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Ahmed Bensoltane Mohamed,president of Al Ajdad, an Asso-ciation
for Diabetic Childrenbased in Ain Defla, Algeria, wasin the USA to
be part of theNGO Management Program
that took place in WashingtonDC, Manchester, NH, Portland,OR,
and Indianapolis, IN from
January 31, 2011 to February 18,2011.
As the founder and president ofEl Ajdad, Ahmed BensoltaneMohamed
was diagnosed thediabetes 27 years ago and withall the complication
he has beenthrough, Ahmed had the will tocreate an association that
helpschildren suffering from this dis-ease, El Ajdad is very active
in
increasing parents and childrenawareness and also helps
toprovide them with medicine andsupport materials through
dona-tions but also with informativesessions and conference
organi-zation.
This thee-week conference,Ahmed and representativesfrom
different other countriesshared experience and advice onNGO
management, ways ofimproving and reaching out to alarger audience,
but mainly fund-raising and being convincing. Itwas a great
experience, as theopportunity allowed them tomeet Americans and
discoverthe U.S.
This was the first visit for Ah-med Bensoltane Mohamed
andMahfoudh Boussedi, another
Algerian participant, who is anactive member of El Ajdad, butwho
also helped as a guide forAhmed to help him through thevisit as he
is blind.
After his first experience in theU.S., Ahmed Bensoltane
Mohamedhas learned a lot about the differ-ences and similarities
betweenboth the Algerian and Americancultures. He also discovered
peo-ples friendliness and helpfulness;from the program, he
discovered
different and more efficient waysto increase his associations
effec-tiveness.
A.B
A Special International Visitor: Ahmed Bensoltane Mohamed
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
May 2011Volume 2, Issue 17
El-Djazair Alumni Newsletter
Inside this issue:
Alumni from IV 1
EducationUSA Mak-
ing The Round in
Algeria
2
Good Football 3
Follow Us 4
Bensoltane (seated first from right) and Mahfoudh Bouss-edi
(Standing second from the right)
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From April 30 to May 6, 2011,
EducationUSA, in collaboration
with the Public Affairs Section
organized a visit in Algeria of a
delegation representing differ-
ent American educational insti-
tutions. This first time event
came in an effort to promote
U.S. education to Algerian stu-
dents, but also to increase
Algerian students awareness
on the available opportunities
for international students in the
U.S, help them understand the
application process and mostimportantly the different means
to get financial aid.
EducationUSA delegation in-
cluded five representatives who
were Ann Kuhlman from Yale
University, Ken Carpenter
from the University of New
Mexico, Jennifer Fondiller from
Barnard College, Ross Jennings
from Greenville Community
College, and Joe Delap from
Jacksonville State University.
These universities represent a
large spectrum of American
universities including an Ivy
League institution, a womens
college, two state universities
and a community college; This
delegation was led by Janine
Fahat, a Senior International
Educational Specialist working
for College Board, another
partner that helped in making
this visit. As a non-profit mem-
bership association represent-
ing more than 5,900 colleges,
universities and schools, the
College Board leads national
and international efforts to
improve access to and readi-
ness for higher education. It
helps over seven million stu-
dents connect to college op-
portunities. The EducationUSA
delegation visited different
institutions in different parts of
Algeria, including the University
of Science and Technology, the
University of Es-Senia in Oran,
Mentouri University in Con-
stantine, from there to Guelma,
a neighboring city, to visit the
University of May 8th 1945, and
during their last day, the dele-gation visited the
Universities
of Science and Technology in
Bab Ezzeouar and Benyoucef
Benkhedda, both in located
Algiers. The delegation also
took part to the Microsoft
Imagine Cup where hundred of
students visited the U.S. Em-
bassy booth and met with Ac-
cess and the Competitive Col-
lege Club students.
During the different visits, Edu-
cationUSA delegation had the
opportunity to meet with hun-
dreds of students to give pres-
entations covering different
topics in the interest of Alge-
rian students, who showed a
great interest in the presented
subjects, mainly financial aid,
campus life, American universi-
ties requirements and through
their questions, had the panel
explain any discrepancies be-
tween the Algerian Education
and the American one, the trip
also included meeting with
Rectors and scholars from the
different Algerian institutions
to hear from them and their
expectations from such a visit,
and discussed ways to increase
collaboration with U.S. institu-
tions through scholars visits,
faculty collaboration in the field
of research for instance and also
ways to increase students ex-
change through bringing Ameri-
can students to Algeria.
Last but not least, the Educa-
tionUSA delegation also worked
closely with Algerian Higher edu-
cation authorities through differ-
ent meetings not only promoting
U.S. education but also to adver-
tise the available options for Al-
gerian researchers and profes-
sors through exchanges and vis-
its.
This visit by the EducationUSA
delegation helped a lot in the
understanding of a system that,
most of the time, seems too
difficult for Algerians and allowed
the Embassy to present informa-tion to offer different options
for
local students so to encourage
them to apply to American insti-
tutions and to increase the num-
ber of Algerian students in the
U.S., We look forward for future
visits by EducationUSA.
A.B
EducationUSA Making The Round in Algeria
EducationUSA
delegation helped
a lot in the
understanding of
a system that,
most of the time,
seems too difficult
for Algerians
Page 2 El-Djazair Alumni Newsletter
EducationUSA Delegation duringone of the Presentations
Marissa Scott and Jennifer Fondil-ler with students from
Oran
At the Algerian Ministry of HigherEducation
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On April 18-24, Embassy
Algiers sponsored sports
envoys Lorrie Fair, BrianGonzales, and Hisham Elk-
oustaf from American NGO
Good Football for a soccer
program in several Algerian
cities. Ms. Fair, a two time
Olympic gold medalist and
womens World Cup cham-
pion, was overwhelmed by
the warm welcome she re-
ceived from our Algerian
hosts. The delegation was
received by the current and
former presidents of the
Algerian Football Federa-tion, and by presidents of
both the mens and
womens Algerian profes-
sional Leagues. In Algiers,
the group led a soccer clinic
for women inside El Har-
rach prison, toured the pro-
fessional soccer academy,
visited the headquarters of
leading sports newspapers
El Heddaf and Planete Sport,
gave a live interview on
prime time sports showSaa Riadha, and led a full
day youth soccer tourna-
ment at the Grande Poste in
the heart of downtown over
the weekend with local or-
ganizations Proximus Eventsand Ness El Khir that was
attended by dozens of
young players, including a
group with mental disabili-
ties, and hundreds of inter-
ested others. The group
also visited the current Al-
gerian womens champion
team, AFAK Relizane,
where they were hosted
personally by the wali of
Relizane. The wali also spent
a friendly evening with the
group to have dinner andwatch the Copa del Rey
championship match in
Spain. From Relizane, the
group visited Oran, where
they led a soccer clinic at a
private academy for boys
and met with the mens
professional team. At the
end of the visit, Good Foot-
ball and Algerian NGO
Ouled El Houma signed an
MOU in the presence of the
leaders of all the profes-sional Algerian soccer or-
ganizations to seek future
partnership opportunities,
and Ms. Fair was presented
a lifetime achievementaward. Good Football and
the Embassy are honored to
have enjoyed such a fun
successful week with our
Algerian friends, and look
forward to growing future
sports programs together.
Good Football Tours Algeria
Page 3Volume 2, Issue 17
Lorrie Fair during the event in Algiers Center.
Lorrie Fair with young Algerian Soccer players
