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Diwan
English fiction

1) A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
2) Brida - Paulo Coelho
3) Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
4) The Poison Tree - Marwa Rakha
5) Map of Love - Ahdaf Soueif
6) Witch of Portobello - Paulo Coelho
7) The Flirt - Kathleen Tessaro
8) Pillars Of The Earth - Ken Follett
9) The Choice - Nicholas Sparks
10) Small Wars Permitting - Christina Lamb

THE POISON TREE TRANSLATED INTO ARABIC

Dr. Eyad Harfoush ... who named me Miss Courage in Person ... decided to translate The Poison Tree into Arabic ... I can't wait and I do not know how to thank him:)

صديقى العزيز الدكتور اياد حرفوش بدأ ترجمة كتابى - شجرة السم - الى اللغة العربية ... انا طايرة من السعاده و مش عارفة اشكره ازاى

MY POETRY

I have not written many poems in my life but the few that I have written express in images what I could not express in words.

To read my poetry visit me here

WELCOME TO MY LIFE

MY EVENTS

Event Name	Date	Location	Venue
بحب فيك ايه؟	November 30, 2008 6:00 pm	www.horytna.net	Your Computer - www.horytna.net
After Dark with Erin	December 1, 2008 10:00 pm	Your Radio	Nile FM 104.2 - NileFM Online Radio
بحب فيك ايه؟	December 3, 2008 6:00 pm	www.horytna.net	Your Computer - www.horytna.net

BREAKING NEWS

To: Yasmine Abdalla

CEO & Managing Director

OTV

Dear Yasmine

I have hesitated a lot before writing you this note but after a long thought process, and against the advice of all my good friends, I decided that I owe you this much. I also decided not to publish what I have to tell you in any of the magazines that I write for to avoid any awkwardness. I hope you manage to free yourself for half an hour to read my lengthy communiqu�.

First of all I would like to thank you for making me a familiar TV face - I will not go as far as saying a celebrity. I remember when we first met you told me that you are "making a somebody out of nobody" ... that was not very nice of you and at the end of the day time will be the best judge on what is the definition of a "somebody" and a "nobody". But yes, I owe you my first appearance on TV and I admit that I trained for almost a year and a half at your channel. Looking back at my early recordings, I have to admit, I have come a long way.

I would also like to apologize for breaking one of your rules; no one will become a star on my account (محدش هيتنجم على حسابى) ... yeah ... we have all heard you promise and threaten. This brings me to the main purpose of this letter - I know a thing or two about marketing and a thing or two about management; hence some advice is due:

MY WEBLOGS ON GLOBAL VOICES ONLINE

GLOBAL VOICES - MARWA RAKHA

Egypt: Locking Al Azhar students in the dark ages!

Al Azhar English Training Center is funded through a partnership agreement between Al Azhar University, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Global Opportunities Fund and the British Council. The Center was supposed to provide English Language courses in its first semester to 125 students from various disciplines until Ali Laban, a Muslim Brotherhood deputy, decided otherwise. Fatma Sabit - an enraged instructor - speaks up on Facebook.

Egypt: Police officers banned off university campus

In a historic court ruling, police are now banned from patrolling Cairo University's campus. Instead, the university will have to deploy civilian personal as security guards. Bloggers, who linked police recklessness and use of excessive force to the order, welcomed the ruling with guarded optimism

Is Secularism the answer to Egypt's Sectarianism?

Egypt has always been known as an Islamic country where Muslims, Christians, and Jews peacefully co-existed. Today this is no longer the case. Is secularism the solution? Following is an outline of the discussion taking place on Egyptian blogs today.

Egypt: 89% of Youth Support Internet Censorship Law

Eighty-nine per cent of Egyptian young men and women surveyed recently stated that they are in favour of an Internet censorship law. Bloggers Times shares the most recent statistics on Egyptian internet users in this post

Egypt: Uproar as Lawyer Suggests Raping Israeli Women

Voice of Egypt is ashamed of Egyptian Lawyer Nagla Al Imam, the same lawyer who made Egyptians angry, for encouraging Arab men to sexually harass Israeli women during her interview on Al Arabia TV (Ar).

Egypt: No More Natural Gas to Israel

An Egyptian court has banned the export of natural gas to Israel. Marwa Rakha briefs us about the deal, and what an Egyptian blogger is writing about the court order in this post.

Egypt: American University in Cairo's New Campus Sparks Debate

Designed to accommodate 5,500 full-time students and 1,500 faculty and staff, the American University in Cairo's new $400 million, 260-acre campus is technologically advanced and environmentally friendly. Students say that it was a premature move as they suffer sexual harassment and expensive food, among many other issues.

