To explore this and other issues, our club invited Abdulkarim Abu Jaber, Managing Director of Primus Bahrain to discuss this topic and share some of his experience to start the attendees on the right path of creating or strengthening their company’s ICT strategies. Some of the topics to be discussed include:

• General IT industry Trends
• IT in business and personal life
• How IT can help organization grow and reduce cost
• Adoption of new IT trends
• How in the current economic downturn technology can drive innovation, as people and enterprises need new technologies and new products
• How can IT and technologies provide companies with a competitive advantage
• How running a business and overseeing IT is a tough task in the best of times. But in today’s environment—with consumer and business spending shrinking, budgets declining, the stock market sinking, and the pressure to adopt new tools and technologies growing—many organizations are finding themselves stretched to the limit.
• Software as a Service

You can listen to the talk and download the Podcast here:

Please click here to download the accompanying presentation.

I’m sure that you care about your children’s education and that too of the other youths in your society. Raring to “grow up” and get on with their lives. How harrowing is it then if at the cusp of their career they find that their toil for a number of years in a university has been worthless as its certification is deemed to be sub-standard and unrecognised?

This refrain has unfortunately become very familiar in Bahrain, with the snow-ball starting with Kuwait refusing to recognise some Bahraini “universities”, a fact confirmed by the QAAET. Some universities have made serious attempts at correcting their situations of course, but still, a number of young graduates are between the proverbial rock and a hard place and staring into what seams to them to be a bleak future.

On 1st of March 2009 at our regular weekly meeting the Club welcomed an expert to underline the issues of university certification accreditation and to help us learn more about this important topic.

The Rotary Club of Adliya welcomed Dr. Muna Al Balooshi – Assistant Secretary General for Accreditation and Evaluation, who talked to us about this subject and answered some of our questions.

Please take the time to listen to the following Podcast which is a recording of her presentation. Should you wish to, you can also download her presentation in PDF format.

Dr. Tabbara enthralled the gathering with not only snippets of what the trip was like, but also explained the intricacies of motorcycling, a very much growing activity in Bahrain with 3 official clubs in place. The youngest in these three is the Bahrain Riders which boasts a membership of 330 active riders in about a year after formation!

Please listen to Dr. Sajida’s presentation and view some of the pictures she shared with us.

Rotary Clubs in the Middle East and other parts of the world will accept applications in January for the 2011-2013 class of Rotary World Peace Fellows. Launched in 2002, this innovative program is aimed at helping the next generation of government officials, diplomats and humanitarian leaders develop the skills needed to reduce the threat of war and violence worldwide.

“You only have to pick up a newspaper to realize how vitally important it is that our world leaders be skilled in the arts of conflict resolution and peaceful negotiation,” said Dr. Michel P. Jazzar, Rotary representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) at a Rotary Foundation seminar in Beirut.

Through a worldwide, competitive process, this program awards full scholarships to up to 100 Rotary World Peace Fellows each year. Members of the 2011-13 class will be announced in October 2010. The peace fellows study at the six Rotary Centers based at leading universities in five countries. Qualified applicants must possess an undergraduate degree, have a minimum three years of professional experience at international agencies such as the United Nations, governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses or academic institutions; and demonstrate a commitment to peace and international understanding through their volunteer, academic, and professional achievements.

“Rotary is a non-political, non-religious volunteer organization where all cultures, religions and traditions are respected and merged to respond to humanitarian needs,” said Jazaar, who is a member of the Rotary Centers Selection Committee and member of the Rotary Club of Kesrouan. “It is our hope that these impressive Rotary peace fellows will go out into the world and make a real difference in their home regions.”

Mahamoud Abdi Sheikh Ahmed of Borama, Somalia, currently attends the Rotary Center at the University of Bradford, England. He was a team leader with the Norwegian Refugee Council in Somaliland, which provides basic education to children of displaced families. Ahmed’s own childhood was interrupted by inter-clan violence, forcing his family to flee to Ethiopia.

“Twenty years of civil war have torn Somalia apart and all Somalis have become victims. I believe the conflict resolution and peace building skills I will learn at Bradford will help me contribute to the future prospects of my country,” Ahmed said.

The Rotary Centers for International Studies are located on the following campuses: International Christian University, Japan; Universidad del Salvador, Argentina; University of Bradford, the United Kingdom (UK); the University of Queensland, Australia; and – in a shared arrangement – Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C. In addition to the two-year program, the Rotary Center at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, offers an intensive, three-month course aimed at mid-level professionals in governments, non-governmental organizations, and international industry.
The Rotary Centers for International Studies program is already showing results. Currently, 454 Rotary World Peace Fellow alumni are making a difference in jobs within United Nations agencies, the World Bank, and leading non-governmental organizations.

