Today was definitely a packed day and a late night so I am going to comment on a couple of things and then call it a day.  I hope to put the next podcast together tomorrow night after I arrive in Jeddah on the western coast of Saudi Arabia.

We started in a private school, and I will put that experience together with my experiences in other schools in the next day or two.  Then we attended a discussion session with the Majlis Al Shura, the major representative and advisement body to the royal government.  Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, but there is recognition that consensus among a broad group of experts is important to the stable and effective governance of the nation.  This council or Majlis is where representatives of various regions and employment backgrounds can discuss important issues within the Kingdom.  These officials are selected based upon achievements in their fields and then form committees to match their strengths.  We had an excellent visit with the Secretary General and other members.  We discussed the impact of the media on perceptions between nations and how bridges need to be made between cultures to prevent false assumptions from being made.  When asked what the biggest issues faced by their nation were, the first mentioned involved their unbelievable growth rate, the huge numbers of young people, and the challenges this growth presents in developing education and employment opportunities.

Questions to consider...
1.  What are the major differences between our government and the Saudi government?
2.  Why is the rapid growth rate such a great concern in the Kingdom?  What challenges can such growth have on a society?

I'm going to keep things brief for today.  Hopefully, tomorrow I will be up and running in Jeddah and get another podcast out to you.  Masalama!


# - Kevin Witte - 2/22/06; 5:00:35 PM - Discuss
Enclosure: -

First of all, yesterday I suggested you try to use Google Earth to find the Shaybah oil production center in the Empty Quarter.  If you found it, drop me a message on the discussion board to let me know.  If you didn't, try to look in the neighborhood of 22 degrees north latitude and 53 degrees east longitude.  It actually does a fantastic job of rendering the facility and allows you to explore the rest of the desert.  Also, it was brought to my attention that you can also find some center irrigation pivots out in the desert on Google.  I saw some today as we neared Riyadh in our plane.  See what you find as far as that goes.  It turns out that Saudi Arabia has exerted a great deal of effort to reach a higher level of self-sufficiency with regards to food production, with a desert climate, irrigation played a major role in attempting to overcome such challenges, and it turns out that there were some Nebraskans that came over to help install these pivots in the neighborhood of 10-30 years ago.

Arrival in Riyadh
 
As I mentioned on my podcast yesterday, Saudi Arabia truly is country made up of distinct regional cultures.  Today was our first opportunity to see this first hand as we traveled from the Eastern Province to the Najd region and the capital of the country, Riyadh.  Riyadh is a huge city of around 4.5 million people and growing steadily.  This is the heart of the Saudi Kingdom and the home of the Saudi Royal Family.  Traditionally, it has been a fairly conservative portion of the Kingdom, but I think it is very important to remember that to simplify one's viewpoint towards another group to such a simple label would fail to reflect the diversity of people living in the region.
 
Actually, today afforded us the opportunity to tour most of the country's regions through the Janadriah Festival.  This festival lasts two or three weeks and invites people from all over the Kingdom to develop displays, exhibits, craft stalls, etc. to preserve and explain the traditions of each distinct region.  It was truly incredible!  Walking through the festival allowed us to "travel" through the country in a way that would have been impossible any other way.  Each region worked so hard and brought so much of their culture into what they displayed.


Riyadh itself is an expansive, growing city.  Because most of its growth has come in the last few decades, many of the buildings, high rise offices, and luxury hotels are incredibly new and beautiful.  I apologize for the fact that the following two photos were taken from the bus, but they show two of Riyadh's most interesting and iconic buildings.

The Kingdom Tower	The Al-Faisaliah Tower

 
 
These buildings and the past heritage of various regions that I experienced in the morning show quite clearly just how much change has come to the Kingdom in only a few short decades.  It is important to remember that this is a very young nation that overcame a very harsh environment to build an economically viable country.
 
The theme of change runs within the people as well.  One of the Aramco employees who assisted us with the program in the Eastern Province is currently waiting to hear how her mother did in the first ever election of female candidates for the provincial chamber of commerce.  Another woman I spoke with just this evening is an ophthalmologist and surgeon and recently established a joint Saudi-American organization aimed to improve and enhance relations between the two nations.  Students that our female teachers visited with just a few days ago stated that even though women are not currently allowed to drive, there will likely come a day when this will happen.  Things are changing, and some on the outside see the change as being slow, but in reality, when considering the young age of the nation, change in many ways has come more rapidly than in many other parts of the world.  The challenge is managing change in such a way as to preserve stability in society and protect cultural identity and heritage.  It definitely makes it an exciting time to be in the Kingdom.
 
If possible in your classrooms discuss how societies change.  What is the impact when drastic changes come to a society?  Which is better rapid or gradually change?  What changes would you like to see in your own community, state, country, world?  How does change impact identity?  Is it valuable to study the changes that have taken place in other lands the effects that followed in other parts of the world?

# - Kevin Witte - 2/22/06; 10:22:41 AM - Discuss (1 response)
Enclosure: -