Egypt on Fire: The Gloves and The Invisible Hand

On Thursday November 6th when Egyptians were celebrating Obama's Victory, Al Ghad Party went up in flames. You can read about the initial blogosphere reactions here and here. Today I am sharing with you Wael Nawara's statements regarding the incident

Egypt: No Sexual Harassment Here, says the First Lady

Sexual harassment is a real threat in Egypt. A study shows that two-thirds of men harass women, and bloggers have repeatedly written about it -- but Egypt's first lady Suzanne Mubarak says it is not a phenomenon and just a few isolated incidents. Bloggers speak out again

Egypt Ranks High in Corruption

Egypt ranks 115 in Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index, which tracks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys. The rankings are in ascending order, with the more corrupt countries scoring higher ranks

Egypt for Sale

Word is out that every Egyptian citizen who is over 21 years old will own a part of Egypt's public sector companies and factories. The announcement has been the core topic of talk shows and has made its way to the blogosphere

The Egyptian Hospital in Bagram

Egypt operates a small military hospital in Bagram, Afghanistan. The Press has just got wind of it - and a blogger wonders why such inspirational stories take a while for mainstream media to report on?

Egypt: No Manhood for the Manhood Drink!

Egypt has launched a fierce campaign against sexual harassment in the aftermath of the recent events written about here on Global Voices. But people working in the media industry do not seem to get the idea as evidenced by a recent ad campaign for Birell (An Egyptian non-alcoholic drink) by Al Ahram Beverages Company. Their slogan is A girl's Personality is the Last thing you Notice!

Egypt: Lawsuit calling for the devalidation of 25,000 Muslim Hadiths

an unusual lawsuit against Al Azhar University in Egypt calling for devalidation of 25,000 Muslim Hadiths. "Does Al Azhar have the right to �delete� these hadiths? Did they invent them and now they decided to negate them? So what will they do now with those 25,000 Hadiths? Burn them? Burn the books they are in? Do they have that right?"

The Middle East's Generation Facebook

What will the Middle East look like 25 years from now? That was the assignment the World Policy Journal gave Mona El Tahawy for their 25th anniversary edition. Mona decided to have some fun and imagination. This is what she came up with, mixing real people in imaginary scenarios in 2033. Who knows? They might come true!

Egypt: Mother incriminated in a case of FGM

On November 7, Al Masry Al Youm Newspaper published an article (AR) about a 14 year old girl who was admitted into a hospital suffering of severe bleeding after an FGM procedure that went bad. Due to the above mentioned law, the hospital reported the case of the general attorney.

Egypt: Sexual Harassment Victim Stabbed to Death

I received an invitation to join a group named �Dr. Shaimaa Fouad � May you rest in Peace.� I did not know her and I wondered why anyone would invite me to such a group. Little did I know! Dr. Shaimaa Fouad died defending herself.

Egypt: Sexual Harassment Victims, Keep your Mouth Shut!

On November 1, Al Masry Al Youm shocked its readers with an article about two girls who went to the police station to report a sexual harassment incident but instead, they were detained for six hours and harassed by the officers on duty.

Speaking of Sexual Harassment: Noha Makes Egyptians Angry!

On October 30, Noha made Egyptians angry when Al Masry Al Youm newspaper published an article saying that Noha's lawyer Naglaa El Emam decided to appeal in favor of the harasser Sherif Gommaa after she found out that Noha was born in Jaffa and carries an Israeli passport. The lawyer also said that Noha sued a French officer for harassing her a year and a half ago when she was in France.

Speaking of Sexual Harassment: Noha Makes Egyptians Proud!

In an unprecedented case, sexual harasser Sherif Gommaa was sentenced to three years behind bars, hard labour, and was also ordered to pay 5,001 Egyptian pounds fine to Noha Roshdy Saleh for groping her in the street.

Why Do Egyptians Get Divorced?

This question has been circulating a lot in many unrelated circles nowadays. On Facebook, Alyaa Gad, an Egyptian physician living abroad, was shocked to know that "the governmental Central Body for Mobilisation and Statistics (CBMS) found that 75,000 divorce cases have been ruled on by Egyptian courts in 2006-2007, the survey found that in 45,000 cases the reason behind the divorce was the Internet."

Young Egyptian Women Do Not Want to Work

While some women are still struggling to prove themselves in the workplace, the young generation of Egyptian men and women seems to be taking a different route. Fantasia was watching an episode of El Beyoot Asrar (Homes have Secrets) where they were talking about women and whether they should work or not.

