Yes for childhood without marriage!

Kuni wa Kun would welcome Yemen's adoption of the law that sets a minimum age for marriage of both boys and girls. The Yemeni Parliament should consider health and education for young people when discussing the law; children should be children and not bear the responsibilities of an adult marriage.

The World's Longest Toilet Queue

Sana'a, March 21- Today, 2.6 billion people, including almost one billion children, lives without basic sanitation. Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation, that’s preventable deaths each year. Improved sanitation reduces cholera, worms, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition among other maladies that cause disease and death in millions of people. In Yemen only 31 percent of urban populations are linked to the public sanitation network. In rural areas only 21 percent is provided with adequate sanitation coverage.

Enough is enough! 4,000 children are dying every single day just because they don’t have access to sanitation or clean water. It's the biggest killer of children that is completely preventable. The world must unite and vote for politicians to act and stop all these preventable deaths. Hence, on Sunday, March 21st, 2010, Kuni Wa Kun stepped up to volunteer in a worldwide water awareness event. The event was held in Al-Sabe'en Park and was sponsored by GTZ and Yemen Times newspaper. Kuni Wa Kun organized a variety of games and activities to entertain the crowd while they queued. As people came and registered their names, the Kuni Wa Kun activities were taking place. The Kid's Corner provided coloring books, face painting, and story telling. The games corner was full of people playing games such as jump-rope, hopscotch, and miniature football.
Kuni Wa Kun volunteers helped in registration and distribution of food, T-shirts, and caps imprinted with the World's Longest Toilet Queue logo. Along with the activities, a DJ was playing throughout the duration of the event. The day concluded with a distribution of prizes such as mobile phones for raffle winners.






Ba9mat Shabab initiatives are preparing the boundaries between each lane of participant.







Members of Kuni Wa Kun working hand in hand with Ba9mat Shabab, sticking posters of the event.





Another picture of Kuni Wa Kun with the help of Ba9mat Shabab initiative, coloring the sign of Kids Corner.







The crowd, and yet people were still coming!!!









A member of Kuni Wa Kun along with a member of Ba9mat Shabab initiative, waiting for people to approach for signing signatures.






A member of Kuni Wa Kun, painting a kid's face.






The crowd was wonderfully cooperative.




Members of Kuni Wa Kun, busy writing participants' names.





FINALLY, after a very long day! Some of Kuni Wa Kun team got a group picture 

Kuni wa Kun's workshop at Exceed

SANA’A, March 11- With the belief that stereotypes and prejudice against women, must practically, not only theoretically, be addressed and confronted, our team has started targeting different institutes through a series of workshops.

So far, we have completed a successful one in Exceed, with the title of "Shades of Gray". The title implies the simplified view which we tend to have about women, as either victims or deviants, without looking at them as active players in the society, who add more shades and colors to 'the picture'. The main goal of the workshop was to problematize our understanding of Yemeni women in the present day by providing information, conducting short activities and organizing informal discussions/debates. At the same time, we wanted to spark the participants’ interest in our initiative, get their feedback, and recruit potential volunteers. Having our very first workshop allowed us, as Kuni wa Kun, to have a 'hands-on' experience with the participants. However, away from the top-down monologues, our workshop was mainly interactive, offering room to Exceed's students to voice their opinions and concerns, both and good.

Our team, Amal, Areej, Ibrahim, and Najla, would like to sincerely thank Exceed's administration for their warm and enthusiastic response and support.

Kuni wa Kun Celebrates International Women’s Day

On Monday, March 8, 2010, Kuni wa Kun (a new youth-led initiative) held its first activity by co-organizing the International Women’s Day celebration with the US Embassy. The event was held at the National Museum and included the honoring of 6 Yemeni females, an art gallery, and a musical performance.




Guests began arriving at 8:30, walking through the pre-modern inner stone gate of the museum and finding a seat or a spot to stand under the large tent that was set up in the middle of the



Amal al-Ashtal from Kuni wa Kuni opened the program at 9:00, providing a brief statement on women’s international day and the message of Yemeni youth, represented by Kuni wa Kuni.




