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Zero-net workshops: Egyptian University Students Learn How to Succeed on Zero-Budget

New International Cultural Cooperation Projects for Zero-net

Dates are Great! New Creative Lesson Plan for Free Download

New Languages Added to Zero-net

Great News: Zero-net is a WINNER at the e-Content Award of Egypt !

It’s beautiful to see a simple dream turn into solid reality!

So much has happened since last year, it’s amazing that from a simple idea, zero-netters worldwide are now working together under our slogan Don’t Hate, Educate! to promote tolerance, understanding and respect.

Watch our motivational video ‘Dare to Dream’ a reminder to always follow your dreams till they come true. You can also watch Success on Zero-Budget, a brief clip of our first year of hard work.

Finland’s Foreign Ministry published an article about Zero-net, by journalist & photographer Paivi Arvonen. You can read it in Finnish or Swedish or English

Sahar was also interviewed by popular TV host Doaa Farouk on Iqraa satellite TV for Beit El Ezz

American documentary producers UPF asked Zero-net to provide original artwork for the companion site of their new documentary The Rise & Fall of Islamic Spain to be broadcast in several countries worldwide this year.

So, our painting of a modern American family at breakfast will show on the film website and in posters, with detailed explanations of the origins of many daily luxuries that we take for granted as “modern” inventions… when in fact they had originated hundreds of years ago in Islamic Spain!

January 2007 was a very exciting month for the Zero-netters, and a very energetic start of the year. We heard lots of good news, met amazing new team members, cooperated on exciting cultural and creative projects, and met with viewers and listeners around the world through international media. Here are more details:

On 9th January, Zero-net was nominated for the e-Content Award of Egypt, for best Creative Cultural Content. The ceremony was postponed from end of January possibly to the end of the February. We’ll keep you updated with the final date.

US-based media production company UPF called on the creativity of the Zero-netters to cooperate on generating artwork for their new documentary project on Muslim Spain. The final artwork looks amazing; we’ll surprise you very soon and will wait for your feedback.

The Zero-netters are helping Japanese Women in Tsukuba learn Arabic through creative art, and they in turn are helping us to learn Japanese, stay tuned for the details.

Young Egyptian school students are talking about Zero-net to the international organization connecting them with other school kid around the world; we’ll keep you posted with the news.

American Sound Architect Adam A. Johnson volunteered to work on a musical project with Zero-net; Egyptian documentary producer Maha Shahba is exercising her creative talents on a short video report to document our progress since we started; 14-year-old school student Ahmed Abdel Wahab is working on a creative idea for Talk2Me with his classmates; Cairo university students Hesham Nassar & Aiman Abol Magd with their creative team from faculty of engineering are experimenting with a video promo; all the way from Tsukuba, Japan: PhD student Ghada Khorieba is linking us to her Japanese friends to exchange cultures through creative projects.

All this activity introduced us to many new friends in the international media. Sahar was interviewed extensively this month as the creator and director of Zero-net: Sahar was contacted by British author Laurence Shorter for The Optimists Project; he is interviewing her among the most optimistic people in the world for a book and possibly a BBC series due early 2008.

Writer & photographer Arita Baaijens from Holland interviewed Sahar both about Zero-net and as an example of modern Muslim women with a social and global commitment.

Journalist & photographer Päivi Arvonen from Finland also portrayed Sahar and Zero-net in a story for the publication of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The story focuses on a Muslim woman in the IT world with a creative project using technology, and will be published along with the news of Cairo ICT trade fair.

Sahar also had a radio interview over the phone with Selma Cook from IOL radio, for her Youth 4 the Future program to give a live example for youth on pro-activity, volunteer work, and team work.

Finally, Zero-net’s live dialogue event with visiting students from Denmark and Egyptian school kids featured in New Generation newsletter distributed to the parents, board members and community leaders in Cairo. We’ll post all the links, pictures, detailed reports and more in the next days, so stay tuned, and while you wait: Don’t Hate, Educate!

