Facts About Female Genital Mutilation

Monday July 10, 2017 Copied from World Health Organization Website: Key facts • Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. • The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women. • Procedures can cause severe bleeding as well as complications in childbirth increased risk of newborn deaths. • About 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM. • FGM is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15. • In Africa an estimated 101 million girls … Continue reading Facts About Female Genital Mutilation

Dekka: A ray of hope in a Cairo’s poor neighborhood

Those who believe they can change the world are the ones who actually do, and Reham Ahmed, an avid believer in community service is determined to bring change to her poor neighborhood of Al Marg in Cairo. Together with a team of volunteers, the 24 years-old business administration graduate, is conducting a survey among young people in the neighborhood and analyzing the social ailments that are hindering their progress. Based on the findings, Ahmed founded “Dekka,” the first neighborhood cultural center that serves free of charge young people in her community, between the ages of 15 and 30. Ahmed is … Continue reading Dekka: A ray of hope in a Cairo’s poor neighborhood

My Deep Condolences For Your Daughter’s Wedding

By: Alexandra Kinias Caption: A Child Bride In Afghanistan.  By:  Stephanie Sinclair,winner of UNICEF photo of the year 2007 While most eight years old girls go to bed dreaming of doll houses, ballet classes, crayons and scrapbooks, princesses in sequence dresses and tiaras, nightmares keep others awake in fear that the sunlight of the new day will rob them of their childhood; in one of the most heinous crimes that are still committed to humanity: Underage Marriages.  Unfortunately in regions where it is practiced,  communities keep a blind eye on these illegal marriages, which in reality legalize pedophilia, prostitution, rape … Continue reading My Deep Condolences For Your Daughter’s Wedding

Women Around the World this Week ..

Editorial by Alexandra Kinias 1. LAOS: One Woman’s Mission to Free Laos From Millions of Unexploded Bombs Thanks to Lao-American Channapha Khamvong’s efforts, the United States will be spending $12 million to get rid of millions of unexploded ordnance in Laos, up from $2.5 million ten years ago. From her little office in Washington D.C., Khamvongsa has been able to raise money and awareness about the contaminated country. Laos is littered with live, hidden cluster bombs from 580,000 American bombing missions half a century ago. They are forgotten leftovers from “the Secret War,” one of the most severe air campaigns … Continue reading Women Around the World this Week ..

Weekly Women News from Around the World

— Editorial by: Alexandra Kinias ……….. Egypt: Egypt honors mother who dressed as man for 43 years to provide for family Left as a widow with no income, while still pregnant with her daughter, Sisa Abu Daooh had to join the workforce to provide for her little family. Restricted by the traditions of her village in the southern governorate of Luxor that opposed to the work of women, Daooh was left with no other choice, but to disguise as a man to be able to find a job, a role she mastered for more than four decades. She wore men’s … Continue reading Weekly Women News from Around the World

Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football .. is More than just a Game ..

An interview with Rashid Ghazi, executive producer and director of Fordson By: Alexandra Kinias .. article published in Kalimat Magazine. At the 7th annual Traverse City Film Festival, Michael Moore recommended that everyone in the country should see the film ‘Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football.’ The feature length documentary tells the inspiring story of a high school football team as it prepares for its big game, played during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, while its players are fasting. As the film follows the preparations for the game, it also peels the layers of this working class community living in the … Continue reading Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football .. is More than just a Game ..

This is Why I am Charlie …..

— By: Alexandra Kinias — I stand in solidarity with the victims of Charlie Hebdo and the officer who lost his life defending them, not particularly because I agree with the contents of the magazine, but because I stand for the freedom of expression. I never read the magazine and I haven’t seen its cartoons prior or post the heinous massacre that took the life of its staff. The terrorists shouted Islamic slogans as they shot their victims in cold blood, and witnesses heard them saying that they have avenged for the Prophet who was the subject of the magazine’s … Continue reading This is Why I am Charlie …..

Black Tulips from Screenplay to Novel

 While I was organizing my computer files, I came across this article that I had written in 2011 for the Arizona Authors Association and where I had talked about the adjustments I had made in  my writing career. Black Tulips from  Screenplay to Novel (original article) “The decision to adapt one of my screenplays to a novel was as unpredictable as the characters I create. Novels are usually adapted to screenplays not the other way around. I had already gone through a mid-course adjustment when I dumped my engineering career and picked up screenplay writing. The culmination of the classes … Continue reading Black Tulips from Screenplay to Novel

Why the Iranian scenario failed in Egypt? Part One

Alexandra Kinias — The year 1979 was a turning point in the world events. In the same year that Margaret Thatcher became new prime minister of Great Britain and Mother Theresa won the Nobel Peace Prize, other events occurred that sowed the seeds of the insanity that the world is witnessing today. Few days after the year started, the Shah left Iran and the revolutionary forces under Khomeini took over in February. In November of that year, the Iranian militants seized the US embassy in Tehran and took hostages. The crescendo that ended the year was the Soviet invasion of … Continue reading Why the Iranian scenario failed in Egypt? Part One