Mr. Abdul Aziz al-Jindari, director of the National Musuem, then followed with a statement on Yemeni women’s status in ancient history. Ms. Angie Bryan, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US embassy, then gave her keynote speech that was followed with the honoring of 6 Yemeni females for their outstanding courage and achievements.
The 6 women honored were: Nujood al-Ahdal (former child bride), Reem al-Numeiri (former child bride), Tawakol Karaman (notable journalist), Arwa Ali Saeed (survivor of a landmine explosion), Fatima al-Aqel (leader in care provision for blind females), and Jamala al-Baidhani (leader in care provision for handicapped females).













After the honoring, Ms. Angie and Mr. Abdul Aziz cut the ribbon and opened the art gallery that included various works either by or about women. The gallery had a rich variety of exhibits, ranging from miniatures of traditional customs and practices, paintings, to silverwork, and caricature. The gallery was graced by the contributions of the following artists: Areej al-Eryani, Arwa al-Yarimi, Ali al-Ma’bari, Kamal Sharaf, Howaida al-Kibsi, Jumana al-Shami, Nawal al-Mutwakkil, and Sara al-Sami’i.





Throughout the rest of the day, a youth musical band, , entertained the guests with their impressive talents. The band was composed of lead singer Talat al-Rabe’a and players Kunal Ollery (guitar), Karmen AbdulAziz (guitar), Ahmed al-Shaibah(Oud), and Ala’a Haider(guitar).

Latest logo

Kuni wa Kun campaign's logo.

The team's 5th group meeting

Last Thursday, most of Kuni wa Kun team's members met to share, talk about, finalize points on launching the coming campaign. Here is a summary of what happened by Amal Ashtal.

We had the team's 5th group meeting, this time enjoying the fabulous site at the top of Burj Al-Salam hotel in Old Sana'a (thank you Ibrahim for pushing for this change). Although the plan was to discuss the initiative's progress for one hour before eating, it was difficult to defeat our hunger and we discussed things over food. Led by Ibrahim, the 3 hour meeting resulted in creating a structured working plan that divides the initiative into "units" and their coordinators.

Kuni wa Kun visiting pioneers

On Thursday, Jan 28, 2010, the Kuni-kun-ers had another interesting day. We began a group meeting at 1:30 pm at Mokha Bunn (the plan was to go to a restaurant but we decided that would be less productive)...lasting till 3:30, the meeting included overall discussions of where the Kuni initiative stands and what the next steps should be. Then at around 4, a group of us (Amal, Najla, Ibrahim, Zulfa, Fras, and Ahmed) went to visit Dr. Mohammed Asda at his home. He is one of those people with many hats: a neurologist, TV presenter, and musician who speaks Chinese fluently and is well-versed in religion. We also met Dr. Fuad al-Sabri from UNDP there and both of them gave us general advice on how to approach the woman's issue in Yemen. Being the wonderful host he is, Dr. Mohammed then entertained us by playing the piano and Oud while we munched on some snacks (more like attacked the food since we hadn't had lunch :S ).

Second Visit to the House of Folklore

On January 24, we (Areej, Ibrahim and Najla) started the literature-review process at the House of Folklore’s libraryin order to constuct a clearer image of the Yemeni woman - in the distant past. There was a variety of books containing old humorous stories and idioms, but unfortunately Mrs Arwa Othman was not there to help us pick the most beneficial books that would help in our initiative. We haven’t had the chance to finish our research, so we decided to make another visit next week to continue research.

Do you know about Meel al-Thahab center?

On Tuesday (26th of January), we (Areej, Najla and Ibrahim) were warmly welcomed by Ms. Fatima Al-Baidhani at Meel Al-Thahab. We introduced ourselves to her and gave a brief description about Kuni wa Kun, its message and goals.

Afterward, she told us about her institute (which is considered a NGO); it was established in 2007 by a group of people who wanted to maintain the verbal inheritance of our culture from vanishing. The name “Mayl Al-Thahab” was stimulated from one of the old folkloric stories. Mayl also means the eye Kohl, and Thahab is gold, and the most unique thing about a human is the eyes or the pretty eyes with Kohl. The institute’s main goal is to build a database for all our verbal inheritance (stories, songs myths, etc…). They are collected from people in different areas around the country (recorded, written or video-taped) and then saved.

