In Pharoah's land

I spent the third week of November in a land that is very popular for ancient civilization and stuff like that. Don't tell Greece. Anyway I was in Cairo, Egypt for a Telecentre Leaders Forum for Middle East and North Africa at the invitation of telecentre.org.
For starters, Egypt i think is a land of many surprises. From the architecture. I wondered how the brief invasion by Napoleon could have such a huge effect on them.
It feels so out of Africa yet of course it is apart of Africa. They have very good road network but the motorists remind you that they are truly African. Old cars are used for taxis and everyone seems to be in a hurry changing lanes at the slightest opportunity!
But of course their services are far much better than expected.
While here I was staying in the upper class side of Cairo, but I got a chance to visit the down town side as well. Well old ramscackledbuildings with somepeoplesleeping in incpomplete houses and stff like that. This especially on the highway that talkesyou to the pyramids at Giza.
Talking about Giza, there is one ancient wonder that stands in this ancient town. the Pyramids.
I thought i would have handed myself a raw deal if I visited pharoahjs land and didn't the so calledwonders of theanciet world.
But what a wonder they are! How didthose grandfatehrs of ours carry those huge stones to put up such a structuteabout 35m tall?
How did they do so with bare hands when in this day and age we need all the technology we can have to make a tunnel infrom of a hut?
If it is true that these structures are over 4000 years old, then they may well satnd for more than 4000 years to come and yet look as strong as they did when they were first erected!
Nowonder they are wonders of the ancient world.
I had read about allthese things in history, seen the pictures in the history books but seeing them face to face brings a new reality that you can never get in a history class. No wonder millions pay money to comeand marvel in the name of tourism. and in millions they come.
On the day I was there, tehre were probabbly 10.000 of us from everywhere including Egypt.
And Egyptians are sosmart at making money. They have tourism police in palce to direct visitors. How brilliant!

Telecentre Leaders forum - MENA 7 days to go

The telecentre movement in the Middle East and Northern Africa is steadily growing. From the 19th – 20th November 2008, over 40 telecentre leaders from Egypt, Sudan and Yemen will meet at Air Defense House and Hotel, Nozha Street, Heliopolis Cairo, Egypt to discuss ways of strengthening the telecentre movement in the region. This Telecentre Leaders Forum is organized by Egypt ICT Trust Fund in partnership with UNDP –Egypt and telecentre.org as part of the project Empowering Communities through telecentre networking. The objectives of the TLF Include:
o To bring together leading telecentre practitioners as a strategy to build relationships for addressing challenges telecentres face

o To share opportunities that telecentres can use to increase efficiency and sustainability

o To discuss ways of improving networking and knowledge sharing within telecentre practitioners in Egypt, Sudan, Yemen and across the MENA region

Networking and knowledge sharing are central to the growth of any ecosystem and the telecentre movement is no exception.

I will join participants and the knowledge sharing team at the Egypt ICT Trust Fund to share experiences on how the telecentre.org portal, mailing list and Telecentre Times can be used to strengthen the telecentre movement in MENA. Thanks to telecentre.org.
But just before we meet at the TLF, I would love to read how best you think such knowledge sharing platforms can be used to strengthen the telecentre movement in MENA region.