Egypt: Another Doweika Tragedy Waiting to Happen!

Students at the faculty of Engineering in Alexandria University created a group on Facebook called "The Mokattam Catastrophe to be repeated in the faculty of Engineering." The student's cry follows a tragedy in Doweika, a Cairo slum, where rocks came tumbling on homes, killing and maiming scores of poor people. In the description of the group the students wrote:

Who are those People .... in the People's Assembly?

In the aftermath of the Egyptian Parliament going up in flames, people's reactions ranged from utter shock, sadness, to gloating. Blogger Wael Nawara conducted an independent poll asking bloggers, readers, and Egyptian internet users to answer the following question: Does the Egyptian Parliament truly represent the people?

Suez Canal donates 1,000,000 Egyptian Pounds to Doweika Victims

After the Doweika catastrophe, where at least six hundred people were buried alive under the rubble of Moqattam hill, Asser decided to calculate how much time does it take Suez Canal to earn the one million pounds.

The SCA had announced, in a statement by its official speaker, that the general revenues of the Suez Canal in the month of August 2008 was the highest in its whole history, as it had passed 500 million USD or 2.746 billion EGP, the exact figure according to the speaker was 504 million Dollars.

Not Guilty: Egypt's Ferry Disaster

On February 3, 2006 Al-Salam ferry sank in the middle of the Red Sea killing more than 1,000 people who were coming to Safaga, Egypt from Saudi Arabia. The passengers were mainly Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia, who were returning home on vacation or who were bringing their savings home to retire in their homeland. The Egyptian criminal court has found the owner of a Red Sea ferry and four others not guilty of manslaughter.

The families of the victims as well as Egyptian bloggers were shocked and angered. Wandering Scarab, in "The Dreaded Ferry" wrote:

Egypt Silences the Voice of Iran

On July 24th, Maggie Michael reported:

Egyptian authorities shut down the Cairo office of an Iranian TV network, a security official said Thursday, as the two nations spar over a film that justifies the killing of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by Islamic militants.

Blogger Dina Ayoub in her post Egypt vs Iran takes us back to the time when President Sadat signed the peace treaty with Israel:

Egypt: A Man's Views on Sexual Harassment

Emotional Deficit. For several decades, the Egyptian society was being Islamized, making the chances of having a natural and healthy pre-marriage boy-girl relationship ever diminishing. Marriage itself, it would seem is becoming more unaffordable than ever. The average age for marriage in Egypt for men has consistently increased. It is normal to see someone who is thirty years old who still has a few years to go before he can afford to provide the extensive requirements for marriage. In many cases, a young male in Egypt had to travel to the Gulf and work for a few years "building his fortune" to be able to afford the hefty burdens of marriage. Knowing that boys probably reach puberty at the age of 13 or 14, this means that a male in Egypt will spend some twenty years suffering from this emotional and "physical" deficit.

Mourning A Sexually Harassed Egypt - Part 2

Reuters published survey on sexual harassment in Egypt is still stirring angry responses from Egyptian bloggers. In her post titled "Shame and Sexual Harassment in Egypt", Mona Eltahawy took a trip back in time and visited her early experiences with sexual harassment:

Mourning a Sexually Harassed Egypt

Dina - now living in Vancouver - remembers what every Egyptian woman identifies with saying "There's this look in an Egyptian man's eyes that makes me want to poke his eyes out, mutilate his body parts, and then kill him. A psychotic, undressing, invasive and violating look. A look so disgusting that it makes me shiver in my own skin, and wish that the earth would just swallow me up to cover me from it. A look so filthy, that you can see the virtual assault on you in his sleazy eyes. I hate that look so much."

The Victimization of Egyptian Women and Children

In a not-so-rare scenario in Egypt, the man has the right to beat his wife and children as much and as severely as he wishes and no criminal charges can be filed against him - unless one of them dies as a result of this beating. Why?

"Because some crazy sadistic men have claimed that this is an authorized tool for disciplining a man's wife and children in Islam! Which is absolutely not true" explains the infuriated Fantasia.

From the Diary of a Sinister Egyptian Spinster

Back in March 2008, Eman Hashim wrote a post [Ar] questioning why do Muslim Egyptian women need a "wakeel" - a man who has to sign her off to her husband. Let me give you a bit more insight here: unlike western cultures where the father gives away the bride as a jest of his approval and blessing, in Islam the marriage is "flawed" if the father, or the uncle if the father is deceased, has to speak on the bride's behalf through out all the paperwork and marriage procedures. Many sheikhs frown upon the thought of a girl - especially one who has never been married before and who is supposedly a virgin - marrying herself away.