Sofie, Anders, Frieda, Mads, and Kenneth, students of political science from Ruskilde University Center in Denmark visited the Zero-netters in Cairo in December 2006. They were doing a research paper for their university on the Danish cartoons crisis, so they chose the Zero-netters as their companions in Cairo to see the town together while discussing the various concepts related to the cartoons issue, including freedom of expression, religious tolerance, and cross-cultural communication. The Zero-netters also accompanied their guests to New Generation School to meet the children of 7th grade who cooperated with Zero-net last school year on Talk2Me to communicate with Danish school kids. This visit was a unique and rich learning experience for everyone involved, resulting in a great new friendship between the two teams, who are now communicating to expand creative cooperation. More details of this event including pictures, video, and comments coming soon... more

It was a nice surprise for Sahar on her birthday to hear from Doaa Farouk asking for an interview. The theme of the program was giving a live example of proactive attitude and creative achievement for women of all ages. The episode was recorded and will be aired in January, details and video coming soon.

Through listening to the valuable feedback of our friends around the world, we thought to create a new section detailing all the help we need, and also to provide that in many languages so everyone could easily understand. The Zero-netters in cooperation with friends at Dar Al Tarjama worked on providing How You Can Help section in English, Arabic, French, and German. All the help needed is effort and support since Zero-net operates completely free of charge on Zero-Budget.

Sahar and Ahmad were the guests of Shabab-beek, the most popular youth program broadcast live, daily, on Dream TV. The theme of the interview on 18 November was how to contribute positively to the image of Muslims worldwide. The Zero-netters were given 30 minutes (of the program's 60 minutes), to explain the project and browse Zero-net on air as a live example of successful cross-cultural communication. The cheerful cast of the program (Salma, Heba, Amr, and Eyad) where very enthusiastic about the creativity, style and quality of Zero-net that they encouraged viewers to visit the site and offer help and ideas, they also promised a full-length episode with the Zero-netters again very soon. The other guest of the program was Mostafa Hosny who had first introduced Zero-net on his program the previous month, one of his viewers called Dream TV and asked them to host the Zero-netters. It was a great surprise to meet Mostafa once more on a TV interview, and to share this strange coincidence with the viewers on air.

Watch Dream TV interview video here

A group of 11 young Danes participating in the Next Stop Middle East cultural exchange met the Zero-netter in Cairo in October 2006. Their visit coincided with the last 10 days of the holy month of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, which is a very special spiritual and festive time of year. Everyone shared a unique cultural evening where The Zero-netters and their multicultural friends in Cairo invited the Danish guests to Iftar (special Ramadan meal at sunset) by the Nile. 35 friendly people from both sides met and exchanged warm introductions and took group pictures. The Danes were also invited to witness Taraweeh prayer, a night ritual special for this time of year, followed by more discussions on ways to continue communication and cooperation. The evening was a result of continued communication between both sides since March 2006, and was intended as a citizen-to-citizen effort to bridge cultural barriers and resulted in forming many friendships. The Danes’ visit to Cairo is organized by the Danish Association for International Cooperation (MS), an NGO working in cooperation with the University of Southern Denmark to promote cross-cultural understanding.

The Zero-netters were flooded with feedback and fan mail following the broadcast of an interview with Sahar on regional TV channel Iqraa on 11 October. Viewers from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Europe, USA & Canada, and the Arab region visited the site and wrote to support Zero-net and offer help and ideas. The positive response from viewers in North Africa was especially overwhelming. The Zero-netters have started regular communication with their fans around the world which would soon evolve into a newsletter. Stay tuned for details on how to get the Zero-net newsletter.

We’re happy that cultural organizations are taking the initiative to include Zero-net in their list of contacts among established NGO’s and international cultural centers working to promote tolerance and understanding around the world. Here is our latest appearance online: http://www.iaed.info/links/

The Information Technology Industry Development Agency ITIDA, at the Smart Village; Egypt’s state-of-the-art technology park, has welcomed the participation of Zero-net in The Award of Egypt for e-Content, under the category: Best e-Content on Creativity & Culture. Zero-net is competing with numerous entities nationwide to win one of the top 3 prizes in this category. The winners will be nominated to represent Egypt in prestigious international competitions like WSA and WSYA. Zero-net has also joined the Design Professionals Award, awaiting the final results.

