Listening and advising

During our last day this week in Aswan we listened to a group of the local trainers and gave them advice on "learner centered teaching". We also met with a group of owners of new start-up small businesses who benefited from training programs at the local partner institution.

 The CEO of the local partner organization was happy with our work. Together we have made some nice progress in the capacity building capacity here in Aswan. That deserves during the evenings a bit of relaxing time....

Goodbye beautiful Aswan. See you next time....

On the river Nile

The history and mystique of the land around the mighty river Nile. Today we had a bit of time in between busy activities to take an hour on one of the old sailing boats of the Nile.

And at our hotel there was a big event hosted by the Rotary around a large local health project where the good women and men of the local Rotary have assisted....

Training in Aswan

Today our team monitored a few classes of the electricity technician and solar maintenance programs we helped our colleagues here in Aswan develop. This class was about safety of working at heights. On the roof of the building a few solar panels are installed for instruction purposes; the cords go into the building for that purpose; would be done a bit different in Canada with more strict regulations....

And storage of materials would also be organized a bit different. But the project now has already achieved that these short programs (10 weeks) are being delivered and assist unemployed youth with new opportunities in the local job market. The classrooms have the training boards for electrical training and a few solar panels for instruction sessions.

These are some of the first panels in the city of Aswan, a city with a population of about 300,000 in the far south of Egypt. Nearby large new solar farms are being constructed in the desert; this will be an area of economic growth for the region. We had meetings with the instructors and we visited a music program where I signed up....

And after a busy day I had some time for a nice walk along the river Nile near our hotel.....

ASDP program in Egypt

This week I am with three colleagues in the city of Aswan in the south of Egypt. This is my third visit here since January 2016 when we started this five year project with the Aga Khan Foundation Canada on local skills development: ASDP stands for "Aswan Skills Development Program". The setting is fantastic: our hotel is located right along the famous Nile river and every morning we cross with a small ferry boat to the city. Our local partners are the "Om Habibeh Foundation": a local NGO or as they call it here Civil Society Organization.

The OHF runs in partnership with the AKFC a small but fast growing training center and the project is funded through Canadian international development funds of GAC - Global Affairs Canada.

After a long first day of meetings and workshops we wait for the ferry back to our hotel. One productive day of international cooperation done; four more to go...

Back in Egypt

Last night arrived back in Cairo for a week of work in our five year project in Aswan, located in southern Egypt (see also posts in January 2016 and February 2018). This afternoon Nadim, Maria and I will fly to Aswan. A full agenda of activities for the next five days. The photo above is the famous public square where the popular protest events happened what is now probably already ten years ago. Today a quiet Saturday morning at the square....

And just for memory sake, recently saw my old Delft degree on the wall again at my father-in-law's house (he has them all up from his kids and spouses). Now 37 years ago. Wow....

International Development Week

This week students and staff at Seneca celebrate "International Development Week". An interesting program has been organized by a small team of current and former students and their theme this year is "Empowering Voices". I attended a session on languages and how many of them around the world are at risk of extinction. With them will go complete cultures and important knowledge. Under the guidance of one of the Seneca professors (who originates from Denmark) we listened to a language expert from Ghana (who also speaks Spanish!) and an expert from one of the First Nations in Canada where the many indigenous languages were close to wiped out because of the "residential schools".

Good attendance at this session. The organizing team had events like this every day at each of the campuses of Seneca. A wonderful extra-curricular learning opportunity for everybody.