A warm thank you to the kids & parents who contributed to the making of this collage and the promotion of the Sustainable Development Goals. |
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Editor's Message
I hope you are all safe, healthy, and enjoying the changing seasons with the feeling of autumn ever-so-slowly returning. For October's newsletter, we are happy to present the theme of Global Goals for Sustainable Development.
Like with the not-so-quarterly change of weather seasons, we can certainly notice a wide range of other changes happening around us. Particularly regarding changes to sustainability & development, it is an exciting thing to, for example, witness fellow supermarket shoppers using cloth bags, and even moreso to see increasingly widespread encouragement of these lifestyle changes.
I hope that when you read about the UN's Sustainable Development goals, you'll feel inspired to work alongside us towards the achievement of each of these goals.
Wishing you all the best!
Andrea Mehringer
WSB's The Bridge Editor
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Our Director's Message
Dear readers,
I hope you are keeping well and that the challenges of homeschooling and flight/travel restrictions are not proving to be too difficult for you and your families. At WSB, we continue to try and support women in any way we can and keep them engage in activities and industries of their choice, but needless to say, we all need a break and are longing for travel or visits back home!
As we face day to day challenges with our families and work, we may ask ourselves how relevant the UN Sustainable Development Goals are to our daily lives? It is really good to know that the UN, with its headquarters somewhere in Europe, is trying to make the world a better place, but what are they doing for me? Whatever the answer may be, we must pause and think of future generations and hope they will get to achieve their life goals and ambitions. We also need to take time and think about our environment, ensuring that the current generation does not misuse the earth's natural resources and fundamental life-supporting systems such as stable climate, clean water, and diverse wildlife. This issue is very close to WSB's values and through our Sustainability Group, we hope to promote a better way of life which includes less waste and pollution, fewer emissions, greater opportunities, and more inclusiveness for all.
In this issue, we hope to raise awareness with our readers, their family and friends, and the future generation. If you would like to get involved, please scroll down to our Sustainability flyer, print if off, stick it on your fridge, and try to do something each day.
Remember to "take action; an inch of movement will bring you closer to your goals than a mile of intention."
Pauline Khan
WSB Director
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WSB Connect Event - "Well-Rounded Learner"
Held at Radisson Blu DQ
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A huge thank you to Dr Laura Gibbing for great insights and tips on healthy eating, nutrition, the importance of movement and good sleep for ourselves and our children!
Equally, a very big smiling thank you to Eram Zeeshan for reminding us how to be grateful, happy and teaching us ways of instilling these values in our children. Don’t forget to set your smile alarms :-)
Thank you to the guests who attended. We appreciate your commitment and support and look forward to seeing you again at our next WSB Connect event.
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Inspiring Woman: Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Written by Leigh-Jane Obermayer
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This month there is no woman, more fitting to fill the shoes of "Inspiring Women" than the late Justice of the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, better known to us all as the Notorious RBG.
Born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York, Ruth Bader Ginsburg attended Harvard Law School, where she was one of nine women in a class of five hundred and the first female member of the Harvard Law Review. Having discovered her passion for Civil Procedure after studying in Sweden in the early 1960s, she soon set to work fighting for gender equality. Between 1973 and 1975, she argued six gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court and won five of them. During this time, societal norms for females were ones of domestic icons, symbols of male comfort and companionship and lacking in equal intelligence, drive and ambition. Ruth fought, persisted, and overcame many of these fallacies to allow women today their voice and freedom. Her lifelong work to fight for justice for women has since helped bring down many more barriers for women.
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However, her fight for justice was not only for women, she believed that law was gender blind all groups were entitled to equal rights. She won a Supreme Court case of the Social Security Act that favoured women over men that favored widows but not widowers.
With this month’s theme focusing on Global Goals & the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) while highlighting October as Breast Cancer Awareness, our Inspiring Women is the beacon on all accounts. After graduating from Cornell in 1954, she married her University sweetheart Martin Ginsburg and they had a daughter, Jane, shortly after. Together the couple attended Harvard Law School during their second term, Martin was diagnosed with testicular cancer and underwent surgery and chemotherapy. Ruth cared for their young daughter, attended class for Martin, typed up his papers from dictation and kept up her own classes and grades. Ruth’s high school years were shadowed by her mother’s fight with cervical cancer. She died the day before Ruth’s high school graduation, a the age of 48 years old and buried next to her second daughter, (Ruth's younger sister) Marilyn, who had died at the age of 6 when Ruth was only 14 years old.
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Ruth was indeed a woman of many firsts, the first women to teach at Rutgers Law School, the first female member of the Harvard Law Review, first women to lie in state at the US Capitol, to name only a few.
