#AseerSandinanHourGlass

Click on the image and be taken to Michael Bou Nacklie's post (fun read).

Remember that journalist I (rightly) relied on for some of the Jeddah Rain updates?

He, Michael Bou Nacklie, is working on a project to preserve a dwindling culture in Saudi Arabia. Check out the video below and the meaning behind it in his own words. You can join him in conserving a historical gem by investing in his project by going here.

About This Project:

Preamble: Everyday the Kingdom slowly shifts more and more towards a more modern and tech savvy lifestyle at the price of nearly 900 years of history. A shift which most likely will never be reversed.

The tribesmen of the southern Asir province, Hilly Tahama and on the Yemen border in southern Saudi Arabia are a unique society. Living in challenging mountain conditions, they are physically and culturally different in aspect from the majority of Saudis in other parts of the Kingdom. Eventually, as they adopt the lifestyle of the modern Saudi citizen, (and as the older generations reach their end) their unique character will be transformed and they will merge into the mainstream of society.

Why I need YOUR help: This project is near and dear to me. Ive been in the Kingdom for almost a decade. Saudi Arabia is a very misunderstood country, both within it's borders and outside. Projects like these help the world see Saudi as more than a country of hate and misogeny. Help me make this place seem more human and help me show the world just how colorful and vibrant life in one of the most inhospitable climates can be. One example of the different pulls the culture is facing was clearly visible the last time I was in the region. As I was returning from a shoot on location I saw a group of young men dressed in traditional Saudi garb (a thobe and a headscarf) were dancing around a car with music blaring. The thing that was different, was that they were dancing traditional Saudi/yemeni dances to a Michael Jackson single that had just come out.

What I want to do: Make as complete photographic record of the hill tribesmen of Aseer as can be made, collect their history and stories from tribal elders and produce a permanent record for posterity. Produce a collection of images and audio recordings which can be used to reflect the style and flavor of a region both for use inside and outside the Kingdom.

Read more here.

Saudi Spring (Season, not Strike) in My Step

Premise: A year ago I shared my demotivation with the world.
✻ denotes a Twitter link

Spring Began on March 20

A little before that I received a message on Twitter letting me know I got two passes to the third Gulf Environment Forum. I went out of obligation more than anything, having attended since the first one. So I went, tweeted profusely in hopes of encouraging efforts, and left.

Bonus Info

The Gulf Environment Forum (GEF or #GulfEF ✻) is hosted by the Saudi Environmental Society (SENS). SENS is run by Majdah Aburass, an insanely active member of Saudi's environmental efforts. Get this, she's also a professor at King Abdulaziz University (and had a pretty cool impact) and is working with NASA.

FUN FACT: She and I were featured in the same article. That article in Majalla was brutally butchered here by someone who didn't really get the point of quotes or paraphrasing.

Busy Bee Gets a Buzz

Eco-Micropost: May 2011

Who needs more updates of the already written? I present you with a collection of what's happening in the region environmentally speaking.


5^th Nay. - Mecca's Zamzam water found to be contaminated with arsenic

3^rd Yay! - Gulf Interconnection Electrical Grid

Microposts: Spring 2011

There are some things that I would blog about if there was enough to say about it. Why publish a complete post when it could be said in 140 characters?

Earth Day in Jeddah 2011

Email me any more information you have about environmental events in Jeddah for Earth Day 2011.
For my organization, Faseelah(فسيلة), I had to write a nice informative post about what's happening in Jeddah for Earth Day 2011 :D

Courtesy of the Earth Day Network website. Click to contribute.

There isn't anyone here I'm trying to sweet-talk into being active in EcoJeddah, so I can let the cynic in me run wild. I'm loving Al-Nabta's approach to celebrating Earth Day. It seems straight-forward and they have a place and a time. Click here for more information.

Now, I adore the Islamic environmentalist approach taken by SENS (Saudi Environmental Society) and they're not doing anything wrong, but so much more could be done! Click here to jump right to what they are doing.

