Wissal’s voice is a reminder of the importance of building cultural reference points and the educational infrastructure that creates room for everyone to be heard. Indeed, the Ambassador’s Fund gives training in areas such as citizen journalism as an example of what might be funded within Iraq; but how can this be put this into a global context?
Baghdad-born UK resident Samar Whitticome, believes that contributing to physical infrastructure is of equal value and can represent direct action and business opportunities for the global community. As an ex Ministry of Oil employee in the region, Samar created Somer International Projects to respond to the calls for international perspective aligned to local expertise and knowledge and now does most of her work in Kurdistan.
“I set up an independent engineering consultancy determined to help Middle Eastern Business through Strategy Consulting, Sourcing and knowledge based training after working for the Ministry of Oil. We were trained extremely well and I was lucky to be given an opportunity to demonstrate my skills in a wider role. It is now my desire to contribute to the continuation of achieving a brighter future. I travelled to Erbil in 2010, my first visit back since leaving on 2nd August 1990, and have been back many times since.”
The region is busily exporting bright young minds to schools and Universities across the world. 17 year old Dhia from Najaf is studying in London and believes that his ideas can contribute to building a political infrastructure:
“I really think that stabilising national security, and ensuring political stability (to a ministerial degree), is the most fundamental aspect in providing a future for Iraq, where peace, economic growth, and a restoration of faith in the Iraqi parliamentary system by the electorate is seen. You can do this by educating the youth of the present to ensure the growth of the future. With higher academic success, vocational opportunities, and wider compulsory education the cultural stigma surrounding who is entitled to education eradicated.”
How about spending that money in our own contry? For god sakes, must we take care of evey country and neglect our own? Wake up america!!!
Hi Bob
Thanks for your comment. I am sure many will share your sentiments. However, it is worth considering this. Iraq is a country rich in natural resources, with the potential human resource ready and willing to make the most of things. By encouraging through initial funding seed projects that are able to contribute to overall knowledge share, information - building the knowledge economy, those natural resources can be catalysed. To you and to other Americans, Brits, Europeans etc. this means significant opportunities to turn the rebuilding of the physical and knowledge economy of Iraq into something that will build jobs ' at home'. Iraq is importing many skills, products and services. For example Samer's business is growing - she is now working with several others, job-creation by servicing the needs of a building nation. Rather than seeing the Ambassador's fund as money taken, see it as a short-term contribution, able to build long-term opportunities.
Dear Madeleine, many thanks for contributing to the redevelopment of good old Iraq. People have different ways of helping this injured nation. I am doing a non-profit hospital for diabetes in Baghdad. The latter took me 4 years and great deal of money due to corruption. The problem I think is not just help but how and who should be helped. Iraq need urgent strategy to rehabilitate its social serious damage due to 40 years of wars and prolonged boycott. The education of population starting with children, mothers and later fathers with social care of the orphans and needy is paramount. A percentage of oil income should be located for social rehab. There are millions of highly educated Iraqi's who unfortunately want to help Iraq by remot control. To those I would say that the killing in Iraq should have stopped the hundreds but thousands of foreign visitors and the excuse that they are terrified of terror is not acceptable. Help Iraq by physically getting Iraqi's to go home. Moderate force by European countries and US may be required. God bless, Allawi,MD