#gyin: Global Youth Innovation Network a platform for young women entrepreneurs to shine and advance their business

From 10-13 October 2011, IFAD together with Phelps Stokes Fund and in collaboration with the Government of Benin, Songhai Centre, Palmares Fundação cultural, Fundación Activos Culturales Afro (ACUA) and the GIVE 1 Project is holding a four-day event for young entrepreneurs - agents of change.

This morning, I met Nabiha Farrag - one of the many participants of this event. Farrang is a young Egyptian entrepreneur who runs a handicraft workshop in Asyut, south of Cairo.

"I am coming to this event to share what I am doing with a wider audience. I see this as a business opportunity to show case my products and to advance my activity", says Farrag.

Farrag started her handicraft business inspired by her father's work. After working with him for 15 years, four years ago she spread her wings and set up her own workshop. Her biggest challenge was and continues to be access to credit.

"To set up my workshop, I got an initial loan of EGP3000 and after I showed that I was credit-worthy I managed to get an extra EGP5000."

Farrang's monthly income is just enough to make ends meet. To really take the workshop  but to really take the workshop to scale, she needs approximately EGP20,000 to buy additional equipment and quality raw material.


Farrag hopes that this event will give her a platform to share her experience, to make new contacts, to show case her products, to manage to mobilize resources so that she can further advance her business.

"I will have a stand during the event and sincerely hope that when people see the workshop's products, the orders will start pouring in. One of my aspirations and goals from this event is to be able to sell my products and make enough money to buy the additional equipment I need for the workshop", explains Farrang.

Farrang although married is practically a single mother. "I am coming to this event with lots of hope. It was a great sacrifice to leave behind my four year old son. I sincerely hope that I get a lot from this event", tell me Farrang.

And we all hope that on Friday when she leaves, she leaves rich in heart, in soul, in knowledge and as they say in French rich in "sous". We should not forget that  investing in women and young girls is the pathway to stability and growth. This is why it is important to empower women, because by doing so, we make sure that the entire community thrives.

Mubarak Installs Israeli/British/US Intelligence Operative as Vice President of "New" Egyptian Government

More of the same.

See:

Mubarak names his deputy and new PM

Egypt's Next Strongman

Mubarak Dismisses Government, Calls for "Dialogue"

Could the people of Egypt believe that a new government formed and run by the same Israeli puppet-tyrant would reflect any significant improvement? Could they believe that "dialogue" with this representative of those schemers building their "Jewish" kingdom from the Nile to the Euphrates is what is needed now? I pray that these people are not so deluded as my countrymen. May God guide these people in their struggle and free them completely from Zionist tyranny.

Mubarak dismisses government

January 28, 2011 - Al-Jazeera

Embattled leader says he will name a new government on Saturday.

The Egyptian president has dismissed his government, saying that he will replace it with a new one on Saturday.

In an address to the nation late on Friday after four days of deadly protests , Hosni Mubarak said that change can not be achieved through chaos but through dialogue.

Mubarak promised to press ahead with social, economic and political reforms.

He appealed directly to the people and said he understood they wanted him to address poverty, employment and democratic reform and pledged progress.

Mubarak urged calm, adding that only because of his own reforms over the years, were people able to protest.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Cairo, said many Egyptians calling for change would say the sacking of the government is not enough.

"Ultimately in Egypt, the power lies with the president," he said.

"On paper, you have an independent parliament and an independent judiciary but every Egyptian will tell you that at the end of the day, power is concentrated in the hands of the president.

"Very few institutions can challenge his authority so the sacking of the cabinet is not going to end the grievances of the people."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011128222033802146.html

Egypt's Muslims Attend Coptic Christmas Mass, Serving as Human Shields

Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields"

Muslims turned up in droves for the Coptic Christmas mass Thursday night, offering their bodies, and lives, as “shields” to Egypt’s threatened Christian community

Yasmine El-Rashidi - Al-Ahram

January 7, 2011

Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held outside.

