Red Barnet Ungdom Blogs

Finally after two long week was I on the way back to Jordan a country I left two weeks earlier after spending five months as a youth leader at our Jordanian partner. Jordan quickly became home to me so I have been so excited about going back. I am especially excited to work with the Jordanian group under different conditions than I have been used to. It is no secret that my work as a youth leader was difficult most of the time, as I did not feel the group in Jordan was developing or moving as much as I hoped. So I left Jordan with a felling that this project identification seminar would be very important for our future cooperation and if we were able to keep the two groups together. Luckily things turned out great. Before we arrived the groups in both Jordan and Denmark had been working hard to prepare for the seminar. The Jordanian group surprised me with their dedication and extremely hard work up to our visit. I got several e-mail every day with questions and updates on the progress. So I had high expectations while at the same time being prepared to face some of the same problems I experienced during my youth leader.

Maren and I left Denmark the 15 of April the same day, which the ashes from the volcano moved closer to Denmark and eventually closed the airports. We got out in time and after a long day with transit in Istanbul we finally arrive in Amman. The second day in Amman was also the first workday and I who have become custom to Jordanians knew that everything works in Jordanian time. Again did the Jordanians surprise me when Aya, the Jordanian youth leader, call me 20 minutes to ten asking if I was on the way because everybody was present up and waiting for me. The first day was amazing everybody was working hard, participating full of ideas and open towards all the new people and suggestions. The Jordan group had found three new members who turned out to be the most wonderful hard working girls. I am so impressed by them and how they naturally became a part of not only the Jordan group but also our big group consisting of both Jordanians and Danes. We quickly made progress the first day as everybody came prepared and with knowledge about our two ideas. It became apparent that all of us agreed on a project idea, namely to open a homework café in Amman. We talked about the target group, where to implement the idea etc. We really accomplished a lot the first day much more than expected and we were all happy and exhausted after the first day.

The third day we worked in WE Center and it was nice to be back in the small office where I had spend many hours working. Again we had a very productive day where we made the longest plan of action we ever made. We also made a couple of SWOT analysis, brainstormed on the next steps and the next application and agreed on the tools and skills needed in order for us to implement the project in Jordan. We discovered in the Danish group that it is productive that we lean back some times and let the Jordanian who in the end are the once who will implement the project talk without our interference. A lot of crazy and very good thoughts were created and we gained a lot from talking and dreaming big. The day ended with a visit to City Mall the closes thing to Europe you can get in Jordan.

Fourth day was rough, everybody was tired and the energy level was at the lowest point so far. We still had a lot of work to do but we were also all of us happy for all the work we had done so far which was really more than expected. We started working on our project description, which was difficult when ten people are coming up with ways to write it down. The Jordanian group had arranged a field trip where we would visit a potential partner for the project in an area in East Amman. East Amman is the area we have chosen to focus on as this area in general is poor and people can not afford any extra help for their children. We arrive in this neighbourhood that turned out to be a refugee camp. The Jordanians felt very uncomfortable and we Danes were talking about the area being too rough for them to implement the project in. The organisation turned out to be an UN organisation, which worked with disabled children. The meeting was difficult as the lady only spoke Arabic and us Danes was left out. But the things they did translate concerned us much and we were prepared for along battle with the Jordanian group afterward to convince them that this was the wrong partner for us. The lady told the group that they had to chose between working with orphans or disabled children and let her know within a couple of days. We felt that the group were pressured into something that was too much for them. But it turned out that the Jordanians had become so overwhelmed that they did not control the situation and it that way was taken over by this lady. They luckily agreed with us and we used the visit as a good learning experience especially as practice for the meeting the next day.

The last day of the seminar was hectic. Maren and I realised that the airports in Denmark were still closed. We therefore had to skip a meeting with Save the Children Jordan to call Turkish Airlines, Gauda etc. But we had Kristian as the Danish representative so we were completely safe in this situation. We solved out our practical stuff while the others visited the organisation and solved out some of their internal problem. So when Maren and I meet the group again they had a new project leader Aya, which we were very happy for. The last day was strange, as we all knew this was the end. We were tired but everybody agreed that is has been a great seminar and how amazing it had been to be around so many wonderful people.