Ruth attributes her drive, ambition and success to her mother and her daughter. Ruth is the epitome of a strong female, the perfect lady and the closest we had to a superhero. To all strong women, may we know them, may we be them and may we raise/nurture them.
After 27 years serving as a justice on the Supreme Court, Ruth herself died on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87 of the disease that had taken half her family. We thank you, Ruth for all you have done. RBG, RIP.
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Sustainability
Please print out and place this poster on your fridge or cupboard as a reminder to implement some or all of the quick wins.
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Meet our Education & Training Working Group
The Industry Working Groups (IWG) are WSB's latest initiative, designed to help connect women from different industry sectors, providing them a support platform to network, create, and achieve their full potential within their area or industry of expertise. The Education, Training & Coaching Group currently includes 42 participants with various professional backgrounds and experiences. Here are some of its members...
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Thank you to Sahar Nadeem, pharmacist and member of WSB's Health & Fitness working group for providing the following information about breast cancer.
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All Over the Place
The McCloskeys, Losada-Philips, and Thomsons Summer Road Trip to Ta’if and Jeddah
2 Brits, 1 Irish, 1 Columbian, 1 Welsh, 1 Scot, 6 children, ranging in age from 10 to 15, plenty of enthusiasm, many kilometres, and lots of great memories…
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Area(s): Ta’if, Jeddah, and Al Wahbah Crater
Where we stayed: First, we stayed at Lavender Hotel in Ta’if’s city center. The receptionist spoke very good English, and the rooms were clean and modern, but don’t expect a room with too much of a view. There were some communication issues with staff members, especially when it came to towels and bedding.
We then stayed at the Sheraton Red Sea Beach Resort/Club in Jeddah, which could be described as bungalows, perfectly adequate but basic and in need of some updating. There is also a seawater swimming pool located on the site, also in need of some TLC, but the beach area is well organized. We ate at the outdoor restaurant several times (breakfast is included). Once again, getting ahold of towels was a struggle.
Towards the end of our trip, we ended up staying one night at a hotel in Afif…the less said about that experience, the better!
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Noteworthy remarks: We had heard that the weather is cooler in Ta’if (often called the “City of Roses”), and it didn’t let us down. We were able to take in the spectacular views, have a ride on the famous Al Hada cable car, buy fruit from the various fruit stalls on the road out of Ta’if, see the infamous baboons, and visit one of the few rose factories in the region.
Jeddah is considerably more humid than the dry heat of Riyadh, but that was tempered by unusually stormy weather whilst we were visiting. Our main aim for this holiday was to snorkel and dive in the Red Sea. It was lovely though to be able to go in the sea and see the beautiful reef and all that lives in it, as the weather permitted.
Finally, on our way back to Riyadh, we took a detour to visit Al Wahbah Crater, located 250 km (160 miles) away from Ta’if.
Landmarks & special experiences: In Ta’if, we managed to find a lovely little provincial rose factory where we could buy various rose based products at very reasonable prices, and as a bonus, we got to eat prickly pear harvested from the bushes nearby. We heard we should stock up on fruits to feed the baboons that live by the side of the road in the Hejaz Mountains. They are a popular attraction and a great start to the 3 hour journey to Jeddah.
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The twisty-turny road that takes you from Ta’if to Jeddah is pretty impressive. You can still make out the original camel caravan routes as you make your way down the mountain. It’s a photo opportunity a minute as you pick your way through the Hejaz Mountains on the hairpin roads that run beneath the Al Hada cable car. You pick up Telefric Al Hada (cable car) tickets from the very tired looking Ramada Hotel in Ta’if. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth it, and the toboggan ride at the bottom is great fun.
Entertainment recommendations: On our first night in Ta’if, the hotel receptionist recommended that we try the Al Safy café/restaurant. Even without a booking, our whole group managed to get seated and eat some very nice food al fresco in lovely, stylish surroundings.
The Jeddah Corniche on the Red Sea has a great cosmopolitan feel to it, and it’s well worth a visit there around dusk to see the sunset and photograph various ‘floating’ mosques. Jeddah’s old town looks absolutely fascinating, too. We also had a nice meal at the Park Hyatt Hotel.
Advice: Go with an open mind. Fill up on fuel whenever you can; there are some long stretches of road out there. You often find a mosque and restroom at a petrol station, but don’t forget your loo roll! Also, beware the sudden weather changes in this region.
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Excited about getting your license? Follow the instructions below! |
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Registrations through individuals compound recreation/event email only... |
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Talking about Poverty
Cristina Maruri
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Talking about poverty in the 21st century should be like talking about the Black Death or the discovery of the wheel. It should be something almost prehistoric. A fact known only through dusty books, waiting for the delight of scholars in some prestigious library. A dark and shameful period that has been largely overcome. A time that humanity wished would be forgotten.