From the well-known to the unknown, Muslims had offered their bodies as “human shields” for last night’s mass, making a pledge to collectively fight the threat of Islamic militants and towards an Egypt free from sectarian strife.

“We either live together, or we die together,” was the sloganeering genius of Mohamed El-Sawy, a Muslim arts tycoon whose cultural centre distributed flyers at churches in Cairo Thursday night, and who has been credited with first floating the “human shield” idea.

Among those shields were movie stars Adel Imam and Yousra, popular preacher Amr Khaled, the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak, and thousands of citizens who have said they consider the attack one on Egypt as a whole.

“This is not about us and them,” said Dalia Mustafa, a student who attended mass at Virgin Mary Church on Maraashly. “We are one. This was an attack on Egypt as a whole, and I am standing with the Copts because the only way things will change in this country is if we come together.”

In the days following the brutal attack on Saints Church in Alexandria, which left 21 dead on New Year’ eve, solidarity between Muslims and Copts has seen an unprecedented peak. Millions of Egyptians changed their Facebook profile pictures to the image of a cross within a crescent – the symbol of an “Egypt for All”. Around the city, banners went up calling for unity, and depicting mosques and churches, crosses and crescents, together as one.

The attack has rocked a nation that is no stranger to acts of terror, against all of Muslims, Jews and Copts. In January of last year, on the eve of Coptic Christmas, a drive-by shooting in the southern town of Nag Hammadi killed eight Copts as they were leaving Church following mass. In 2004 and 2005, bombings in the Red Sea resorts of Taba and Sharm El-Sheikh claimed over 100 lives, and in the late 90’s, Islamic militants executed a series of bombings and massacres that left dozens dead.

This attack though comes after a series of more recent incidents that have left Egyptians feeling left out in the cold by a government meant to protect them.

Last summer, 28-year-old businessman Khaled Said was beaten to death by police, also in Alexandria, causing a local and international uproar. Around his death, there have been numerous other reports of police brutality, random arrests and torture.

Last year was also witness to a brutal parliamentary election process in which the government’s security apparatus and thugs seemed to spiral out of control. The result, aside from injuries and deaths, was a sweeping win by the ruling party thanks to its own carefully-orchestrated campaign that included vote-rigging, corruption and rife brutality. The opposition was essentially annihilated. And just days before the elections, Copts - who make up 10 percent of the population - were once again the subject of persecution, when a government moratorium on construction of a Christian community centre resulted in clashes between police and protestors. Two people were left dead and over 100 were detained, facing sentences of up to life in jail.

The economic woes of a country that favours the rich have only exacerbated the frustration of a population of 80 million whose majority struggle each day to survive. Accounts of thefts, drugs, and violence have surged in recent years, and the chorus of voices of discontent has continued to grow.

The terror attack that struck the country on New Year’s eve is in many ways a final straw – a breaking point, not just for the Coptic community, but for Muslims as well, who too feel marginalized, persecuted, and overlooked, by a government that fails to address their needs. On this Coptic Christmas eve, the solidarity was not just one of religion, but of a desperate and collective plea for a better life and a government with accountability.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/95/3365/Egypt/Attack-on-Egypt-Copts/Egypts-Muslims-attend-Coptic-Christmas-mass,-servi.aspx

Benedict & JPII Offered Mass in Front of an Obelisk

Pope Benedict XVI, flanked by Archbishop Piero Marini, celebrates Palm Sunday Mass at the foot toe the ancient Egyptian obelisk in the center of St. Peter's Square April 9, 2006.

http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2007d/122807/122807i.htm

John Paul II, celebrating Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's square on April 16th, 2000 in front of the Egyptian obelisk

The eight spokes (or double cross) emanating from the obelisk in St. Peter's square likely represent the eight divisions of the solar calendar: solstices, equinoxes and quarter cross days. The obelisk originated in Heliopolis, Egypt, the home of the occult Hermetic tradition which St. Augustine preached against.