“A total of 16 citizens from the Greater Middle East and Central Asia –including Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Palestine, Tajikistan, and Turkey– have completed the program,” said Jazaar. “It is this growing network of peacemakers that makes us believe that peace is possible.”

Those interested in the program can apply through local Rotary clubs or email rotarycenters@rotary.org for more information. The 2012 applications will be available for download from the Rotary website beginning January 2010. Applications are due July 1st to The Rotary Foundation.

About Rotary: Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide in humanitarian service – has more than 1.2 million members in more than 33,000 clubs in over 200 countries and geographic regions. For more information, visit www.rotary.org.

Press contacts:
Sandra Prufer, + 1 (847) 866-3208, sandra.prufer@rotary.org
Kiki Melonides, +1 (847) 866-3134, kiki.melonides@rotary.org

Agile board elected to spearhead various community benefit drives under the leadership of Incoming President Mahmood Al-Yousif

Manama, Bahrain – 12 January 2010 – A new Board of Directors have been elected last night at a Rotary Club of Adliya regular meeting in the presence of the current District Governor and Rotary Club of Adliya member Mr. Nijad Al-Atassi. The elected board will serve for the Rotary Year 2010/2011 under the leadership of Incoming President Mahmood Al-Yousif, assisted by Incoming Secretary Rotarian Dr. Sajida Tabbara.

Past President Dr. Ali Follad presided over the election process in the presence of 17 club members, representing 74% of the eligible voters.

The Rotary Club of Adliya incoming Board of Directors 2010/2011 - 2011/2012

Members unanimously elected the following Rotarians to the Board:

• Past President Redha Faraj, Director of Membership Development and Honorary Treasurer;
• Current President Hasan Al-Balooshi, Director of Rotary Foundation;
• Rotarian Dr. Faiza Ghabrial, Director of Service Projects;
• Rotarian Hameed Karimi, Director of Club Administration; and
• Incoming President Mahmood Al-Yousif, Director of PR

Incoming President Mahmood Al-Yousif expressed his delight at the formation of his board and said: “I am privileged and honoured to have gained the trust of my fellow Rotarians at the Rotary Club of Adliya, whose sole intention is to serve our local and international communities, promote understanding between nations and peoples and alleviate some of their hardships. Our Club, though the smallest and youngest of the three Rotary Clubs in Bahrain, has had excellent achievements through its history under an able leadership and an engaged membership. It is my intention, together with my board, to exert all efforts possible to continue the work of those before us and augment our involvement further to realise the ideals of Rotary International and benefit our community.”

The Rotary Club of Adliya also held an election for the Rotary Year 2011/2012. Members elected Rotarian Dr. Sajida Tabbara for the position of President and Rotarian Laith Shukayr as Honorary Secretary for the years 2011/2012 unanimously.

Photo Caption:
Posing for this photograph from Left to Right are: Rotarian Laith Shukayr – Honorary Secretary Elect 2011/2012, Rotarian Dr. Sajid Tabbara – President Elect 2011/2012, Current President Hasan Al-Balooshi, Director of Rotary Foundation 2010/2011, Incoming President Mahmood Al-Yousif, Director of PR, 2010/2011, Past President Redha Faraj – Director of Membership Development & Honorary Treasurer 2010/2011, Current District Governor Nijad Al-Atassi

District Governor 2009/2010 Nijad Al-Atassi

Bahrain is to host the 74th District Conference of the Rotary International District 2450, which will take place from April 29 to May 2.

The event will be held at the Gulf Hotel’s Gulf Convention Centre, Adliya, under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander.

About 1,400 Rotarians, spouses and guests from Bahrain, Armenia, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan and UAE are expected to attend.

Rotary is a volunteer organisation of 1.2 million business and professional leaders united worldwide to provide humanitarian services and help build goodwill and peace.

The Rotary International District 2450 takes place annually and Bahrain hosts the event every seven years.

“Our mission as Rotary International is to promote global understanding, goodwill and peace and we as Rotary in Bahrain are here to serve others and our community,” district governor Nijad Al Atassi told the GDN.

“It’s important to have this conference in Bahrain, it doesn’t come around very often. “The last one was in April 2002, and it is excellent for us and Bahrain to promote business and our Rotary mission in Bahrain.

“It is also about promoting Bahrain, because the Rotarians that will be coming are business people and leaders in the field, so it will be an opportunity for them to expand their contacts and schedule appointments to advance their businesses,” he aid.

For more information and to register visit http://www.rotaryd2450.org/Conference/conference.asp

Source: GDN – 28 Dec 09

“The Hope Institute represents all that is good in our Kingdom. Throughout its history it provided care and much needed education for children and persons of special needs, who are an important part of our society,” commented Dr. Faiza Ghabrial, the Rotary Club of Adliya’s community projects chairperson, and a long time and valued member of the Club who instigated and coordinated the donation drive for the Hope Institute. “We at the Rotary Club of Adliya are humbled by what the Hope Institute has achieved and are thrilled to be able to provide them with much needed equipment to further their successes,” Dr. Ghabrial continued.

