Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

As you might have noticed, my links section has changed a bit. If you haven't checked out the right side of my blog, on the other hand, you really should. There's some cool stuff in there about Egypt, about how to apply to be an Ambassadorial Scholar, about the clubs and districts who sponsored and hosted me last year, info on migration and refugees, news links, and more.
Anyway, my scholarship period came to an end in June. I have reworded my Rotary links to reflect that change, but have kept them up because of the importance of the organization both in my life and to the community at large. Because of scheduling conflicts, I have not yet given speeches back in the US about my experience in Egypt, but will arrange to do so sometime in early 2010. In the meantime, my belated congrats to Three-Month Cultural Scholar, Elizabeth Killingbeck from the Land of Goshen Rotary Club who is serving in Sénégal and to Dr Fetene Gebrewold, sponsored by the Bushnell Rotary Club, who spent the summer as a Three-Month University Professor Ambassadorial Scholar in Ethiopia.

News and Issues:

Egypt
· Doctors suspended after country's second A/H1N1 death
· FM Aboul Gheit says stopping illegal settlements in Palestine is necessary precursor to normalization of relations between Arab states and Israel
· Jewish Nazi-hunter supports embattled Egyptian Minister of Culture in UNESCO bid
· Norwegian national prevented from leaving Egypt, told she is a "national security case"
· Slate examines Egyptian 9-11 hijacker, his urban planning studies and frustrations with Cairo

Middle East
FP article on "Iraq's New Surge: Gay Killings" Even as the US is hailing progress in Iraq, the wartorn country's LGBT population remains incredibly vulernable as their government, and apparently occupying forces, turn a blind eye.

Migration & Refugees
· UNHCR has created an educational online game to allow people to understand the dehumanizing challenges refugees have to face to escape persecution and begin new lives.
· Amnesty International calls on Egypt to halt border killings of African migrants