Walk Like an Egyptian ... Marry Like an Egyptian

One particular post about Egyptian women getting married to foreign men caught my attention.

In her post about The Whores, Ghawayesh starts by saying: "Times are changing and many �respected' families have come to accept the fact that their daughters can make their own choices of choosing to marry whoever they want, if they EVER CHOOSE to marry, which is also a new trend in Egypt."

"Beware of Egyptian Men," says the Canadian Embassy

Wandering Scarab - an Egyptian girl living in Canada - prior to her last visit to Egypt, decided to visit the Canadian Consulate website to register with the consulate in Egypt just in case her Canadian husband or her baby girl needed assistance with travel or local authorities. What she read on the site was appalling and ended up in her writing this post.

Women, particularly foreign women, are frequently subject to unpleasant male attention, sexual harassment, and verbal abuse. This often takes the form of staring, inappropriate remarks, catcalls, and touching. The Department publishes a booklet entitled Her Own Way: A Woman's Guide to Safe and Successful Travel. Its prime objective is to inform Canadian women and encourage them to travel safely.

Obama's ripple effect on the Egyptian blogosphere - Part 1

Politics is not my thing but this was too good to resist. When I came across Wael Nawara's writings I knew that I stumbled on a goldmine. In his post - Too Secular to Win? - Wael asked four tough questions that left his readers wondering: What is the world coming to? Where is Secular America? When did people stop thinking that a person's religion is their own business? Can Obama, if he ever wins, try to help change that? Help pick our world from these trends of rising religious-mania ... starting with the US? But will he ever win?

Wael started his post by citing an average American woman who was interviewed on CNN saying:

"I do not trust him (Obama) he is a Muslim ..."

Obama's ripple effect on the Egyptian blogosphere - Part 2

Moving from Secularism and diversity to the Rantings of a Sandmonkey on Why Obama will Fail;

"In my house , right now, I have the electoral programs for both Obama and McCain, and reading them has provided me with hours of constant amusement. McCain's program is under the impression that the world is great and everything is fine and dandy, and all we really have to do is to bomb a couple more areas in the world (a bomb here, a couple there) and all will be well with the world again. I personally love it, but that's because I am Pro-Death and would welcome anything that would bring the world's population down a notch, but I doubt the rest of you exactly share my sentiment, so, ehh, yeah, bad electoral program, bad!"

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Click here to sign the guestbook!

Posted:	November 17, 2008
Name:	AK
Message:	hello marwa and erin ! in order not to confuse you guys , to keep things in short ! im talking about the getting to the next step in a relationship . im sorry i confused you guys but sorry i kept saying stuff iwthout thinking about it lol...i will try to write or call you to explain !!

Posted:	November 13, 2008
Name:	Marwa Rakha
Message:	Thanks Franco

Posted:	November 13, 2008
Name:	Marwa Rakha
Message:	Sorry AK .. I am not sure I got it .. can you please email me .. contacts above

Posted:	November 6, 2008
Name:	Franco
Website:	RVax
Message:	Very nice website! I'm impressed!

Posted:	November 5, 2008
Name:	AK
Message:	do you remember aslan ya marwa my question or not ?

Posted:	November 4, 2008
Name:	AK
Message:	hey marwa , it's ak , remember my last message that you guys didn't respond at nile fm tonite in the after dark program...honestly , i like ur opiinon , just not in need of it ....i hope you got my message that i've sent to Nile fim today . it is not a serious problem though...take care

Posted:	August 26, 2008
Name:	Marwa Rakha
Message:	Thanks Amira I do not think it is available on Port Said but maybe someone can get it for you from Cairo. I hope you like it

Posted:	August 23, 2008
Name:	amira
Website:	port said
Message:	I love you marwa so much . Ilike your brain Ilike to read your book but I'm from portsaid plz tell me how I can get it finally I want you know that " ana bmooooot fil gomgomaa di w fy triqt el tfkeeer rbna maaky fi kol ktowaa"

Posted:	July 8, 2008
Name:	Marwa Rakha
Message:	Thank you Nihal ... you are simply amazing when it comes to making me feel like a million bucks

Posted:	July 7, 2008
Name:	Nihal Azmi
Message:	The books that help you the most are those which make you think the most.Parker,Theodore...Youe book Marwa is one of those.