Saturday, 16 January 2010

PKN#4 - Kuwait City

I attended the Fourth Pecha Kucha Night - Kuwait City, Held in the Scientific Center Kuwait, Thursday January the 14th, 2010. The 20x20 presentations were done by "ordered by appearance that night":

Roa Al-Shaheen
Reham Al Sharif
Valerie Buchheit
Barrak Al-Babtain
Zed Alrefai
Alia Al-Ghunaim
Ahmad Al-Majed & Rabaa Al-Hajri
Maryam Al Hamad

And here are tidbits of the night ...


 The arrival picture, I really loved the view and the spot they picked, whats better to enjoy in this weather than a green spot near the sea and the city in the same time!


The home screen :>


Roa Al-Shaheen
Interesting presentation by her and an insight to what you see VS what you believe in. EXCEPT for one thing! this woman wore this weird thing in front of us and took a few pictures which made me totally lose my focus on the slide show of Roa! And I was really annoyed that they did not even move away from us to take their pictures or wear that "thing" that kept my head wiggling right and left to see and focus what was the presenter saying! Let aside the talking in a loud voice and giggling


Little did I know that, she was the next presenter! And I still do not know why didn't she think of the people sitting behind her trying to enjoy a lovely and creative event?! :) and yes a little while effects! especially if we lost 3-4 slides, which is more than a minute in a 6.7 minutes show! Not against having fun, but please away from the public who are focusing on a show in front of them :) Also, out of respect to the fellow presenters she should have been more quiet to let us enjoy the show, as well as prepare to enjoy her show, I wonder if people did that in her presentation in front of her friends how would they react? As I was about to talk to her, she got up....


Reham Al Sharif
Between trying to track the head piece lady and to see her sit on the grass up front, when Roa's presentation was about to finish, "thinking why didn't she call her friend to take her picture away from the crowd or at least in the break time or at least out there before she presented or at least when she started presenting!" and trying to figure out the relation of the presentation slides and the trial to make her self an alien to reflect misconceptions we have, I tried to focus but I could not. honestly was too bothered by the time wasted from the presentation before.


Valerie Buchheit
What I love about people who have traveled across the globe and worked in different countries, is how they perceive humanity and civilization. Valerie shed the light on very humanitarian and personal experience that were very enjoyable.


Barrak Al-Babtain
A very talented, bright minded young man! In a simple slide show, he illustrated the errors we have in Kuwait's infrastructure! And not only pointed out the problem but also gave the solution! A very brilliant presentation and although started a little shaky but was very clear and well prepared presentation, except for !!!! tada the same group of people :) one of them was trying to tell a friend her location


So this slide and the one before were pretty much ruined for me! And yes I tried to move my head right and left BUT she kept on waving, I lost focus for a while! from a very nice presentation. Ok, this time I thought they could have: a- went to get the friend over. b- wave with the phone, since its bright and the area was dark so they would see her. c- she could have thought of the people behind her and tried to figure out a "c" of her own :> Again am not against having fun, but lets all have fun and not bother others, please!


Zed Alrefai
needless to praise his experience holding up the Kuwaiti flag up on the top of Mount Everest, his web page, being the first Arabian to do so :> When we knew about it long ago back in 2003, we were and still are very proud of him. I will be unfair if I did not talk about every picture, since each held a lot of his experience and he spoke about it in the best way and was funny too :)


Alia Al-Ghunaim
A lovely, classy architect who designed Bayt Abdullah as her graduation thesis, the whole project is being built with the donations of people that KACCH is trying to gather. The name Abdullah has a story:

The proposed children's hospice for Kuwait was inspired by a young boy called Abdullah who returned to Kuwait following treatment in London for neuroblastoma. After lengthy hospital stays and often painful procedures there was eventually no further treatment possible that would offer hope for a cure.

Abdullah's mother promised him that he would never again have to stay in a hospital.

In 1989, after attending a series of lectures organised by KACCH on children's perceptions of death and dying, Abdullah's mother approached KACCH, and it was agreed that they would help her take care of her little boy at home. Abdullah died in her arms at home just before his fifth birthday.
Witnessing Abdullah and his family's courage and determination to live as normal a life as possible in the face of his approaching death, encouraged KACCH to work towards the provision of similar

care for other children in Kuwait who are terminally ill. A children's hospice has now been designed to give those children the specialised care they need, ensuring peace and dignity at the end of their short lives, and provide their families with support and comfort in their bereavement. It will be called “Bayt Abdullah” in memory of Abdullah and his family.


May the dream come true, and many thanks go to Alia for designing such a lovely place, that she explained floor by floor.


Ahmad Al-Majed & Rabaa Al-Hajri
The spoke about their experience in being in a triathlon and explaining what is it :) And their plan to introducing this sport to Kuwait, with the 3 Club. A triathlon is basically a race with three phases, all done by the same athlete. Swimming, Cycling and lastly Running! Such an ability to be a competitive in three sports in one day is amazing, the fitness required for it is big, yet achievable by anyone, even in Kuwait! the 4 above are living proof for it. Ahmad & Rabaa did a great job in introducing this sport and shedding the light on their participation in "The Garmin Barcelona Triathlon". Well done :>
 

Maryam Al Hamad
She spoke about her experience in the K4K project initiated and run by LoYAC. Also like Valerie,  her experience with an other culture touched me, especially the children of Kenya. By building a school kids were very grateful and the people over there too, a simple right a child has in our lovely country, there it was a dream. Education and health are the most two noble gifts anyone can offer. Thank you Maryam and the people in LoYAC for this project.



Pecha Kucha is a lovely event :) introduced by Dr. Aseel Al-Ragam, many thanks goes to her and ALL the organizers you guys did an amazing job to make this event a bright star in our cultural agenda. THANK YOU :>

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