Ms. Fatima emphasized that the new generation’s identity is deteriorating because they are losing their verbal inheritance and are negatively affected by Western ideologies and behaviors. She also noted that this institute might be the door for our country to develop and prove its unique identity. When we asked her about the reason of her interest in this verbal inheritance, she replied that she had a passion since she was a little child in listening to old folkloric stories and songs.

She ended by telling us that their website will soon be launched , and that she’s expecting another visit from us to discuss how we can use such folkloric heritage in our initiative.

Welcoming Pioneers

By Amal al-Ashtal:

Making sure I took advantage of working at the Sheba Center for Strategic Studies, I began attacking all my work colleagues at our center and telling them about Kuni wa Kun. The biggest victim was my boss, who is an expert in gender issues.

She's been very helpful so far, helping connect us with Sabrina and the MEPI Alumni Steering Committee (with whom we had a great meeting yesterday- Mai wrote about that). She also gave us some great ideas of activities we could do (such as reviving old traditional games) and pointed us to people who can be great hepf (such as her own husband who wrote a book on traditional proverbs in yemen that we could use in reflecting some interesting aspects of Yemeni oral culture).

Another victim was the head of the financial affairs, who brought the works of his very talented female neighbor to my attention. She has a fascinating collection of hand made items, from bags, to clothing, to cute little models of people in different social settings. We will hopefully be bringing this lady and exhibiting her work for sale during our IWD celebration.

I then began widening my attack at work to include guest visitors and the biggest victim of those was Dr. Mohammed Asda (who's a neurologist and also running a show on al-Yemen TV for more than 10 years now), who offered to give a talk on the IWD and even invited us to his home this coming thursday for a chat! (lovely, lovely guy!) .


This deal with Dr. Mohammed was made Sunday morning, and on Sunday afternoon I went to visit Dr. Raufa Hassan, as she'll be one of our consultants. She greatly welcomed the initiative, point me to some examples that we could learn from in Egypt, and cordially offered her office and its resources for us to use at our leisure.

The next morning I managed to pass by the National Musuem and spoke to the director, Mr. Abdulaziz al-Jindari, about the possibity of holding our celebration at the museum's courtyard. He was very welcoming, and even offered a gallery room that we can use to display any works of arts we might have.

The French Cultural Center called me this morning and they're interested in co-organizing the event with us! nice, huh!? We're meeting up with them next week.

A meeting with MEPI

By Mai Noman:
Editor-in-Chief
YoO mag

Amal Al Ashtal and myself had a meeting on January 25th with Sabrina Faber (MEPI) and two young female activists from the MEPI alumni, Om Kalthoum Al Shami and Lamees Dahaq. The ladies were extremely helpful and very hopeful about our initiative. They offered several contacts that would show support to Kuni as well as their advice based on their own experiences with similar projects. One of the main things we discovered is that there is a harassment police led by AbulGhani Al Wageeh. Amal and I will be contacting him as well as other referrals to find ways of cooperation especially that their insight on dealing with such issues will be invaluable.

*The MEPI (Middle East Partnership Initiative)Alumni Network is a community of alumni of MEPI-sponsored programs. It provides opportunities for participants to network with each other, develop their careers, and learn more about the accomplishments of the alumni community, thus helping to extend their program experience.

^Kuni was kun campaign’s preparations^

Here are some of the latest actual preparations done by Kuni wa kun team’s members:


By Haifa Shamsan:
So far, i've contacted the following:
1.Shumaila Hary: reg. the stands & posters, and are willing to help.
2. Sana'a Radio Station: was transferred to Al-Waleed for Advertising, who are in charge of Sana'a Radio ad's.
& in order to proceed with the above, we need to be officialy named under any organization or institute, therefore, i'm waiting for Amal to give me the green light & i'll start with my work :)
3. Yemen Music House: requested the following,
1. to compose a theme song for the campaign.
2. a musical performance by their studens - it will be a guitar performance
by a female.

*****

By Amal al-Ashtal:
We gave a draft proposal to the wife of the Sudanese ambassador, who will be recommending that the Ambassadors' Wives Association consider supporting our initiative. I left my contact info so hope to hear from them soon.

On 24th Jan., - Met with Raufa Hassan today. She was very excited about the initiative and asked me to look up a project that was done in Egypt for feminizing the public sphere so that we learn from them. She thinks we should actually work towards getting a formal registration for ourselves instead of going under another organization. She also offered that we could freely use the resources and space of her organization (located in al-Tahreer).
- Met with a doctor and TV presented, Mohammed Asda, who invited us to his place on Thursday! :) .. he'll talk to us about a workshop he's willing to give for us on IWD. And he's such a wonderful wonderful person!