For me personally it was amazing to finally see a Jordanian group functioning and taking responsibility. In many ways this is what I have worked so hard for during my five months without achieving what I wanted. But the group had worked hard to prepare for the seminar; they turned up well prepared and came on time for the first time while I worked with them. I was so proud of all them and so impressed by the new members who participated as they had been in the project from the beginning. I have returned home with a feeling that this project will be amazing and that out two groups finally overcome all the problems we faced before.

Så er der kun 10 dage, til Maren og Caterina fra Jordan-gruppen tager på forundersøgelse til Amman… Alle arbejder hårdt på de sidste forberedelser, og vi tror alle på et super godt resultat, som uden tvivl vil føre til et fantastisk projekt:-)

Vidste du at Googlemail tillader en udvidelse af forskellige funktionaliteter, og derfor gøre det muligt for dig at tilpasse din googlemail. Det muliggøres igennem Gmail Labs, hvor der findes alternative funktioner, som aktiveres/deaktiveres efter ønske med blot ét klik. Du finder dit Labs via Indstillingerne i højre hjørne. Se fanebladet “Labs”

Nedenfor er samlet mine yndlings LABS, som kan være med til at gøre din Gmail mere overskuelig og produktiv

Superstjerner

Tilføjer ekstra stjerneikoner. Når du har aktiveret denne funktion: (1) Åbn den generelle opsætningsside for at vælge, hvilke superstjerner du vil bruge. (2) Brug enten tastaturgenvejen (“s”), eller klik for at gennemgå de valgte superstjerner. (3) Brug søgeoperatoren “has:” for at finde alle meddelelser med din superstjerne (f.eks. “has:red-bang”, “has:blue-star”). Se navnet på en superstjerne ved at holde markøren over billedet på den generelle opsætningsside.

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Placerer din signatur før den citerede tekst i et svar og fjerner linjen “–”, der vises før signaturer.

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Standardskrifttype

Fortrækker du Times New Roman frem for Arial, eller måske stor tekst frem for lille tekst i de e-mails, du sender? Aktiver denne lab-funktion ved at gå over til fanen ‘Generelt’ på siden ‘Indstillinger’ og skifte standardskrifttypen, så den passer til dine præferencer.

Fortryd Send

Ups, trykkede du på ‘Send’ for hurtigt? Du kan forhindre meddelelser i at blive sendt, nogle få sekunder efter du har klikket på send-knappen.

Google Kalender-gadget

Tilføjer en boks i venstre kolonne, som viser din Google Kalender. Se kommende begivenheder, steder og nærmere oplysninger.

Google Dokumenter-gadget

Tilføjer en boks i venstre kolonne, som viser dine Google Dokumenter. Viser de seneste dokumenter og stjernemarkerede dokumenter og har hurtig søgning.

Red Barnet Ungdom har alle sine hjemmeside (excl. hovedsiden www.redbarnetungdom.dk) placeret på et større webhotel – mere præcist “Medium Erhverv Webhotel” hos surftown.dk. Webhotel har udover de mere tekniske 20 GB plads, som er langt mere end hjemmesiderne kan fylde.

Webhotellet giver os mulighed for at oprette individuelle internetmapper, hvor hver indsatsområde, lokalforening, udvalg, projektleder m.fl kan opbevare filer. Så man ikke behøver at slæbe rundt på usb-drev eller skal sende flere filer til hinanden via email.

Ønsker jeres gruppe, eller du personligt en internetmappe i forbindelse med dit engagement i Red Barnet Ungdom kan du skrive til Mads Jørgensen – mtj@redbarnetungdom.dk

Det er imidlertid erfaret at måden, hvorpå mapperne fungere via nettet  givet alle uindvigede problemer. Måden det fungere er at alle får en  ftp konto. FTP er forkortelse, som HTTP og står for File Transfer Protocol, og er specielt velregnet og stabil til filoverførsel.