The President of the Rotary Club of Adliya, Mr. Hassan Al-Balooshi together with Dr. Faiza Ghabrial and members of the Hope Institute were at the presentation of equipment this morning.

Recognising the Institute’s further need for four attached printers in the new lab, President Al-Balooshi committed to immediately deliver these printers as a further donation from the Rotary Club of Adliya. The Club will also donate some window blinds for some of the Institute’s classrooms which will be sourced and paid for by Bahrain Blinds Manufacturers, a company owned by the President.

“The Rotary Club of Adliya is no stranger to the Hope Institute,” Ms. Badriya Yousif Slais, the director of the Hope Institute said, “they have become our much valued and generous partners over the years catering to the needs of the Institute, from painting the building to this latest donation and many more in between,” she continued. “In the name our 150 children we currently have in the Institute as well as the 50 staff taking care of them, we thank the Rotary Club of Adliya for their generosity and continued support. Centres like this do not achieve success without proper community involvement, and the Rotary Club of Adliya has demonstrated time and again its leadership among the social organisations by not only responding to our needs, but also anticipating and satisfying them as well,” said Ms Slais.

“We can’t do enough for active charitable organisations like the Hope Institute in particular. They fill a much needed service in educating persons of special needs from our community to provide them with better future prospects,” commented President Al-Balooshi. “Enabling organisations like the Hope Institute is a core feature of the Rotary Club of Adliya which has demonstrated its will and capabilities since inception. We are happy to have been able to arrange for the donation of much needed modern technology to the Institute and hope that this will translate to better chances of integration in the Bahraini workforce for the graduates of this noble institution,” President Al-Balooshi concluded.

About the Hope Institute:
The Hope Institute For Special Education is part of the Mothers and Children Welfare Society and is a charity organisation established in 1977 to fill the dire need for education for persons of special needs which is an important part of the community. The Hope Institute currently caters for 28 children of between 3 – 6 years old and 117 between 6 – 15 years old. The curriculum is composed of self-developed vocational material based on internationally recognised curricula. The Institute’s main goal is to provide better opportunities for integration for persons of special needs within the community, a goal that continues to be satisfied through their efforts as well as those of the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education. For more information, please link to alamalinst.com.

About the Rotary Club of Adliya:
The Rotary Club of Adliya was chartered in the Kingdom of Bahrain in July 1994 as the third Rotary club under the umbrella of the Rotary International. The Rotary Club of Adliya has been active along with its sisters clubs in projects undertaken since its inception in 1994 which include holding the renowned annual Model United Nation Assembly for Youth, Assisting the Ministry of Labour of the Kingdom of Bahrain in establishing Career Expo – a career Fair for Young Job Seekers; organizing outings and activities for the elderly and less privileged families; arranging events where the funds raised were donated in support of variety of social humanitarian projects; raising BD 40,000 from the annual Bahrain Golf Invitational that was donated to Al Wafa Center, a project initiated and developed by the Club; raising funds for the purchase of various medical equipments and the highly successful Earth Day Art Competition (http://earthdaybahrain.org) through which BD20,000 was donated to the Ministry of Social Development toward its building an art workshop for persons of special needs. Some of those paintings created at the Competition are available for sale on a specially created website at http://earthdaybahrain.org. The proceeds of their sales will go toward the various club activities and endeavours within the community.

World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings & Civil Society Forum (2-7 October)
This is part of the IMF/World Bank’s regular series of meetings to highlight developments within both organizations. Past RI Director Örsçelik Balkan has been appointed by President Kenny to serve as Rotary’s official delegate

UNESCO Partners Forum (5 October)
This is the inaugural meeting for NGOs that work with UNESCO. The Forum’s theme will be: Multiple Partnerships for a Common Ideal and will focus on successful UNESCO partnerships from 1999-2009. Representatives Dervaux and Noirtin are scheduled to attend.

News Updates

Polio returns to Afghanistan
The following is a link to a news story that ran on UN Wire about the return of Polio to Afghanistan. It serves as a reminder of the need to keep up the pressure to eradicate the disease everywhere.
link

Concert to End Polio
As you may have seen on rotary.org, RI is joining with violin virtuoso and polio survivor Itzhak Perlman and the world-renowned New York Philharmonic to present the Concert to End Polio on 2 December at 19:30 in New York City. Polio eradication resonates strongly with Mr. Perlman, who contracted the disease at age four and overcame serious physical challenges to become one of the world’s most celebrated musicians. In this historic performance —his first with the New York Philharmonic in four years —Mr. Perlman will help Rotary in its effort to raise $200 million to match a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

You can learn more about the concert here and tickets are available here.