Famous TV host Mostafa Hosny invited Sahar El-Nadi, Zero-net director, to his popular show on Iqraa channel called “The Beautiful Life” to talk about her experience as a model Muslim woman with recognized achievements in business and culture. Zero-net was the highlight of the interview as an example of positive cross-cultural communication, and a success story on Zero budget. Hosny encouraged Muslim youth worldwide to visit the site and support its creative cultural-outreach efforts. The show airs on prime time in the month of Ramadan, on Iqraa channel which is watched by millions of Arabic speaking viewers in the Middle East and the USA.

Omair Ali, creative director of Zaytuna institute and director of MeccaOne Radio http://www.meccaone.org wrote to ask to join the Zero-netters and compliment them on a job well done; he also invited them for a phone interview for his radio show which is heard on FM radio in California and live online on the station’s website.

The Zero-netters have joined a Danish photography project called “Images of Greater Cairo” to introduce everyday activities of Egyptians to the Danes as part of the month-long activities of Images of the Middle East in Denmark in August and September 2006. Danish photographer Suzanne chose Sahar, Doaa, Bassem and Sami to take 15 pictures each of their surroundings, workplaces, homes, and friends to show in a printed catalogue and public photo exhibition in Denmark. A return exhibition with Danish photographs besides those from Egypt will show in Cairo in December 2006 at the Culture Wheel www.culturewheel.com

Zero-net Lecture at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, invited by The Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute (DEDI)

Just a couple of weeks after launching Zero-net online, Sahar El-Nadi, Zero-net Director, was invited by the Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute to present Zero-net success story to a visiting delegation at the conference hall of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, part the largest Egyptian media establishment. The delegates attending were positively influenced by Zero-net friendly attitude and interesting story to generate similar initiatives in their home countries.

Zero-netters celebrated the completion of all projects initiated in March 2006 as part of the Don’t Hate, Educate! cultural outreach initiative. Launching is planned in July for Zero-net online to introduce the projects including Talk2Me school-to-school cultural communication, Parallel Wisdom introducing world wisdom with parallel messages, Visual Cultures showing local culture through visual art, Learn With Us with fun cultural learning ideas for teachers and parents, and many other projects creatively showcased on www.zero-net.net to encourage citizen-to-citizen cross-cultural communication with people around the world.

During the Muhammad cartoon crisis, kids asked many questions, so the Zero-netters developed and executed a creative project to help clarify some facts to them. Through Talk2Me school project, Zero-net connected two classes in Cairo and Copenhagen and encouraged them to communicate in a class-to-class assignment designed to learn directly from each other about both cultures. Secret Friends on both sides could communicate and exchange Treasure Boxes full of cultural adventures. More: http://www.zero-net.net/talk2me.htm

To address the escalating curiosity about the nature of the cartoons problem and the significance of Prophet Muhammad to Muslims, Zero-net team connected the Danish TV to Michael Wolfe, producer and director of the award-winning American documentary Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet by Unity Production Foundation UPF and suggested to both sides the broadcast of the film on Danish TV to answer viewers questions.  Legacy was advertised in leading Danish papers and was broadcast on the evening of Saturday April 22 from 20:00 – 22:30 in a special theme night on DR2, viewed by an estimated 100,000 TV sets in Denmark. 
More http://www.zero-net.net/cultural_co.htm

Following the Muhammad Cartoon Crisis, Zero-net Director Sahar El-Nadi wrote an opinion article for publishing worldwide on the cross-cultural lessons to learn from the clash, ways to avoid it, the concept of freedom of expression from an Islamic perspective, and the significance of Prophet Muhammad to Muslims. On 9 February 2006, it was first published on Kwintessential, you can read it here

In September 2005, 12 cartoons of Islam's prophet Muhammad were published in a local newspaper in Denmark, as a result, a wave of negative feelings and actions followed on both sides; by mid January of 2006 it was a sever case of cross-cultural misunderstanding. Many wise people worldwide felt the need to do something positive in reaction. Sahar El-Nadi, Independent Culture Consultant from Cairo sent a short email to her friends on 7 February 2006 explaining how multicultural and creative people should get together to encourage better understanding across cultures.