They were Carrying Aid not Armors

After the death of many civilians in Gaza every day due to the siege, here comes the turn on activists !!!

They were carrying food and medical aids and were on an international water when they were attack . Go read the news all over the international media, Today Israel has no friend.

May All help the people of Gaza . They are victims in a war they got nothing to do with. Not everyone there is Hamas . And may Allah protect the people who are trying to help them from all over the world.

May the 19 dead rest in peace and be awarded in heaven for their great courage.

One prominent member of the convoy is Swedish crime novelist Henning Mankell. Nobel peace laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire from Northern Ireland and the 85-year-old Holocaust survivor and activist Hedy Epstein are also on board. Dozens of European politicians were reported to be on the flotilla, including two members of the German parliament.

Source of Pictures

"Nothing can justify the use of violence such as this, which we condemn. The circumstances of this drama must be fully brought to light and we wish for a thorough inquiry to be put in place without delay." French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner

"High Representative Catherine Ashton expresses her deep regret at the news of loss of life.... On behalf of the European Union she demands a full enquiry about the circumstances in which this happened.... The continued policy of closure (by Israel) is unacceptable and politically counterproductive." A spokesperson for the European Union's foreign policy chief, High Representative Catherine Ashton

“What Israel has committed on board the Freedom Flotilla was a massacre " Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who declared three days of official mourning for the dead across the West Bank.

"We strongly condemn these inhumane practices of Israel. This deplorable incident, which took place in open seas and constitutes a flagrant breach of international law, may lead to irreparable consequences in our bilateral relations.… Israel will have to bear the consequences of this behavior, which constitutes a violation of international law." The Turkish Foreign Ministry, headed by Ahmet Davutoglu (pictured here), released a statement

Source

It was a death , yes. But an honorable one .

The State of the World's Human Rights

A short clip made by Amnesty International Organization about the State of the World's Human Rights in the occasion of the release of their Amnesty International's 2010 report documents abuses in 159 countries and shows how powerful governments are blocking advances in international justice by standing above the law on human rights, shielding allies from criticism and acting only when politically convenient.

MTV's True Life: Resist the Power ! Saudi Arabia

From the MTV's True Life's Programme. This one is from Saudi Arabia.

It follows four young Saudis from the city of Jeddah -three males and a female- .

You will hear their opinions about different matters that may not matter to other youths in the world, but are still issues here in Saudi Arabia.

Most of the discussions are in English or translated to English.

Watch it if you have 1 hour . And make up your own opinion .

I have read so many comments about this video at Saudi sites and there is not 100 % approval or disapproval. There is always the with or against.

True Life - MTV Shows

http://www.mtv.com/videos/true-life-resist-the-power-saudi-arabia/1639546/playlist.jhtml

This is What Disney Princesses Teach Girls

Is it ?

Click on the picture to enlarge if it's not clear :)

Source

A Family

Wikipedia defines Family as an exclusive group of people who share a close relationship —a unit typically (or "traditionally") composed of a mated couple and their dependent children ( procreation) in co-residence .

But what does a family really mean ? I mean we suppose to love and respect and stand by our families no matter what. But before these families were created, before the parents got married, were not they strangers themselves?. What makes them more important than any other people that i have known all my life.

Are families only those blood related?. what about the man and the woman, again, ? they are not related, so if i marry someone -even if i never known him before and can not love him at all-he will be more important than a friend i know for my whole life just because we sign a paper saying that we are married ?

OK, let's say that family and their matters goes only for those who have immediate blood relationship to you. We know that there are two kinds of families:-

good or great ones and dysfunctional ones.

it's understandable to love a good family and to protect them with your life.

How about the dysfunctional one ?

are we supposed to love the father who beat us, raped us and abused us in all possible way ?

Are we supposed to love and support a neglected mother?

Are we supposed to care for a sibling who never care and who treat you in a shitty way always ?

I am not judging btw, i am just wondering ?

in Saudi Arabia and in many other Arab countries, more of the violence against women and children go unreported because there is always the notion that you should not report you father for example. Because he is your father and the same goes with your brother or an abusive person.

Two days ago i read an article about violence against women in Lebanon and how there is a huge work to have strict laws against it ,and i was surprised and not at the same time ,that some members of the parliaments thinks that it's no one's right to involve between a husband and his wife!!!

