10 سبتمبر 2009

حضرت السفيرة الأمريكية بالقاهرة مارجريت سكوبي إفطارا رمضانيا مع الطلاب المشاركون في برنامج "المنحة الصغيرة لدراسة اللغة الإنجليزية" وخريجيه.

وفي كلمتها أثناء الإفطار قالت السفيرة: "ما يعجبني في هذا البرنامج وفي كل برامج المنح والتبادل هو أنها تفتح الولايات المتحدة عليكم أنتم الشباب الذكي والموهوب في مصر وهي ايضا تفتحكم علينا- علي مواردنا وبرامجنا وشعبنا وثقافتنا وتاريخنا وقيامنا. لكنني أؤكد لكم أننا نستفيد من هذا البرنامج بأكثر مما تتصوروا ونحن فخورون أنكم تشتركون فيه.

قام مكتب الشئون التعليمية والثقافية بوزارة الخرجية الأمريكية بوضع برنامج "المنح الصغيرة لدراسة اللغة الإنجليزية" ، وتقوم الجامعة الأمريكية و هيئة أميديست بتنفيذه، بهدف تعزيز التفاهم الثقافي بين الشعب المصري والأمريكي. وهو يستمرعامين يتخللهما تعلم اللغة الإنجليزية ومهارات القيادة الشبابية والحاسب الآلي ونشاطات التوعية الثقافية للطلبة الموهوبين من سن 14 الى 18 عام من قطاعات محرومة في دورات بعد الفصول الدراسية ونشاطات صيفية مكثفة. منذ انشاء هذا البرنامج عام 2004 اشترك عدد 32000 طالب وطالبة من 50 دولة فى العالم.

September 10, 2009

Good Evening.

I think coming just a little bit late to the iftar is a good time because then you’re all relaxed, you had something to eat or drink, and you can truly enjoy the iftar. So Ramadan Kareen to all of you.

It’s wonderful to be here and I hope you’ve all broken your fast. I can see that you have been able to spend it with friends, old and new friends, and we are delighted that we can share this special evening with you. I think you have already seen President Obama’s greeting on the occasion of Ramadan, is that correct? Not yet. Well, you are going to see the message that he asked that we share throughout the world with all of our friends in the world of Islam. How many of you got to attend the speech at Cairo University? Several of you did? Oh, good. It was a very special day for all of us and really spoke to us all, I think, about his views on the importance of education and innovation. He promised to expand exchange programs and increase scholarships. He spoke about broader engagement with this part of the world, and about encouraging more Americans to study in Muslim communities and more Muslims in America. The Access and YES programs are examples of programs that combine all these good things.

What I like most about these two programs and in fact all of our scholarship and exchange programs is that they give the United States access to you, to the bright, talented, determined youth of Egypt, and they give you access to us – to our resources, our programs, our people, culture, history and values. But I can assure you that we gain as much from this program as you might and we are very grateful that you participate in it.

Access is already broadly engaged with the world. There are over 44,000 Access students and alumni in the world today. In Egypt we will have nearly a thousand students and alumni by next year. One of our chief priorities is to increase the size and enrich the quality of the program.

It doesn’t stop after two years of English. For our Access alumni, a new chapter is beginning as we work with you and our partners and supporters of Access to create an Access Alumni Network so that we can maintain our engagement and conversation with you.

That may be the end of my remarks but they’re not the end of what I would like to say to you again. President Obama just two days ago went to a school in the U.S. in the state of Virginia. What he talked about - and maybe we can also share that speech with these kids as well, because he was reaching out to American kids and he said, “Look, the future is yours to make.” He talked to them about the importance of hard work, and he also said some things that it is not important that occasionally you don’t succeed or that you fail in something as long as you try hard, that you learn from your mistakes, and that you try harder the next time. I think that he genuinely realizes that the process of education is in your hands, the students. No one can make someone else learn something. They can only try to encourage you.

From what I’ve seen and heard about this program, we are very fortunate to have an enormously talented group of students as well as the teachers and administrators that are trying to run this program. So I hope that you continue to find value in this, I hope we are able to expand the access program even larger, and I hope that we will continue to have a conversation with you, maybe interest you in participating in other programs of educational opportunity that the U.S. has to offer.

I wish you all Ramadan Kareem, Kol Sana Wentom Be heir. Your parents, I know, were busy preparing Ramadan meals for you every night at home. Please give your parents our best wishes as well and thank them for their support of you and your studies.

###