ليلى يلّي منعرفها ماشي حالا بالمبدأ، يس في كتير لأ

This post is part of kolenalaila.com.

"We Are All Laila" aims at highlighting women's problems and prompting them to draw real images of their own experiences in order to open a dialogue that can lead to changing the ideas of a whole society.

بدي اكتب بالعربي اللبناني ولو راح تاخد معي الخبرية تلات ساعات.

 ليلى يلّي منعرفها ماشي حالا بالمبدأ، يس في كتير لأ.

في ليلى بعرفها اغتصبها ابن زوج امها، واغتصب امها كمان، البنت كان عمرعها 12 او 13، الام أكيد كانت عارفي بس ساكتة لأنو زوجها كان متوفّي وهي ما معها لا شهادة ولا اموال  تخليا تفلّ وتستقرّ لاحالها.في كتير متلها ومتايل.

ليلى تانية بعرفها راحت خطيفة، وقفت مدرسة وشغل، اجاها ولاد عل سريع، وصارت حياتها كلّها لولادها وكل ثانية بتمرؤ وهي ندمانة ومش مبسوطة.

ليلى القرن الواحد وعشرين، صار مطلوب منّها اكتر بكتير، كان كل شيء لازم تعملو من قبل هوي تطبخ، تهتمّ بالبيت، وتربّي هل الاولاد، هلئ صار عندا "كرّير"، يلي هو شي ضروري لتنمية المرأة من الناحية الفكرية والشخصية. وبعد في رجال بتفكرّ انو المرا لازم تكون محضرتلو العشا وقت يرجع من شغلو، حتى لو هي كمان كانت بالشغل، وبدا تنضف وتحمم الاولاد، وتكويلو القميص، وبدا تكون حلوي كمان، لأنّو الحقّ عليا بالأخير اذا زوجها اتطلّع على واحدة ثانية.

ليلى، في كتير ما بيعرفو قيمتك، وما بيعرفو انت يشو عم تمرئي، ويا حزينة هيدا هوي قدرك.

10 tips to be in the Christmas Spirit

10 tips to be in the Christmas Spirit, in both worlds, virtual and real:

 

1- Write a blog post about it (like this right here)
2- Choose a cheesy (and winy :P) Christmas postcard and tag people in them on facebook, such as Maya Zankoul indicated here
3- Send SMS text messages, there are ready texts out there such as "May Santa Visit you when you're sleeping in your flowery boxer and put a gift on your head!"
4- Send an e-greeting card, make sure they're animated, static cards are so 2001!
5- Set a Christmas ringtone on your mobile (such as "Last Christmas" for George Michael, it is all about Christmas you see!)
6- Set a Christmas background on your mobile, pc and/or laptop
7- Visit a mall during the prior week to Christmas and until Christmas eve at least twice!
8- Get stuck in traffic preferably near a Christmas decoration, if there is no decoration nearby, make sure you tune your radio on, maybe Lady Gaga's new "precious" Christmas song is playing!
9- Throw in a picture or two of Santa's hat here and there (refer to beginning of post), or better yet, buy 4 for 2'000LL and put them on your car seats' head-rests.
10- Last but not least, spend spend spend!!!!!!!!!!!! and spend even more!

Merry Christmas fellow readers, may it bring health and happiness upon you and your loved ones!

 

Hopenhagen Failahapen

Even though the negotiations ended last week, I didn't blog about them immediately, well because I figured there is time and no need to rush anymore to try and save the world because:

Leaders have reached a weak agreement in Copenhagen that fails to set the emissions targets needed to prevent catastrophic global warming.

 There is it, Copenhagen that was Hopenhagen for a while became a Failahapen!

This is how the world functions, and last week a decision was taken, and it was to ruin this earth. We, as people, don't deserve it.

Fun(d) Raising Newest Event: Who does not like cookies?

The Fun(d) raising project is going really well, 2 events occurred so far, the Bowling at Link and the Wordpress tutoring at Rootspace.

The next event will be in Edde Yard - Jbeil on Sunday December 27th, and it is about making cookies yourself, DYI, funnest concept ever, and this is thanks to the famous online tweeple Cooki3man, who well... basically makes & sells cookies, but not in the conventional way! More about him here.

Anyway, meanwhile, with the toys collected from these events and direct door to door (or car to car) toy transfer, and the money made during the events which led us to buy toys, so far these toys have been donated to 2 associations, Mourouj Al Mahabba and ACSAUVEL.

Moreover you can read Global Voices post on Fun(d) Raising here.

