Twenty-seven-year-old Amanda Young had spinal meningitis three times before she was two.
Each time, doctors told her parents she was going to die. Somehow she lived.
Two weeks before her ninth birthday, doctors amputated her left leg and hip to stop the spread of gas gangrene and clostridia septicemia, a combination of infections that had not been seen since World War II.
Since then, Young has suffered countless life-threatening diseases and conditions, the cause of which mystified doctors for 22 years.
Then, in 2003 after more than two decades of testing, researchers were finally able to identify a genetic defect called IRAK-4 as the basis of her health problems.
As her doctors continue to search for treatments and possibly a cure for her condition, Young has reportedly decided to become a motivational speaker. She says the fact that doctors have been able to name her extremely rare condition and that she may be getting better as she gets older is “a hopeful thing.”
“Just to know that I have a name (for the condition) now is phenomenal," she says. "I went 22 years without knowing what was wrong with me. Twenty-two years later we finally found the name for it. I want people to know that (they should) keep hope. Hope is there. As long as you have it, things can happen.”
Wedad Lootah may not be the Arab/Muslim equivalent of world famous sexpert Dr. Ruth Westheimer yet, but she has achieved some notoriety in the United Arab Emirates with the recent publication of her book ”Top Secret: Sexual Guidance for Married Couples.”
Ms Lootah, one of nine children born to an illiterate water-seller in Dubai, married early and taught elementary school for years before becoming a marriage counselor attached to the Dubai courts, a job she has done for the past eight years.
A New York Times online article reports:
…she is also the author of what for the Middle East is an amazingly frank new book of erotic advice in which she celebrates the female orgasm, confronts taboo topics like homosexuality and urges Arabs to transcend the backward traditions that limit their sexual happiness.
The book, “Top Secret: Sexual Guidance for Married Couples,” is packed with vivid anecdotes from Ms. Lootah’s eight years as a marital counselor in Dubai’s main courthouse. It became an instant scandal after it was published in Arabic in the Emirates in January, drawing praise from some liberals and death threats from conservatives, who say she is guilty of blasphemy or worse.
Emirati fashion photographer Fatma Abdullah’s second solo exhibition opens Sunday June 7 and runs until the end of the month at Wafi’s Khan Murjan Gallery in Dubai.
Ms Abdullah, who has been fascinated by photography since early childhood, obtained a Higher Diploma in Communication Art from Higher Colleges of Technology in 2001 and, in 2003, established her own photography company, Lady Design.
"Woman is always the centre of my attention, her tears, her weakness, her incomplete joy and her unexplainable emotions,” says Ms Abdullah.
"I've always felt my camera can speak on my behalf - it interprets my feelings effortlessly and delivers my messages accurately."
Yesterday however, on the 20th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen square, I made an exception and wrote a post to salute the bravery of the unknown man
who stood in front of the army tanks. His courageous act inspired me
then, and it continues to inspire me today, two decades later.
Two decades after the military crackdown on pro-democracy
student protests in Beijing, the Chinese government has proven itself
to be just as oppressive toward peaceful free speech today as it was
back then.
Police officers filled the square yesterday to prevent any show of
commemoration for the tragedy, silent or spoken. The government even
went so far as to shut down internet services like Twitter and
university message boards where people could share sympathies or
express dissent.
Foreign correspondents reporting on the scene were forcibly turned away and their views were blocked.
Al Jazeerah ran this report:
I visited Tiananmen Square in May 2004 on a Gulf for Good adventure challenge to The Great Wall of China.
While in the Square, I felt deeply moved as I walked in the same place
where the voices of hundreds of protesters were silenced in a bloody
massacre. When I stopped to contemplate, I wondered if someone had died
on the spot on which I stood. I felt deeply humbled by the experience
of being there.
In her BUST post, Hannah suggests a way for people to "handle the glaring silence: with sympathy and commentary."
I agree. So I am again adding my voice to others around the world, to
commemorate those who were silenced 20 years ago, and to honour those
who continue to be silenced today.
Earlier this month a member of Uganda's
parliament introduced a bill to criminalize female genital mutilation,
a traditional coming-of-age practice of cutting off all or part of a
girl's clitoris.
Though relatively rare in Uganda, the mutilation is
still practiced by two ethnic communities in the eastern part of the
country, and about 500 young women in Uganda endured genital mutilations in the most
recent season for the initiation rite.
Chris Baryomunsi, a doctor elected to Parliament three years ago,
says he has gained overwhelming support so far from male and female
legislators throughout the country for the bill, receiving endorsements
from members of many different backgrounds.
A key backer is the Parliament's deputy speaker Rebecca Kadaga, who
has dedicated 2009 as the year to end female genital mutilation, also
known as FGM, in Uganda.
Rukia Nadama, the state minister for gender and cultural affairs,
has also endorsed the bill. She is working with leaders of the Sabiny
and Pokot communities--where the majority of these rites are carried
out--to educate them about the health risks associated with the
cuttings, such as high rates of maternal and child mortality during
childbirth, HIV transmission and the potential for these mutilations to
cause fatal bleeding.
Wedad Lootah may not be the Arab/Muslim equivalent of world famous sexpert 
Emirati fashion photographer Fatma Abdullah’s second solo exhibition opens Sunday June 7 and runs until the end of the month at Wafi’s Khan Murjan Gallery in Dubai.
Earlier this month a member of Uganda's
parliament introduced a bill to criminalize female genital mutilation,
a traditional coming-of-age practice of cutting off all or part of a
girl's clitoris.