Years ago, in Saudi Arabia a father might kill his son or daughter -for what ever reason- and he won't get executed-though it's the punishment for such crimes in Saudi Arabia- claiming that Prophet Muhammad had said ( no father shall be killed for killing his son ) .

Lately with the rise against violences at home and between families, stricter laws are been applying and you can read of an execution of a father who tortured his son or daughter that lead to their death.

So why is not the saying of the prophet applied now ?

is it even a true saying ? h

ow about killing them without tortured ?.

Can we consider such a thing a family ?

Yesterday and today there was a discussion between a group of teachers at school about what if you have to choose to save someone or give someone another chance in life: your kid or your brother ? whom would you choose? .

it was a simple discussion and i kinda thought that i know what will their answers be -their kids- but i was completely wrong. NONE of them have actually chosen their kids, they all choose the brothers !!! .

first of all let me explain that i really hate hypothetical questions because no matter what, things are completely different when you are facing with things rather than thinking about them.

So back to the question, another thing we believe in is the Arabic saying -if we want to choose between a brother and a son- that says " you can rebirth another son but you can not replace a missing -dead-brother ".

Hmmm Does that mean if i lost a son in death and then have another one , then the dead one will be forgotten !!!

I am not a mother and as for my brother i don't have that of a great relationship with them

- actually i have not spoken to one of them in a very long time-, but i believe that there is no stronger connection in the world than the mother-child connection.

But...i can not understand.I kept asking them how and why but none could convince me . And i couldn't convince them either.

Oh yea and one of them said that if she has to choose between her sons and daughters, she will choose her sons, and she said that she actually told her daughters that. ( what a beautiful thing to hear that my mother would choose my brother over me in any situation )!!!!

Is this a family ?

What is a family ?

Can i choose my father , mother, brother or sister even if they kill me just because they are my family ?

seriously, i am just wondering because i think i might be wrong.

One Moment Can Turn your Day into a Happy One :)

A blogger asked her reader a few days ago about what makes people happy? .

I didn't want to philosophizing things , but usually i believe that happiness is a matter of beautiful moments and things that you have during your life, if you have more of them then you are a happy person and if not then you might not be happy-according to me not you-.But that's just me.

Sometimes I would have a whole awful day and sometimes months but that doesn't mean I am not happy. I think of my self as a happy person and lucky sometimes. I have good things in my life and i guess at the end of my time, I might be collecting a lot of the happy moments and end up a happy person-in my dictionary-.

I usually take a book with me to the classes so if i have a few minutes left or between the girls work, i read a page or two from whatever i had. Today was a normal day, we finished early and i sat down reading and smiling to the things i was reading-they were amazing-and suddenly i raise my head to see that the whole class was looking at me. They laughed when they saw the look on my face. And then the question pour in about the book? the writer? what was the message of the book? . T

hey liked it a lot . And the usual me started by encouraging them to learn more and how can they start reading English books step by step, where to find them, what do they need..etc.

And that lead to their daily quest for the answer's to life. They are so depressed of the future , of what might happen to them. I tried my best to encourage them and tell them stories of me and how things turn out to be good for me when i thought nothing is going to be good again.

I encouraged them to have more faith in Allah and Allah only.

What I notice and this is not the first time we talked about that, that they liked to hear such things. I guess more than just gives them knowledge and fill their heads with information they can find everywhere, they need us to fill them with hopes and encouragements.

When the bill rang , none of us wanted to leave. I wanted to continue giving them hope and they wanted to continue listening .

I promised them to bring them the article of this 98 year old woman who just got her master degree.

I guess if this touches the life of one person and can change them, then i will be proud to be a teacher.

The book I was reading :)

Today, i collected more happy moments :)

Have you got your happy moments of the day ?

they might be there waiting for you and to turn your ugly day into the best of days.

Don't miss them :)

Street Terrorism

Our flat looks on a main street in my city. Hearing the sounds of the screech of the hundreds of cars speeding is scary. We have seen through the windows lots of accidents and some deaths. Is it the roads?is it the people ? . It's scary how people die so easily and how some might not be able to walk and live a normal life again.

Today, i found this amazing video which was made by a Saudi guy after the death of his cousin in an car accidents. The video is in Arabic but has English translation. The only scary thing about it is the numbers it give. There are no disturbing images so go ahead and watch it till the last sound.