Saudi Youth: Vacations

NOTE: Jeddah floods' arc can be found with the above tab of "About #JeddahRain"

I thought the recent happenings of Saudi university operation and services were worth a blog post. With the unanticipated damage had by the Jeddah floods in January, it's no wonder no university would want to be put in the same position they were in when it hit. It was a nightmare for everyone to get home when the rain was underway. Thus, no real surprise or qualms came up when schools were cancelled mid-Tuesday and all of Wednesday due to rain warnings.

Now, the king has proclaimed tomorrow to be a vacation. I happen to follow many students that can be dubbed studious and proactive, so I only know what this minority is saying about the situation; They're not too pleased.

Otherwise, apparently a lot are on the streets celebrating. I'll update this post when solid articles come out.

Because I'll have to stay until 6pm some days this week to make up for the lost classes on Tuesday and Wednesday, I'm not too pleased either. No telling what frightening outcome will come of this day off.

#JeddahRain: Because Special People Need Their Own Hashtags

From Arab News:

JEDDAH: In just three hours Wednesday morning Jeddah was inundated with 111 millimeters of rain, the King Abdulaziz University's (KAU) Meteorology Department said.

Mansour Al-Mazrouie, head of the department, said Wednesday's volume of rainfall exceeded the 90 mm recorded in four hours during the Nov. 25, 2009 flash floods that killed at least 123 people and damaged thousands of vehicles and homes.

The average amount of rain during the winter months (November to January) is about 51mm.

He said what Jeddah is presently witnessing is due to climate change.

Of course I would put that last bit in, but the truth is the truth. The city's worked up over the floods produced by a not-so-dangerous rainfall. Sewage system drama and pointed fingers are all the rage once again.

A little more well-prepared (the people, apparently not government or its PR), real-time updates are everywhere in order to help keep people safe and direct them to dryer areas.

I'll post more things, for now there is an interactive real-time map to help find clear roads before getting stuck, a blog dedicated to it, a photo gallery on Arab News, and the Hashalbum sums up the images being posted on Twitter with the hashtag of #JeddahRain.

Cars floating away.

All related updates via Twitter

Muwatana updates to come.

Jeddah Takes Their Stance on Darwinism Seriously

I love Jeddah.

I'm not the first person to say it, and I'm not the last person I'll hear say it. While in Dubai to help my family pack up and move to quaint J-town, I have spoken to at least two non-Saudis this week alone say how much they love Jeddah.

I like the paradoxes more than anything. Similar to noticing babies everywhere when a family member is pregnant, it opened my eyes to how the whole world uses just as much doublethink.

At about this time last year, an interest I didn't realize I had manifested. I started subscribing to eco-friendly news and keeping up with the founders of Friends of Jeddah Parks¹ and Muwatana². It got serious when I revamped the environmental club at Effat and founded Faseelah³ about five months later. Since then, the extent of Saudi productivity has been gaining my understanding of it, especially when it comes to the environment.

Muslims (and thus, Saudis) know it's important to be a grateful for nature, so it isn't startling for kind-hearted initiatives to sprout amongst diurnal protocol. However, maintenance has been monetarily produced in Jeddah for as long as can be remembered by the recent generations.

And without sustainable maintenance, there's little chance for improvement. Little chance of growth or change. Evolution isn't something planned in Saudi, it's spontaneous. An act of God, if you will.

Saudis, and correct me if you don't agree, are a passionate people who get swept off their feet easily by marriage, careers, status, mingling, etc., so the initiatives tend to dwindle and die out.

I've been contemplating registering Faseelah as its own organization, so I head over to the JCCI⁴ website to see if they have any information on who to contact. To my pleasant surprise, they had a "Health-Environment" circular!

Last one dating December 14, 2006

Hm*.

So I see there's a specialized center for social responsibility. It's probably for businesses that are already up and running, and it was, but I thought I'd check it out anyway.

I didn't see any followup to these activities

It happens a lot, but not because they're stagnant. I've noticed PR isn't a prominent strength here.