*****

By Ibrahim Nasher:
Najla, Amal and I decided to launch a series of small presentations in different institutes like MALI, YALI and Exceed. We basically want to go and talk for 5-10 minutes to other students about the campaign. This will be a good opportunity for more publicity, ideas and resources.
If we feel that the students are really interested, then we'll start planning for workshops which will allow the students to get more detailed info on the initiative, who we are, and our exact vision.

Genuine Folklore, inspirational persona and a kuni living example; welcome to a quick meeting with Arwa Othman

On Tuesday (19th of January), we (Najla, Areej and Ibrahim) went to visit Arwa Othman, a Yemeni researcher and writer, at the House of Folklore in Al-Ga3. We were warmly welcomed with traditional Yemeni coffee (Qisher) in hand-made cups. And after introducing ourselves to Mrs. Othman with a brief description of the campaign, its message and goals, we started conversing about the Folklore house and beautiful collections she has. Othman narrated interesting stories on women from different areas around Yemen, totally expressing how life was simpler and more joyful in the old days, and how women's gatherings were different and more meaningful than those of the present day (old gatherings, in some areas, included both men and women all together).

We inquired into the reasons why she is interested in collecting all the items she has and keeping them in her small Folklore house. Her response was rather interesting. Unlike what we expected, she argued that her passion towards collecting such items is nothing but a means for personal satisfaction. We also asked her about the role of women in the past, whether it is changing and developing now, but she emphasized that during the 60s and 70s women were more liberal and they were given better chances than what happens in the present day. She also mentioned how religiosity and religious groups coming from the Gulf, has negatively affected the women and their role in society. She, for example, noted some incidents which took place in some areas which are located on high altitude such as Al-mahweet where religious extremism has even affected the dress-code of the people, enforcing different styles that are inconvenient with the environment in which the locals live. That is, women now are more prone to injure themselves climbing rocks and mountains while carrying water or taking care of their animals, because of the black Baltos they have to wear. Also, such religious movements have buried and forbidden the feminine aspects of our culture (including songs, story-telling, and dancing). However, she believes in change; and that, as a youth, we must believe in change or at least a dream of change in order for us to survive.

When we asked her if she has any Yemeni idols, such as queen Sheba or Arwa, she, surprisingly, answered by saying no! In her opinion, humans must not trap themselves in a figure, but spread their wings and try to achieve what those idols could not have done. Simply put, she believes in herself and how to prove her identity as a woman in a male-oriented society. Finally, she showed us her collection and photos which were of a major significance. We definitely encourage you to pay this house a visit!

A very important point our group wants to emphasize is the disappointing truth Mrs. Othman revealed during our conversation. Before visiting Mrs. Othman, we did a brief research on the Folklore House and found several articles featuring her complaining about the current condition of the place. Therefore, she was arguing the government to find another building in order to protect her collections. According to those articles, the Folklore house had been located in the Old City and recently, Othman managed to move to a new safe location and therefore she is grateful to all those who helped her in the process. While talking with Mrs. Othman, however, we found out that her House has never been in the old city to begin with, and so she has never relocated. Her collections are still in jeopardy due to the terrible condition of the House which is getting worse day by day. We feel rather sad for a courageous and inspiring woman such as Arwa Othman, who had managed to become a Kuni, but never managed to get through the fabric of our dominating society.

هنالك الكثيـــــــر في جعبة الاعضاء...والرحلة مازالت في اولها.

A final step in finalizing the campaign's foundations was the discussion of Kuni wa Kun's team meeting, yesterday. The idea behind the campaign's cause is now very clear to the entire members. Every one knows each other, what's the goal, the targeted people, the process of the campaign, and the hoped-for goal after the campaign is finished. There are many things the team is looking forward to implementing in the long-term. So, the journey just has only begun.

