Category: World
Service
Date: 09.09.2004
Printable version
The abolition
of child labour, compulsory education for everyone and the right to
live in a clean place were just some of the aspirations voiced by Egyptian
girls in a 91Èȱ¬ creative media and storytelling workshop held in Cairo.
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The My Life, or Hekaity, workshop gave
Egyptian girls an opportunity to tell their life stories in their own
words through pictures they created themselves and narratives recorded
in their own voices.
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The workshop was jointly run by the 91Èȱ¬'s international
charity, 91Èȱ¬ World Service Trust, 91Èȱ¬ Arabic Service and Egyptian non-government
organisation The Association for the Development and Enhancement of
Women (ADEW).
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Featured online at bbcarabic.com the My Life - Hekaity
workshops in Cairo gave nine girls between the ages of 16 and 22 the
opportunity to explore the theme 'Where I am and where I want to be
by 2015'.
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Eleanor Morris, Project Director with 91Èȱ¬ World Service
Trust, said: "It was inspirational to see how involved the girls
became in the My Life - Hekaity workshop and how much they were willing
to share their lives with us and with each other."
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To bring out the girls' stories, the My Life - Hekaity
workshop used various techniques such as drawing, creating collages
from newspaper cut-outs, brainstorming ideas, and taking photographs.
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The girls also learned how to record an audio narrative,
and by the end of the workshop they had each produced a media diary
on their lives and future dreams.
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The My Life - Hekaity project works with local non-government
organisations. In Egypt, ADEW played a key role in recruiting the girls
for the workshop.
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Further workshops will be held in Saudi Arabia, Syria
and Yemen, culminating in a major regional event in March 2005 where
the key issues will be discussed on a wider scale.
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Notes to Editors
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91Èȱ¬ World Service Trust is a registered charity established
in 1999 by 91Èȱ¬ World Service.
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It promotes development through the innovative use of
media in the developing world.
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The trust currently works in 23 countries worldwide
tackling health, education and good governance.
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91Èȱ¬ Arabic is the leading international radio news service
in Arabic and bbcarabic.com is the leading Arabic online news site.
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91Èȱ¬ Arabic broadcasts 24 hours a day, every day, with
news on the hour, every hour.
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91Èȱ¬ Arabic broadcasts to the whole Arab world on short
wave and through digital audio channels on the principal satellites
covering the Arab world.
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In most of the eastern Arab world, 91Èȱ¬ broadcasts are
heard on medium wave, and in key cities the 91Èȱ¬ is available on FM.
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The award-winning site bbcarabic.com also carries a
live audio feed of 91Èȱ¬ Arabic radio.
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91Èȱ¬ World Service broadcasts programmes around the world
in 43 languages and is available on radio and online.
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It has a global audience of 146 million listeners.
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91Èȱ¬ World Service is available globally on short wave;
on FM in more than 139 capital cities; and selected programmes are carried
on around 2,000 FM and MW radio stations around the world.
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Its online site receives around 280 million page impressions
every month.
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The Association for the Development and Enhancement
of Women (ADEW) is an Egyptian NGO committed to empowering female heads
of households economically, legally and socially.
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ADEW began in 1987 as the dream of a group of young
Egyptian development professionals determined to target the poorest
of the poor in squatter areas.
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The association has a range of grassroots projects delivered
directly to women and girls, including programmes on Micro-Credit, Legal
Empowerment, Health, Girls' Dreams and Literacy.
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ADEW also has a shelter.
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