Talking about poverty should never, and in no way, mean that on the way to work we meet a beggar sleeping on cardboard at the entrance of a cash machine. Or hearing on the news that an old man has died alone in his home, because nobody cared. To talk about poverty should not be that a child did not have a childhood, because along with its illusion and innocence, its childhood would have been taken away by the bombs of a war or the animal instincts of a cruel pedophile.
To speak of poverty should not imply that a woman was kidnapped, raped and forced to marry, to live abused as a slave, so much so that she even dreamed that death would come before her. Nor should it mean deformed babies with bulging eyes, huge heads and scarred ribs, in a skin that cools off because life escapes them. Talking about poverty should not mean the terrible suffering of parents forced to sell a child. Or talk about monsters capable of buying a child and tearing it apart, so that they can usurp the blood, liver or kidney.
Talking about poverty should not only be about strategies, figures, meetings and conventions; because talking about poverty is talking about human beings. Of people, of individuals, of lives; like yours and like mine. They are not worse, defective, inferior, or guilty. It is just that they have not had our luck. There is no other difference. No matter how hard we try, we will not find an excuse.
That is why to continue to talk about poverty is to talk about the greatest shame of humanity. Of their inability to love. Of its lack of empathy and generosity. Of a never-ending defeat: good always loses and evil wins. Of the tragic irony of reaching the moon and not exterminating hunger and thirst. Water, bread and peace.
That is why to speak of poverty with a capital "P" is not to speak of theirs but of ours. Of the meanness and ricketiness of our hearts, which are going down the wrong path and will never reach happiness.
It is worth more one of their smiles, those that are offered to us by those who have nothing and give everything, than the golden and stupid treasures that in our ephemeral life we are busy accumulating.
To speak of poverty, in short, is to speak of the saddest and most humiliating end of humanity.
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The Intercultural and Language Exchange gives Saudi and Expat ladies the opportunity to learn more about each other's cultural backgrounds and experiences while helping each other practice their language skills. Each exchange focuses on one country or region and looks at food, music, arts, and etiquette with a comparison to Saudi Arabia. |
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Still places available for beginners course starting Monday 5th October, please contact [email protected]
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Disclaimer: The views & opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Women's Skills Bureau. Any content provided by our authors are of their opinion(s) and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. |
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Welcome! The Women's Skill Bureau (WSB) inspires and empowers women of all nationalities living in Riyadh by providing them with tools, resources, and career guidance to allow them to thrive in various aspects of their lives. We are a community that connects experience, knowledge, and skills with individuals. Likewise, WSB supports women and enables them to realize their potential now and in the future. WSB offers many opportunities for female entrepreneurs to promote their businesses.
How you can get involved:
WSB's Newsletter "The Bridge": Issued the 1st of each month - contributors on any topic welcome. Email Andrea at [email protected]
WSB Volunteer: Offers flexible and meaningful opportunities for community service in Riyadh.
Survive & Thrive: Gives support and guidance to live a fulfilling expat life in Riyadh.
WSB Connect: For women looking to acquire new skills & connect with other professionals & entrepreneurs.
Find & Be Found: A networking platform for employers, volunteer organisations & people seeking employment.
Intercultural & Language Exchange: An opportunity to exchange knowledge of cultural backgrounds & languages.
Sustainability Support Group: A working group initiated by the demand for sustainability practices.
Sign up for the WSB mailing list at www.wsbksa.com to get our newsletters and mailers.
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Community Groups in Riyadh
Life in Saudi
News and Blogs
Additional Facebook Pages
Applications
Riyadh Community Groups
SaSa
Saudi Arabian Scandinavian Association
The Corona Society
Offers friendship, support & advice to expat ladies
ABGR
American Business Group Riyadh
RGBB
Riyadh Group for British Business
CCOR
The Canadian Community of Riyadh
The Caledonian Society Scottish Society
Nordiska Klubben for Nordic people in Riyadh
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland
IBG
Irish Business Group
Riyadh Choral Society
Riyadh Community Theater
Riyadh Toastmasters' Club
Expat Ladies' Group - Riyadh
British Golf Society
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About Us
The Women's Skills Bureau is an organization which helps people in Saudi Arabia navigate the country. WSB inspires and empowers women of all nationalities living in Riyadh by providing them with the tools, resources, and guidance to allow them to thrive in all aspects of their lives. By creating a community that connects experience, knowledge, and skills with individuals, WSB supports women and enables them to realize their potential both now and in the future. Learn more at www.wsbksa.com or at our events.
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