Christmas tree in Downtown Beirut

It's one of the new traditions in Lebanon, it is part of Beirut Celebrates series of events. What makes this tree special, is its presence near one of the biggest mosques out there! Now of course we would hope to think sectarianism doesn't exist in Lebanon, but unfortunately a form of it still exists.

Photo courtesy unknown, I received it by email.

2nd Photo courtesy yours truly

الرئيس الحريري يصل اليوم قمة كوبنهاغن

يصل اليوم للمشاركة في فعاليات القمة الرئيس الحريري مصحوبا بوفد رسمي كبير ليشاركوا ولأول مرة بوفد على هذا المستوى من التمثيل السياسي العالي مما يعطي لبنان دفعا قويا على الساحة العالمية. لبنان هشّ جداً أمام تغّير المناخ. الآثار المحتملة لتغيّر المناخ على لبنان تتضمّن زيادة في حرائق الغابات وجفاف وتناقص الناتج الزراعي وتدمير المناطق الساحلية وفي نهاية المطاف تصحّر كامل. "مشاركة لبنان بوفد من المستوى السياسي الذي نراه يعتبر خطوة تقدمية في الموقف اللبنلني، لكن المطلوب من الرئيس الحريري تبني موقف مفصل والخوض بشراسة في عملية المفاوضات"، أضاف حميدان. 

تشارك إندي-أكت في مفاوضات كوبنهاغن بوفد من 43 شخص يضم ناشطين وخبراء وإعلاميين للتأكد من فعالية الموقف العربي والعالمي والمشاركة في تصويب القرار الإقليمي فيما خص تغير المناخ.

Source: www.IndyACT.org

Urgent - Crisis in Copenhagen

With three days to go, the crucial Copenhagen summit is failing.  

Tomorrow, the world's leaders arrive for an unprecedented 60 hours of direct negotiations. Experts agree that without a tidal wave of public pressure for a deal, the summit will not stop catastrophic global warming of 2 degrees.  

Click below to sign the petition for a real deal in Copenhagen -- the campaign already has a staggering 10 million supporters - let's make it the largest petition in history in the next 72 hours! Every single name is actually being read out at the summit -- sign on at the link below and forward this email to everyone!

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen

Books and Arabic and Signings and Guiness...

Beirut Arab and International Book Fair 53

Another event following Beirut being the world capital of book for 2009, the Beirut Arab and International Book Fair 53 opened on the 11th of December and it will be there until the 24th of December in BIEL - Downtown Beirut.

Biggest Book in the World

I visited the book fair yesterday for about two hours, there are so many exhibitors and publisher houses down there, the exhibition is huge. Speaking of huge, the biggest book that has recently entered the guiness book of records is also available there, it's 3.85m wide and 2.77 m long, weighs 1060kg. It's a photography book, "Beirut's Memory" that compares Beirut before and Beirut now by Ayman Trawi.

Abu Salim's new book
While checking one stand after the other, I saw the famous "Abu Salim" signing his new book Ayyam Min Zakirati (Days of my memory)

Book Bazar
And the story is only beginning, I visited Book Bazar and saw national geographic magazine that were printed in 1960! I bought myself 3 copies, they're 40 years old. We also visited several other book bazar kind of libraries, and some books value is equivalent to gold because they're ancient and they just look like they came out of national treasure movie.

Dar Onboz
I also saw a stand full of extremely creative drawings, comics, books, shapes, photographs, etc... it's called Dar Onboz. You can check their website here www.daronboz.com, the person behind this is Nadine Touma, she is available at the stand. Dar Onboz, simply put, is here to promote the Arabic language using creativity.

Glad to see many artists having more opportunities to showcase their work. Let's hope we'll see a whole exhibition in Lebanon made for artists of all kinds.

Don't forget to visit it, of course Arabic books are ubiquitous, but it's not exclusive to Arabic only, there are many books in many other languages.

All Lebanese should go through the driver's test again and with no wasta

I only learned today that hazard lights (Lebanese refer to them as "flash light") should only be turned on when the car is stopped 'cause something wrong happened or there is an accident. Meaning if there is heavy rain and visibility is short, hazard lights should not be turned on. So when the other drivers see it, they know your car is not moving and can pass you over.

In Lebanon we use these lights when there is strong rain, which is apparently wrong to the standard. Yet in Lebanon we have a cognitive different understanding of these lights and it wouldn't cause us a problem like the guy said here.

Another common belief in Lebanon concerns when flashing your headlights in a repeated manner. It has two meanings:
1- if it's being done fast, it means that it's telling the other car to stop
2- if it's done once or twice, but slowly, it's telling you to pass. Really! This is Lebanon.