I am in a Dilemma

About three weeks ago, i was talking to some of my students about volunteering and its importance to them and to those unprivileged .

They liked the idea a lot and decided to have some events to sell some stuff to gather money . We actually found some people who need it.

But then the first problem happened...

We are not allowed to collect money in public places such as schools.

Thanks to terrorist and the way they used to collect and launder money. It's a long story.

They were down a bit but then they some suggest that why don't we have it privately and collect and disturb the money ourselves.

I liked the idea but then you have to think that the words will spread and it's still not right to do it at school since i am a teacher at this governmental propriety.

Things were quiet for sometime. but I couldn't forget about all these people I now know about and who suffer.

Today, I asked one of my student about her poor neighbor( who is a woman of course ).

She and her family have been without electricity for sometime -in this heat-and shortage of food-thanks to the responsibility of their father- .

She told me that she was shy to come talk to me and that her family managed to give them a bit, I explained to her that this is not right and we can't be shy talking about such things, cuz they will be the victims of our awkwardness.

I talked to some of my friends and asked them if the can spare some money for a poor family. And some say ok.

Now here is my dilemma :-

I can not guarantee that my colleagues will donate every month.

I can not guarantee that i will help those people every month, i have a huge debt and responsibility every month so sometimes i may not be able to give a thing.

So it's not fair letting these people hanging and helping them a month and forgetting about them the next.

Someone would say how about the governmental institution and Private ones?

They usually require lots of papers and stupid things to enroll you and then give you small things.

Unfortunately though people pay Zakat but it's not shown in the country and the poor are even getting poorer. it's another long story.

I thought of having a pay pal account and ask for donation and help through my blog .I Just thought about the money coming to my account, is it a problem with the law i mean or is it up to me ? i don't know anything about the legality of such things.

I want to do something that will last for those in need even if it's small. So what shall I do ?

Life is not fair and i want to make it easier a bit.

Please I need you thoughts about how to help and if this pay pal thing is good or bad idea .

I need your ideas of how to help, any idea will be appreciated.

And thanks in advance :)

To You

To all of you out there who read me...

who supported me...

Who encourage me....

and pray for me silently...

and still

Thank you

:)

Broken Heart is Real

If someone said that they are broken hearted then they maybe are not exaggerating .

Broken heart syndrome is a real medical term and a heart condition that mostly hit women !!!

Mayo Clinic site gives us more information about the case.

Broken heart syndrome is a temporary heart condition brought on by stressful situations, such as the death of a loved one. Many people who have broken heart syndrome may have sudden chest pain or may think they're having a heart attack. These broken heart syndrome symptoms may be brought on by the heart's reaction to a surge of stress hormones. In broken heart syndrome, a part of your heart temporarily enlarges, a condition called cardiomyopathy.

Broken heart syndrome is treatable, and usually requires about a week to recover.

Broken heart syndrome can mimic a heart attack, with common symptoms being chest pain or shortness of breath. Any long-lasting or persistent chest pain could be a sign of a heart attack, so it's important you take it seriously

Broken heart syndrome is often preceded by an intense physical or emotional event. Some of the triggers of broken heart syndrome have included news of an unexpected death of a loved one, a frightening medical diagnosis, domestic abuse or losing a lot of money. Physical stressors, such as an asthma attack, a car accident or major surgery, also have been known to trigger broken heart syndrome.

How is broken heart syndrome different from a heart attack?

Most heart attacks are caused by a complete blockage of a heart artery due to a blood clot forming at the site of narrowing from fatty buildup (atherosclerosis). In broken heart syndrome, the heart arteries are not blocked, although blood flow in the arteries of the heart may be reduced.

Broken heart syndrome affects women far more often than men. Some research indicates nearly nine out of 10 cases occur in women, and of those, almost all are in women 50 or older.

In rare cases, broken heart syndrome is fatal. However, most who experience broken heart syndrome quickly recover and don't have long-lasting effects.
Other complications of broken heart syndrome include:

• Disruptions in your heartbeat
• A fast or slow heartbeat
• Backup of fluid into your lungs (pulmonary edema)

It's also possible that you may have broken heart syndrome again if you have another stressful event.