Many people I speak to don't even know that Saudi Wildlife⁵ exists or that Saudi Arabia has many nature reserves.

Old dogs [apparently] don't learn new tricks around here, but a fresh wave coming with the Saudi Green Building Council⁶ and Saudi Water Savers⁷ (amongst many many many others) are embracing the power of interaction with its followers and following through personally.

There are many posts to come about each of the organizations, eco-happenings, and Faseelah updates. 

Exciting! :D

* In all fairness, I did find some general information and random applications (which were hard to find) that could be helpful later.


¹ Friends of Jeddah Parks (FJP) is a non-profit organization that lobbies for parks to be built in Jeddah. They mostly find pieces of land in high-risk neighborhoods that were originally intended to be parks and, when given permission, raise funds to build and maintain interactive communities. They've already built three successfully, and I'll leave more information for another post. Check out their site and Facebook page.


² Muwatana is a non-profit organization under the umbrella of the JCCI that focuses on volunteerism in Saudi. "Muwatana" (مواطنة) means "citizenship". It's an acronym for Mushārakah (مشاركة), Walā' (ولاء), 'Amānah (أمانة), Ṭamūḥ (طموح), Namū (نمو), Taṭwīr (تطوير). Which means participation, allegiance, trust, ambition, growth, development (respectively). 


³ Faseelah is my organization based in Effat University for the Effat community. It's based on the principles of Islamic environmentalism, with its name being derived from a hadith which states the importance of planting a date palms sapling (a very long process that we'll get into later) in regards to the day of judgement. The site and Facebook page are coming soon.

⁴ JCCI, the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is where a lot of volunteer organizations start. I'm not sure why they're always under their umbrella, but there you go. Most initiatives are started up by women, and the AlSayedah Khadijah Bint Khowailed (AKBK) center helps train and support women's startup businesses. The people who are responsible for the center tend to know the founders of organizations (this may not be the reason, but it's the pattern. Correct me if you know otherwise). 

⁵ Saudi Wildlife is (correct me if I'm wrong, please) a company that mostly takes people to nature reserves and raises awareness about the environment. They supported Earth Hour Jeddah '10, are associated with the World Wide Fund for nature, and are supported by the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development. Check out their site and YouTube channel.

⁶ Saudi Green Building Council is a non-profit NGO under the Saudi Environmental Society (yeah, we have one of those). Active on Facebook with links and news, they have potential. Check out their site and Facebook page.

⁷ Saudi Water Savers is a governmental initiative led by the Ministry of Water & Electricity in collaboration with a number of big companies. So far, they have held seemingly scattered and vague campaigns, but their website is pretty. I met the deputy of the Ministry of Water & Electricity, who was very enthusiastic to listen to my colleague's very blunt criticism of what can be done to make the campaigns stronger. Check out their site and Facebook page.

Saudi Blogger, Where Art Thou?

My time can be allocated in very efficient productive ways, but if I did that, I wouldn't be Khayra. Not that I'm proud of it, on the contrary, it's changing. "Gradually" is a good word to describe the change. "Smoothly" is also a good one, but "snail-paced" is probably the most accurate.

To the point; I've been looking for Saudi blogs because I'm dorky and no matter what I do I have to do it in the context of others doing the same thing. I like the feel of communities, I suppose. So what did I come up with after looking? Not much. Which is seriously sad, and it looks even more pathetic when I see sites like these. Why doesn't Saudi have just ONE all-encompassing site on collaboration and discussion? Who knows? Who cares? They're probably all on Facebook... Which isn't bad, just inconvenient.

-+EDIT+-// I stand corrected, there's a place for Saudi bloggers.

So I've taken it upon myself to make everyone else's life easier and put up some Saudi-based blogs on this post.

--+WARNING+--
Many are just about life in Saudi by expats

Saudi Jeans
American Bedu
Black Chick in Saudi
Alien Memoirs
Sas in Saudi
Rasheed's World
Susie's Big Adventure
Prom 2000



The following aren't blogs by Saudis, but helpful nonetheless.

Aramco Expats
Susie of Arabia