What's new in APEN

Hello everyone -
The network of the Arava Alumni is awfully busy. The school year is winding down for most people, but the summer is winding up - and I don't only mean the temperature although it is amazing what can happen in the Arava... Here are just a few highlights of what people are up to:

Roey A is checking out doctoral programs in Europe, Ruba S is working with an environmental consulting firm in Amman, Hila A is serving as the first head of the Environmental Unit of Ramat Hanegev Regional Council (the same post as Dorit in the Southern Arava for those of you who remember her), Hannah S is working with Zalul - a major Environmental group, Sawsan E and Roni B will be heading to Chicago for the second Arava-JNF Chicago Internship, a bunch of people including Ophir B and Galya R will be Surfing the Creative in Colorado this summer, Hadeel M and Natalia G will be participating in the Hotchkiss Summer Portals program Hotchkiss Summer Portals in Connecticut, Ilana M and Mazen Z are already in China learning biogas techniques from the top school in the world - on scholarship from the Chinese Embassy in Israel, Itay G is coming to Israel to conduct some research for his dissertation, Raouf D is back in Jordan conducting research for his dissertation on the Yarmouk River, Manar A is a research assistant on a study of the Al Batoof Valley, Roee E has created the web site for the Air Quality study called Particulate Matter 2.5
and as I speak is holding the conference for the full research team in Jerusalem, Dana R, Mutassim A, and Ariane W have begun working with IPCRI
, Khaled N is in the thick of about 5 projects - one of them to enhance womens economic development in southern Jordan.

There is more - lots more. Amer S is the PA for the Arava Institute's 2007 summer course
, people are visiting back and forth, and we need you all to write in so we will know all about what you are doing. APEN is very proud of all its members.

And we are in progress on some new internships in the Middle East this summer, a draft of the vision of APEN, a way to have a blog, listserve, newsletter, and database all in one place with some parts open to the public and other parts private for members only.

All help is welcome. If you are interested in helping plan the meeting in September which will include a workshop on conflict resolution techniques and an environmental activism fair, please contact me as soon as possible.

Keep up all the good work in your studies and careers!


Sharón

Steering Committee Meeting March 30, 07

Hey everyone -
I just want to make sure that you know that there is a meeting for the steering committee at Sde Boker on March 30th, and we are working out the details now - but the idea is to build a plan for the Arava Network for the year ahead - and a long term vision. This organization is being birthed as we speakand we need some practical skills and development tools to get to a working point.

Alumni of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies who wish to take part should contact Yonatan@arava.org or Sharonb@arava.org and let us know.

Also- if you are an Alum (whether or not you are in the Middle East) you can always write us for help with anything to do with Peace and Environment in the Middle East. If you need recommendation letters, job possibilities, help editing your new NGO's grant proposals, or help finding the best training program or graduate school for what you want to learn - tap in to our network and let us know how we can help you!

All the best!
Sharón

Arava Peace and Environmental Network

This is the new blog of the Arava Peace and Environmental Network.

We, the graduates of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (www.arava.org) and those who choose to join us, believe that we can be part of the solution in the middle east - not part of the problem. We believe that by learning and working together to meet environmental challenges we can build peace in the region and make the world a better place.