There are no standard treatment guidelines for treating broken heart syndrome.
At first, it's treated similar to a heart attack until the diagnosis is clear. There is no specific therapy, and most people stay in the hospital while they recover, which takes about a week.
Doctor will likely prescribe blood pressure medications for you to take while you're in the hospital, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, beta blockers or diuretics. These medications help reduce the workload on your heart while you recover. Usually, your doctor will tell you to stop taking these medications once you recover.
Procedures that are often used to treat a heart attack, such as coronary angioplasty and stent placement, are not helpful in treating broken heart syndrome. These procedures treat blocked arteries, which are not the cause of broken heart syndrome.



There's a small chance that broken heart syndrome can happen again after a first episode. There's no proven therapy to prevent additional episodes; however, many doctors recommend long-term treatment with beta blockers or similar medications that block the potentially damaging effects of stress hormones on the heart



Wish you a happy and healthy heart.
May your lives be filled with satisfaction and love with loved ones
:)

Men Are Just Happier ..

Men are Just Happier... are they ?

I got this in my mail, enjoy it for the fun of it..

Nicknames :

* If Laura , Kate and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura , Kate and Sarah .

* If Mike , Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla and Four-eyes.

Eating Out:

* When the bill arrives, Mike , Dave and John will each throw in R20, even though it's only for R32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back.

*When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

Bathrooms:

*A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel

*The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337 A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.

Arguments:

*A woman has the last word in any argument.

*Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

Future:

*A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

*A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

success:

*A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.

*A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

Marriage:

*A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't

*A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, but she does..

Dressing Up:

* A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the trash, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.

*A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

Offspring:

*Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.

*A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house..

Thought for the Day:-

A married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing!

International Nurses Day

How many of you know that there is a day called International Nurses Day and that it's being held every year from the 6-12th of May ?

I have not known a thing about it.

What a job !!!

being a nurse is not an easy job at all.

I am not that much in love with being a teacher and it's a huge responsibilities and difficulties but i think being a nurse is even more difficult.

Going around hospitals and clinks in Saudi Arabia, one of the things to notice is the shortage of Saudi nurses- male and female-.

Though it's been one of the sectors that most Saudi girls are attending but being a nurse is still a not favored job in here.

Here are some difficulties Saudi female nurses face and they are SOME only.

First: there is the assumption that mingling with men is forbidden. So lots of people would prevent their daughters from being nurses- yes that's another thing , a girl can not study ANYTHING without the approval of her male guardian- . And those who managed to do so are not look at in any good way. People think they are corrupt morally.

Second: if a girl is a nurse then she had to go through all hospitals shifts and there are the night shifts which no one wants. Because going back to your home late at night or early in the morning is another bad thing for WOMEN.

Third: people have no respect for nurses, all nurses, and mostly look at as if they are maids to order and control-and i discussed the way maids are treated here before so if you read that then you got the idea-.

Fourth: some of the nurses are given work in administration and medical records which is not their job to begin with and lead them to lose their practice in what they have been learned.

Fifth: nurses complain all the time about the assaults they got from patients and their relatives claiming that the nurses were rude and didn't cooperate. ( didn't cooperate in the Saudi dictionary means they didn't do what you want ).

Being a female nurse in Saudi Arabia is a tough decision , yet every year more brave girls made that tough choice and go ahead to being an angle of mercy in a place that have no mercy for them.

For all nurses of the world and all Saudi nurses God bless you and May your job and life filled with gratitude and smile, lots of them.

You deserve better than what you got :)

Are You Happy ?

Are You Happy ?

Are you ?

How do you define your happiness?.

I know that happiness is a subjective matter but what do you think the things that may make people happy ?

Love to hear your thoughts :)

The Italian

This is a movie that you can see when you are so down and I promise you that it will cheer you up and lift your spirit.

I noticed that during the whole 1 and a half hour -the length of the movie- the smile didn't leave my face

:)

Though the name of the movie is "the Italian" but it's actually a Russian one.

The movie about an orphanage home where kids living chaotic lives and waiting for couples to adapt them. The call the chosen one " the lucky ones".

And one day an Italian couple came to the place to chose a boy and they decided to have 6 year old Vanya Solntsev. The hero of the movie.

