This morning we finally met up with some of the participants from Mosul and Baghdad. The first group of 18 came in late last night, arriving in Al Ain around 2am. Needless to say, they are a bit tired today. Some are quite shy and speak little English, some are talkative and have already shared how they used the information from last summer with their colleagues and students – all are happy to finally be here and are ready to learn. The faculty has been waiting three long days to finally teach, but with other groups coming in today and tomorrow, they won’t really be able to get into the meat of the courses until Wednesday.
The morning began with introductions and general business. Each faculty member shared information about themselves and their qualifications. Because just about everything must travel through translation, this process took much longer than it would in the states. A coffee/cake break was a good time for them all to check their emails and send word to family members that they have arrived safely. Next was a breakdown of the courses, with a chance for them to share topics they would like to have covered. Amazingly, most interest centers around digital libraries, for they understand this is the future of libraries. On the flip side, they would like to know more about how to teach their students that not all information can be found on the web (sound familiar?). They want their students to value books and other materials as much as their precious internet. It seems they have similar concerns as our colleagues in the states, and are looking forward to having these concerns addressed in the next week.
The day will end early with a tour of the Zayed Central Library here at the United Arab Emirates University followed by lunch. The library is graciously sponsoring all meals, housing for the Iraqis (sans soap and shampoo apparently), and use of classrooms and computer labs, as well as the expertise of Moza, a very competent administrative assistant. In the evenings, the university will provide transportation to the local malls and “souks” (shopping areas) so no one will become bored.
So, who are these people and where are they from? We have a number of institutions represented from around Iraq. A group of 6 have come from Mosul in the north of Iraq. 4 are educators from the University of Mosul, and two are from the Mosul Technical Institute. They travled 90 km to Kurdistan to fly from Erbil Airport. The group from Baghdad is spread out among Al Mustansiriya University, the Foundation of Technical Education, the Iraqi Academy of Science, Iraq National Library and Archives, and Baghdad University. They had to pay large sums of money to get to the airport safely – security at the airport is extreme. The last group is from the University of Basra in the south of the country. Although they could have travled two days by boat down the Persian Gulf, they chose to fly out (wise choice, I think). Things seem much safer down in that part of the country, and they have their own airport. There is a pretty even breakdown of men to women, and ages range from late 20’s to 50’s. Since I have been emailing these people for the last year, it is great to finally be able to meet them face to face. They have also been quite curious about me-
Respectively submitted by Carla Magenheimer