خطوة اخيرة تبعدنا عن البدأ بتنفيذ الخطوات و الاعدادات الفعلية لتحقيق الحملة في الموعد المنتظر, في الثامن من شهر مارس والذي سيوافق يوم المراأة العالمي. اجتمع اعضاء فريق كوني وكن يوم امس لمناقشة المسائل العالقة للبدأ الفعلي في تنفيذ التحضيرات. الان اعضاء الفريق يعرفون بعض جيدا, والهدف واضح لدى الجميع, و من هم الفئة المستهدفة, وماهي مجريات الحملة. بالاضافة الى ذلك اصبح الفريق يعرف جدا ماهو الهدف المتأمل له حتى بعد انتهاء الحملة. هنالك الكثيـــــــر في جعبة الاعضاء...والرحلة مازالت في اولها.

About Kuni wa Kun Team

My name is Mai Noman, I'm publisher and editor-in-chief of a youth magazine, YoO magazine. I'm proud to be a member of this passionate youth initiative. Getting this team together has been one of the most inspiring experiences for us. Just to see and meet these brilliant, enthusiastic young yemenis who are all for change to the better, inspires hope in me. To all the team of hard working volunteers I say "let's do it"!!!

*****
I'm Areej Al-Eryani, majored in business administration n minored in entrpreneurship. For me, this campaign is an opportunity to introduce the ideas of us, youth, and to support women in our culture. Like the others, I would like to make a difference and hope for change in society. I am sure that the outcome of this campaign will be great n we will all be proud of the work and effort that will be done.

*****
I'm Afrah Nasser, Social editor at Yemen Observer newspaper. This campaign means a lot to me. It's a way for me to bring a change into the society. (good change of course :) ) I always wanted to make a difference and this is an amazing chance to be part of an enlightenment movement and I'm really excited about it.

*****
I'm Zulfa Al-Sharafi. Graduated from the Faculty of Education English Dept.
I see this campaign both as a challenge and an opportunity to make a positive influence towards a better future for the Yemen that we all love. Like Afrah, i wanted to make a difference and to contribute even if just a little in the change i want to see in my beloved society.

*****
انا أمل الأشطل، مواليد 1985 و خريجة الجامعة الأمريكية في الشارقة. تمثل مشاركتي في حملة "كوني و كن" فرصة لأن "أكون" محرك تغيير و تأثير ايجابي لمستقبل أفضل في مجتمعي...كما انه يصعب ايجاد متعة تفوق العمل مع الاشخاص الرائعين في الفريق :) ....

*****
I'm Haifa Shamsan, Executive Secretary in DNO.
I believe by joining "Kuni wa Kun" Campaign, youth are given the chance to present the coming generation & what are their perspectives.It is also a challenge for us as Yemenies to show a positive image of Yemen.

*****
I am Ibrahim Nasher and I define myself as a liminal guy (liminality is the condition of being on a threshold or amid and between space). My 'in-betweeness' is a reflection of my Western education and my orthodox Yemeni upbringing. That said, I am an alumnus of the American University in Cairo, with a degree in Anthropology and Psychology. I dream of establishing a cultural center which can be a platform to all the young Yemenis in order to share energy, knowledge and passion. My one and only inspiration is a Yemenite woman goes by the name of 'Ofra Haza'. Kuni wa kun for me is the first step in breaking down barriers of gender, age and inequality in Yemen.

*****
My name is Najla Wasfi and I'm a Napier University graduate. By being part of "kuni wa kun" campaign I can now imagine a new chapter for us as youth and a better future for the coming generations.

أملنا كبير جدا في المتطوعيين

من لديه الرغبة في التطوع الرجاء التواصل باسرع وقت ب:
kuni.campaign@gmail.com

Currently, Kuni wa Kun is recruiting both male and female volunteers who can 'physically' help!

لنتكاتف معا في تحقيق الحملة

كُـــــوْنِـي و كُــــنْ هي حملة شبابية مقرر تدشينها في اليوم العالمي للمرأة، الموافق تاريخ 8 مارس 2010 . و تهدف هذه المبادرة بشكل رئيسي الى إظهار موقف الشباب اليمني اليوم (نساءً و رجالاً) من دعم فرص أفضل للمرأة و رغبتهم في تحقيق ذلك

Here the team squeezing their minds :), determined to bring a change.

Second brainstorming session

Yesterday at 5:30 p.m Kuni\kun team had their second brainstorming session. The team's members met at Mokha Bunn cafe to discuss the basic details on launching kuni\kun campaign and how they will implement their plans.