Der findes et utal af FTP programmer, som nemt og hurtigt giver adgang til ens mapper/filer. Specielt kan anbefales den populærer FileZilla eller den mindre FTP Wanderer som desuden begge er gratis.

Gå til hjemmesiden for FileZilla

Hent FTP Wanderer 3.0 (zipped)

DER ER DOG OGSÅ EN ANDEN, OG LETTERE MÅDE! – Det er i hvert fald min fornemmelse.

Windows og Mac brugere kan oprette et link til deres mappe, så den kan blive vist som var det en hvilken som helst anden mappe på sin computer. Resten af denne artikel omhandler, hvordan man opretter adgang til mappen igennem Windows XP – metoden kan næsten anvendes på Windows Vista og Windows 7.

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Røverland To teenagedrenge begge med hængerøvsbukser og blottede boksershorts bliver gennet ind i en militærlastbil af fem bevæbnede libanesiske soldater i centrum af Saida. Vores unge journalister og Adel griner af anholdelsen, imens vi chokeret ser til. Adel kan se vores bekymringer for de to drenges skæbne, og fortæller os at en ny ”bukse lov” netop er trådt i kraft – underbukser er strengt forbudt i gadebilledet. ”De bliver ikke smidt i kachotten” fortæller Adel os beroligende. Til gengæld skal de punge ud med 150 kroner. Libanon har sine egne love. Palæstinensere må ikke eje ejendom, og de er ekskluderet fra 70 forskellige jobs som f.eks. læge, advokat og ingeniør. Altså kan Libanon bryste sig af, at være det værste værtsland for palæstinensere. Til gengæld er Libanon et slaraffenland for småsvindlere. I supermarkedet kan du købe piratkopier af alle film og butikkerne bugner af plastic tasker fra ’MioMio’, Gucci, Chanel og undertøj fra ’Kalven Klein’.

PFLP og Carrie Bradshaw

Ja, og så er der alle våbnene. Enhver husstand i Libanon har en AK47 eller en pistol. Selv vores unge 19-årige journalister ligger alle inde med våben. ”But don’t worry, I don’t keep it in my house” beroliger flere af drengene os, når samtalen falder på våben. Det er de samme drenge, som nynner til James Blunt og lytter til palæstinensisk røvballerock. De er i det hele taget meget sammensatte vores drenge. Flere af dem hylder Che Guevara, går med T-shirts printet med ’To Resist is to Exist’ eller kommunistiske slagord. Men samtidig er der én af dem, som holder sig vågen hver nat til kl. 3 for at se ’Sex and The City’ og en anden opstøver amerikanske coaching bøger. Vi har derfor forsynet de to drenge med henholdsvis ’Sex and The – the movie’ og en coaching dvd ’The Secret’. Den unge Carrie Bradshaw fan blev meget fortørnet over at Mr. Big forlader hende ved alteret, men vores coaching fan var så begejstret for sin dvd, at han ser den hver dag, og anbefaler os at gøre det samme.

Hjælp fra danske journaliststuderende

De er virkelig nogle guldklumper. I øjeblikket har både de og os meget travlt med at få afsluttet magasinet. De har alle afsluttet deres interviews og er ved at lægge sidste hånd på artiklerne. Emnerne spænder bredt – palæstinensiske rettigheder, UNRWA skoler, arbejdsløshed, Jerusalems historie, fattigdom, palæstinensiske kunstnere, portrætter af de unge i lejren og en reportage fra checkpoints. Layout har hængt som en sort sky over hovederne på Anne og Karen og særligt sidstnævnte, som er teknisk imbecil og skal have hjælp, hver gang hun skal bruge Powerpoint. Heldigvis er vi blev reddet af Andreas og Anne fra Journalisthøjskolen, som har sat tid af til at undervise ungerne og os i InDesign, så nu bliver magasinet rigtigt lækkert.

Det går godt send flere penge!

Magasinprojektet kører på skinner, men vi mangler penge til at købe ordentlige kameraer, computere og til de fremtidige udgivelser. Så kender du en sponsor, vil du glæde Ein el-Hilwehs redaktion.