been here for more than three. A part of it probably has to do with me working. The Tadamunn Conference is all that I have on my mind right now. We’ve been able to obtain some high profile speakers to attend the conference including Dr. Mo Ibrahim and Her Excellency Minister of Education Pandor (South Africa). Since I was in charge of writing all the bios of the speakers and plenary members, I’m just going to cut and paste them into this blog to tell you why they are amazing.

Dr. Ibrahim is the founder of Celtel International, a company known for spreading the benefits of mobile communications to millions of people in Africa. In 2007, Dr. Ibrahim was awarded the GSM Association Chairman’s Award for “helping the world to hear Africa’s voice.” As a result of Dr. Ibrahim socially responsible work, he was the recipient of the BNP Paribas Prize for Philanthropy and TIME Magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world (2008). To encourage civic engagement and social responsibility, Dr. Ibrahim has established the Mo Ibrahim Foundation which awards African executive Head of State or Government officials for demonstrating excellence in African leadership, addressing issues such as poverty, governance, access to health, and education. Dr. Mo Ibrahim holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alexandria, Egypt, a MSc in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from the University of Bradford and a PhD in Mobile Communications from the University of Birmingham.

Her Excellency Minister Pandor has played a key role in systematically incorporating civic engagement in South Africa’s educational system. In 2000, Ms. Pandor became the first woman Chancellor of Cape Technikon. In addition, Ms. Pandor currently serves as the Deputy Chief Whip of the African National Congress and as the Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces. She has taught at the University of Botswana and the University of Cape Town. Minister Pandor obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in History and English from the University of Botswana and Swaziland. She completed her Master’s Degree at the University of London and obtained her Master’s of General Linguistics from the University of Stellenbosch.

We also have individuals from the private sector, others who started their own non-governmental organization (NGO) when they were in their 20’s, and academics from all over the world.

One of the biggest problems that I have encountered while organizing this conference is finding a venue in downtown Cairo. Originally, the conference was to be held at the new campus per President Arnold’s request. However, the new campus is not finished and is an entire story in itself. Unfortunately, when the President told us that it wouldn’t be feasible to hold the conference on the new campus, all the hotels in Cairo could not provide us with the appropriate number of meeting/banquet halls. I called every hotel imaginable in Cairo - the Four Seasons Nile, Four Seasons Giza, the Intercontinental, the Intercontinental at CityStars, the Dusit, the J.W. Marriott, the Grand Hyatt, the Nile Hilton, the Nile Ramsis, the Sofitel, the Sheraton - and still no luck. By the way, the Gerhart Center and AUC holds conferences and houses the conference guests only at 5 star hotels. There was one hotel that I did forget about which was the Marriott in Zamalek. Finally, I had found a hotel that could almost provide all the meeting rooms we needed. The Sales Executive, George, asked me to send him an email with the specifications I told him over the phone. He would email me back a quote and contract by the next morning. Everyone at the Gerhart Center was ecstatic to find out that we were able to find meeting rooms in a downtown hotel. The next day, at 7:00am I was checking my email before work and received a message that would make Thursday (a.k.a. Friday in the States) a long day at work. The message stated that there were no rooms available on the days I mentioned to George. I found this frustrating because he told me that there were rooms available over the phone. I texted Fauzia to notify her about the crisis. As soon as I got into the office I gave George a call asking him how ALL the rooms that we asked to reserve have been booked between yesterday afternoon and 7:00am this morning. He seemed flustered and told me that he would call me back to provide me with an explanation. An hour passed and no word from George. I called him again - no answer. Fifteen minutes later, I reach George and told him very politely that I had to step out of the office and think that I missed his call (a total lie, but I didn’t wanted to accuse him of not calling me). He told me that he would contact me in 10 minutes. I provided him with my office number and my mobile number so that there would be no way that he couldn’t reach me. After this exchange of information George asks me that if he contacts me via my mobile “whether I would be in class.” I responded with “No, I won’t be in any meetings!” Originally, I scheduled an appointment with the Marriot to see the room that day at 2:00pm. But as I awaited the call from George, Fauzia was on the phone with Dina, Associate Director of the Center, explaining to her that the Marriott fell through. Dina told Fauzia, and me to be ready in 10 minutes because we were going to pay George a visit. Twenty minutes passed and still no call from George. We arrive at the Marriott and meet George in person. Talk about an awkward situation between George and I. We did come out of the meeting some what successful. We were able to obtain the main ballroom for the first day of the conference. We would use the downtown campus for the second day, since we could not find a hotel with enough room to accommodate the conference.

The rest of the day was filled with reserving rooms on the downtown campus, drafting letters for some late invitees, and other tasks for the conference. I was in charge of drafting a letter to Dr. Hawass, considered the highest ranking archeologist in Egypt, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and the Director of the Excavations at Giza, to provide Minister Pandor with a private tour of Cairo. I was very excited for this opportunity. At 3:00pm we had a meeting with Susan Stroud to go over the agendas for the conference. The Gerhart Center is working with Innovations in Civic Participation, a NGO based in Washington D.C. and founded by Susan Stroud. Not only has Susan played a key role in creating a network of university-based service-learning programs in South Africa, Russia, and Mexico, she served in the White House during the Clinton administration and at the Corporation for National Service to help enact and implement AmeriCorps legislation. We usually end work at 3:00pm, but Susan flew in that morning and so we wanted her to have some time to rest. After the meeting, Dina, Fauzia and I took Susan out for iftar on a boat, on the Nile, called La Pacha. The restaurant we went to was called Le Steak which serves French cuisine. It had great food and the desert was even better - all paid by the Center. Most of the discussion during dinner was about the upcoming US election and the stock market crisis. We left the restaurant at 8:30pm. I didn’t get to my apartment until midnight, because I met up with some interns to head to downtown. They were at the faculty happy hour and were hungry so I joined them to talk about the week and the long day I had.

Some other interesting things I have done since the last time I wrote in my blog:

Rowaida took us to the Cairo Opera House for a performance, which was a great time. There were singers and a orchestra performing traditional Egyptian songs.

Several of the interns and I traveled to Maadi to eat at Lucielle’s, which supposedly has the best burgers in the world according to one Lonely Plant author. The burgers were good, but not the best. We joked that the guy probably has been living in Cairo for several years and hasn’t had a good burger for a long time until eating at Lucielle’s. The place looked like an American restaurant and I will probably go back when I am feeling home-sick. After, we boarded on a felucca to relax, which only cost us LE35/hour.

Muriel’s (intern) office asked her to invite a couple other interns to have iftar on the roof of the Maadi Hotel. To get to the hotel we took the Metro (subway) which only costs LE1 (~20 cents). The Metro is pretty nice, but I was definitely the only non-Arab. It doesn’t bother me unless someone stares, which happens a lot.

I have started my Arabic language courses. I’m excited but nervous at the same time because it will be a lot of work. I have to learn a whole new alphabet, learn the different characters of the alphabet, and make sounds that my mouth/throat is not used to. The instructor is very demanding and it’s somewhat difficult to stay motivated when the class is from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.

This week is the Eid feast, so the interns are going to St. Katherine’s and an eco-lodge right on the Red Sea. I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures!

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