The purpose of this post is to honestly point out that we do not have a decent driver's license exam, we now have a test on the computer, but usually the guy, who's testing the applicant, does the test for him/her. Safety is over-rated apparently.

We still get our driver's license without doing an exam, do you know anyone who failed a driver's test in Lebanon?

Some people drive without licenses, and without properly learning how to drive and without anyone teaching them the importance of signals, and stopping at crossroads and high headlights being turned on which blinds the person coming from the opposite direction, the use of hazard lights. Actually in Lebanon many people don't know that they shouldn't only slow their cars when an ambulance is passing by (and we'd be lucky if they did do that), the cars are actually supposed to fully stop and allow pathway to the ambulance vehicle!

That is how much ignorance we bare in our knowledge concerning driving, there are really good drivers in Lebanon due to the fact that we still have chaos and it's important to be in control, however there is a lot of bad manners and a lot of misconception of rules.

Hopenhagen Ambassador picked!

David Kroodsma was picked as the Hopenhagen Ambassador. He has an excellent profile, a scientist with a masters in climate science, he recently biked for 21000 miles from california to south america, educating and raising awareness about climate change.

View his winning video here.

COP15 - Life as we know it will end

On the opening day of the Copenhagen summit, TckTckTck – an unprecedented alliance of civil society organisations –delived its petition which more than 10 million people have signed, calling for world leaders to seal a fair, ambitious and binding climate deal at the talks.

15 young people from around the world held large scale "building blocks" which spell out "10 million people expect a fair, ambitious and binding deal" to show world leaders that all the elements required for an effective climate treaty are present.

Young people from around the world handed over the petition to UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer and Danish Climate Minister and the President of COP15 Connie Hedegaard. Leah Wickham, from Fiji, will spoke briefly on behalf of the 10 million people expecting a real deal at Copenhagen. (IMAGES free Editorial Web usage for Fresh Air Participants during COP 15. Credit: Robert vanWaarden)

Taken from tcktcktck's flickr account.

Life as we know it will change after COP15. Let's hope those leaders do actually come up with a fair, ambitious and binding deal. Don't forget that our own NGO IndyACT is participating in COP15, and as a first, our Prime minister Saad Hariri.

The new stand of Saudi Arabia on Climate Change

Saudi Arabia surprised everyone with this press conference.

Saudi Arabia actually thought the scientists were using exaggeration tactics to scare politicians and civilians about climate change, thus signing a treaty that would bind countries to reduce CO2 emissions and with time stopping to import oil from the kingdom. Saudi Arabia is the #1 enemy of the whole effort that is being done by scientists and NGOs and some countries that are on board

You can check the press conference here. Watch it till the end.

"Helping those people that will most be affected by Climate Change is much more important than having castles"....

Saudis, you can be inspiring if you want to.

Stay tuned for Copehangen news which starts on December 7. Hopenhagen for Copenhagen! Let's do this.

Fast but Cautious, with Abdo Feghaly & Yasa

Even though the event will take place in half an hour in ESIB campus Mar Roukoz, I still think it's important to mention it here. It is a great endeavor done by the infamous Abdo Feghali, who won several rallies, and also by YASA. Today Abdo Feghali will talk about his experience and the importance of responsible driving.

And to make all those speed enthusiasts happy, he will perform a breath-taking drifting show.

Remember this event is by YASA, so it is there to discourage reckless driving and irresponsible speeding.

Note that all car racers tell us that their cars are especially equipped for speeding and drifting, their car is better handled than our own modest cars, so let us not try to attempt the same thing in our own cars.

Can you name one person who doesn't know at least one other person that died in a car accident?

Drive safely.

What's Lebanon's status on AIDS?

December 1st is World AIDS day, which happens to be today. I just want to shed some light on this issue, knowing that is a semi-taboo topic in the Middle East. The statistics on the subject are not accurate because the governments refuse to admit the number of patients who have AIDS. People still get ashamed to have AIDS, and they're scared to tell anyone about it, why? Because people judge.

Maybe this day will help us understand this illness more and will humble us enough not to judge anyone who has it, and instead, show support.

I don't want to re-invent the wheel, and especially because I cannot invent it as good as this excellent post which is written by Paola Salwan on her blog "Café Thawra", which tackles the AIDS and HIV issue especially its status in the Middle East.

STOP AIDS. KEEP THE PROMISE

Photo courtesy of the talented Lara Zankoul.


More posts on the subject by fellow Lebanese bloggers:
AIDS... in Lebanon? By Maya Zankoul
World Aids Day By Chantal