He was happy and everyone envied him . That's where the name of the movie came from " The Italian "

Everything changed when the mother of his old friend who was adopted previously came looking for her son. That will change the young boy's mind and he kept wondering

" what if my mother come to look for me ?" and he wanted to have a change of mind afraid that if he left with the Italian , she couldn't find him.

the mother of his friend

These questions and much more will change the sweetheart boy 's life and even at that young age he has a decision and stick to it no matter what.

the older girl who decided to help him.

Through the whole movie i was thinking of the blessing of having a family and someone who loves you especially a mother.

Years ago i thought of fostering a kid and it's still there. I was about to take that step a few months ago and then thought i will be able to by the end of the year if I was able financially , but now we have all these things about leaving the flat and the evacuation threat will still be hanging around our heads, I think it's the wrong time. Maybe in a few years inshAllah.

Being an orphan is not an easy thing. And i keep wondering why would people pay thousands of dollars to conceive a child -those with troubles- when you can adapt a child or foster them in easier ways. Happiness will go both ways.

It's sad knowing that what we see as an artistic work is the reflection of reality. The eagerness orphans have to be adapted by anyone, just to have a home,loving parents and being loved.

If you have the chance to see the movie go ahead and do it . And if you have some extra time read this article .

Watch the trailer- it has English subtitles-

True Friends !!

Videos Worth Watching

I love watching TED talks.

What is TED ? TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.

It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year's TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize. You can watch more videos at their sites TED .

Here are three talks that I have seen lately. They are about 18 minutes each.

Kavita Ramdas talking about ( Radical women, Embracing Tradition )

Roz Savage: Why I'm Rowing

Esther Duflo: Social experiments to Fight Poverty ( her accent is so thick ,she is French,and you can not understand her easily at times, so you can click on translation and got the English one)

Marcel Started His Treatments :)

My lovely and amazing friend angie and her husband are facing difficult times due to Marcel's cancer.

Last time I asked those of you who had not read angie's blog to pray for her and her family.

And we have a great God :) .

Marcel started his treatment this Monday.

Angie have discussed it all here .

Please pray for Marcel and that this treatment will work for him, it's a trail treatments .

Pray for his well-being and that his journey with the second time cancer will be successful and that he will beat this ugly disease. And I am sure he will.

Angie and Marcel , i am, ashamed to complain when i see how courageous and strong you go in with this battle, but if i am sure of one thing , then it's the power of prayers . Keep praying :)

And insAllah soon you will look at this period as the past.

The future is ahead of you three ( with your lovely son) , Just be strong.

Please pray for Marcel , it won't cost you a thing :)

Now That's What I Call a Great School .

According to Dr. Aied Al-Qahtani from king Saudi University obesity between Saudi has affected 60 % of the population. A study stats scary numbers ,8 million Saudi kids and children are obese!!! . And the percent is 28 among school children .

So if parents care less about the health of their children, the school should.

After all it's one of its rules. And here comes this amazing one.

An intermediate school in the city of Taif (the western province of Saudi Arabia) held a healthy program for its student to help them lose weights. And stay healthy.

So far the school has honored two of the students who joined the program and managed to lose weight by giving them free subscription to a private clink to check their health while following their healthy program to lose more weights.

one of the students has lost 15 kg and going from 124 kg to 109 kg. ( it's so sad to let them go this big ) ,another one has lost 5 kg going from 94 to 89 kg.

The principle of the school Eid AlOrabe said that the program has encouraged many more students to join :)

Now that's what i call a great school and a great principle.

The program will affect the student's life for ever.

I raise my hat for such amazing and inspiring person and people :)

Here is more information about obesity

What is Obesity?

An obese person has accumulated so much body fat that it might have a negative effect on their health. If a person's bodyweight is at least 20% higher than it should be, he or she is considered obese. If your Body Mass Index (BMI) is between 25 and 29.9 you are considered overweight. If your BMI is 30 or over you are considered obese.

What is Body Mass Index (BMI)?

The BMI is a statistical measurement derived from your height and weight. Although it is considered to be a useful way to estimate healthy body weight, it does not measure the percentage of body fat. The BMI measurement can sometimes be misleading - a muscleman may have a high BMI but have much less fat than an unfit person whose BMI is lower. However, in general, the BMI measurement can be a useful indicator for the 'average person'.