Egypt's Youth continue to give back Building on The Right to Climb initiative, when Omar Samra led 26 climbers to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro last September, raising over LE900,000, the first Egyptian to reach Mount Everest managed a solo attempt to climb Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, the highest in Latin America, in support of the mentally disabled. "Solo climbing means being unsupported and carrying all the gear myself up to the mountain's tip without guides or porters, including my equipment, a tent and a stove," Samra explained. "I started my trip on 20 January; and due to poor communication, I only learned about Egypt's revolution on 28 January, three days away from reaching the summit. I was proud that Egyptians finally decided to stand up for their country and for a better future; I was also worried about my family; I wanted to be part of Egypt's historic events. I finally decided to continue and finish what I had started and raise Egypt's flag high on the mountain tip which I did." Aconcagua or the "Stone Sentinel" sits in the Andean mountain range, straddling both the Chilean and Argentine borders. It is the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas. The summit is visibly higher than all the surrounding 6,000-metre peaks. The semi-desert surroundings mean that the air is dry with little oxygen saturation, making the mountain harder to climb and the challenge riskier. El Sawy Culturewheel held a series of political-awareness seminars in collaboration with the American University in Cairo (AUC) last week. One such, "Egypt in Transition", discussed the concept of citizenship and various means of participating in ongoing political developments. "A B C Politics" featured Deputy President of the Supreme Constitutional Court Tahani El-Gebali, Foreign Minister Nabil El-Arabi and political analyst Ammar Ali Hassan ; they tackled the basics of the modern civil state, democratic transformations in several countries across the world and the separation of religion from the state, among other subjects. Under the auspices of the head of the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces (GOCP) Ahmed Megahed, at the Rod Al-Farag Cultural Palace -- headed by Mohamed El-Shabrawi -- the head of the General Department of Cinema Hani Mustafa and the Director of Department of Culture in Cairo Fouad Mursi inaugurated a workshop on the arts of film running through 14 March, to be conducted by documentary film director Fouad El-Tohami, screenwriter Walid Seif, editor Youssef El-Malakh and director of photography Said Shimi. photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid "For the Love of Egypt" is an initiative by stars and businessmen to bring people back to Sharm El-Sheikh. They include actor Maged El-Masri, singer Ihab Tawfik, pop singer Abul-Leif and his wife actress Ola Rami, all of whom wore T- shirts with the words "We Love Egypt" for the occasion. The Egypt National Discussion Forum (ENDF) held a meeting to celebrate Nile Day with representation from all the Nile Basin countries and members at the Aquarius Nile Boat in Giza. This year's forum was entitled "Reinforcing the New Egypt and Chances of Cooperation between the Nile Basin Countries"; present were the President of ENDF Emadeddin Adli, the Deputy President of the Supreme Constitutional Court Tahani El-Gebali, our very own Environment Editor Mahmoud Bakr and actor Sameh El-Sereti. Ignoring official warnings against travelling to Egypt, the renowned Japanese guitarist Kazumi Watanaba is on a short visit to Cairo to participate in the third Cairo International Jazz Festival. He wanted to share with Egyptians their joy after the success of their "white revolution" and to join them in a celebration of freedom. In his 40-year-long ca El Sawy Culturewheel held the monthly salon of the novelist and historian Youssef Zeidan who talked about Egypt's "white revolution" and concerns about the future. Egyptian writer-director Dalia Bassiouni is participating in the first theatre festival of Gulamekhak in Sulaymaniya, Iraq. The festival starts on International Women's Day on 8 The AUC announced the launch of educational initiatives for the Spring 2011 semester that provide the university community with opportunities to explore the historical events that took place in Egypt in January and February. Initiatives include the creation of new courses focussing on the Egyptian revolution, the adjustment of current courses to address the events of 25 January to 11 February, seminars and panels to discuss various aspects of the revolution and the future of Egypt, as well as the documentation of the revolution through the project "The University on The Square: Documenting History in Real Time." "This series of new academic and community-outreach programmes demonstrate AUC's responsiveness to the educational opportunities presented by social and political events in Egypt. In only two days, 40 of our faculty members have created new programmes, new workshops and panels, and adjusted courses to take place this semester," said AUC Provost Medhat Haroun. "We also want our students to study the revolution closely and to be aware of its privileges. They will study how they can help in developing Egypt in the coming period." Two new courses created are " Isqat Al Nizam : Egypt's January 25 Uprising in Comparative Historical Perspective," and "Cairo: The Present and Future Megalopolis." The first course will address the events of the revolution and place them within the broader context of Egypt's history, as well as the history of political revolutions in the modern world. The second course will focus on the development of the modern megalopolis of Cairo; its geographic, historical and cultural context; and the several ways in which the city struggles to meet the challenges of the present while preparing for a complex and uncertain future. Al Mawred Al Thaqafy has announced a one- time initiative to fund the production of original works of art by Arab artists in any field created in response to or in the context of the current wave of revolutionary activity and popular uprising in the Arab region. Multiple grants of up to $15,000 will be awarded to support original projects in film, theatre, music, literature and visual arts, and projects will be selected for support by an independent regional jury of experts in the field of arts and culture. Application available only in Arabic at http:// mawred.org/ar/services/new-production-award. A celebration organised by the Theatre Art House head Riyad El-Khouli in response to a suggestion by the director Nasser Abdel-Moneim to honour the martyrs of the Egyptian revolution and called "Revolution Nights" took place at the Miami Theatre featuring many figures who arrived, as it were stated, from Tahrir Square. It showcased a number of documentary films and photographs of the revolution, notably by the photographer Karim Maghawri, and featured the singer Ali El-Haggar and the vernacular poet Ibrahim Abdel-Fattah. Revolution Nights will be touring Alexandria and Suez. Present were screenwriter Azza Shalabi and filmmaker Ahmed Maher.