We’ll share more information about the concert and Itzhak Perlman’s support of polio eradication in the coming weeks.

PRESS RELEASE:

Kimeli Naiyomah at the National Press Club and Library of Congress
Kimeli Naiyomah, Maasi warrior, Rotary Peace Fellow, and author of 14 Cows for America, will speak at the National Press Club in Washington DC on 25 September. Additionally he will participate in the National Book Festival at the US Library of Congress on 26 September.

International Literacy Day follow up

There were two major events scheduled in honor of International Literacy Day

United Nations, New York
The first major event was held on 8 September at the United Nations in New York. Representative Sylvan Barnet made well-received remarks about Rotary’s work on literacy before an audience of about 75 NGOs and diplomats. Barney’s remarks focused on Rotary’s success with the Concentrated Learning Encounter (CLE) method, cooperation relationships with the International Reading Association and Dolly Parton Foundation’s Imagination Library, and projects focused on empowerment of women, girls,
and underserved populations, particularly in parts of Asia and Africa.

Library of Congress, Washington, DC
The second major Literacy Day event was sponsored by the International Reading Association (IRA) and held at the US Library of Congress in Washington. RI Representative Rich Carson graciously filled in for Bill Boyd and spoke about Rotary’s extensive work with Literacy. Rotary was well represented at the event. All three Washington based
representatives were in attendance as well as several Rotarians heavily involved in literacy (including Judy Backlund who is a Rotarian out of Washington state who is working on a joint IRA/Rotary teacher training project in Sudan). The International Reading Association was very pleased with Rotary’s role during the event.

World Food Day
Friday 16, October has been declared World Food Day by the United Nations. The day marks the founding of the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization and serves as an opportunity to highlight issues related to hunger and malnutrition around the world. Rotarians will be asked to help expand awareness of the day and work to alleviate hunger locally and around the world.

You can find out more about World Food Day by going to the FAO homepage. They have handouts and posters available to download and distribute should you choose to do so.

One of the important exciting announcements he made last night was the confirmation that His Royal Highness Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Bahrain will patronise the proceedings at the conference. This should give the Rotary Club in the whole region a big boost in our quest to help our local communities.

To download DG Nijad Atassi presentation, please click here [pdf, 1.9MB]

This is our last regular meeting before the Holy month of Ramadhan. Our next meeting will be a social evening on July 27th, 2009:

Location: Coral Beach Club
The Main Restaurant
Dinner: Hot and Cold Maza
Mixed Grills
Fruits
Soft Drinks (One Drink per Person)
Water
Timing: 8:00PM for 8:30PM
Price: BD 10 per person

Let me also remind you that an updated RCA member’s leave and clubs activity register is available for download here.

The Rotary Club of Adliya wishes you a joyful, relaxing and healthy summer break!

Please do subscribe to our low frequency email bulletins to be informed of the Club’s events and activities.

The Rotary Club of Adliya welcomed Dr. Tariq Al-Maadawi, the consultant psychiatrist with the Private Clinic in Budaiya Medical Centre who talked about the debilitating psychological and physical condition of depression.

In this featured presentation attended by 60% of the RCA membership and 5 guests as well as the honourable speaker, Dr. Al-Maadawi shattered the usual stereotypes about both psychiatry and depression especially in our local Arab and Muslim communities. He went further to explain that depression is the most disabling condition in the world for women, 25% of whom suffer from it at some point in their lives.

President Hasan Al-Balooshi (L) and Dr. Tariq Al-Maadawi

He emphasised that Depression is a treatable disease. Treatments can range from counselling sessions through to modern medicines which correct the chemical imbalance in the brain which causes this condition.

“Depression,” stated Dr. Al-Maadawi, “covers a range of related conditions in which the primary disturbance is thought to be one of mood or effect.”

“There are 48 types of depressions defined so far,” he continued, “varying from mild states which befall its victims when a live changing event happens, to those experienced by losing a loved one, to severe conditions which require hospitalisation and a concerted effort at medication, diet and counseling.”

Hanan Al-Yousif (L) with Rotarian Ahdeya Noor

Dr. Al-Maadawi’s brief presentation is available from download on our website. Please click here to download Dr. Tariq Al-Maadawi’s presentation on depression in pdf format.

Should you wish to contact Dr. Al-Maadawi for further information or consultation, we would be very happy to provide you with his contact details. Please contact us by sending an email to contact@rotaryadliya.org. All communications will of course remain confidential. Should you wish to contact Dr. Al-Maadawi directly, please do so by contacting the Private Clinic in the Budaiya Medical Centre.

Do give us your feedback please.