Tag Archives: technical women

April 20, 2016 · 2:34 pm

Where We Stayed in Palestine

In February 2016 when traveling in Palestine, I had some hard priorities for where our group of TechWomen mentors stayed:

Safety
Cleanliness
Wifi available
Expense – affordability
Charm, local style

In Gaza City, TechWomen Fellow Mai Temraz of Gaza SkyGeeks – MercyCorps kindly arranged for us to stay at the luxurious al-Mashtal Hotel (an ArcMed Hotel – on Salah Khalaf Street, in Gaza), on the beach in the north western area of the city. It was quiet and comfortable with ocean and city views. We could see the fishing boats going out in the morning (and clearly hear the morning Israeli rockets as well). The State of Qatar has its offices in this hotel.

Our group gave a series of presentations at the fancy Roots Hotel in Gaza City. Roots is located on the harbor and would have been more convenient for our meetings but all of the rooms were full for a big event when we were there. Roots has a very pleasant terrace cafe with good food and a waterfront view.

Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem

Since we gave business and technical presentations in both Ramallah and Hebron, we decided to stay in Bethlehem, which is more or less between those two cities in the West Bank region. Bethlehem is a mixed Christian and Muslim city and is close to Jerusalem, so it is easier to get out in case of trouble. I posted more Bethlehem photos in my Three Border Walls blog post. In Bethlehem, we were very graciously hosted by TechWomen Fellow Sandra Al-Arja, whose family owns several hotels. We stayed in the Bethlehem Hotel (which is comfortable with lovely views over the city, near Manger Square) and also visited the Angel Hotel (which was full so we could not stay there).

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Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, Mentoring Standard, News & Reviews

Tagged as Mentoring, Middle East, Palestine, teaching, technical women, TechWomen

March 18, 2016 · 10:51 am

Mentoring Best Practices Panel and Video

The Mentoring Best Practices panel video is now posted!

The Mentoring Best Practices Panel Discussion on 10 March 2016 was presented by the TechWomen Alumnae Council and Ericsson Women in Leadership. Speakers: Katy Dickinson, Judy Little, Robert Loftis, Myra Nawabi, Manali Rane, Leslie Summerfield. Hosted at Ericsson in San Jose, California, (Silicon Valley) by Audrey Simpson. Questions addressed: How do you get a mentor? What is the benefit of mentoring? Why be a mentor? What do mentors do? What do mentees get? What does the host organization get? Formal versus informal mentoring? Internal versus external mentoring? Senior vs. junior mentees? Apprehension when applying to mentoring programs? Differences between easy and hard mentees? What is formal mentoring like? What are powerful questions? How do you evaluate success? How does mindfulness fit into coaching/mentoring? What surprised you the most? Mentee feedback experiences? What can a mentee do for their mentor? What is the optimal age for mentoring?

The panel handout provides more biographical details on the speakers. Thanks to John Plocher for the video taping, editing, and production – much appreciated!

Photos 2016 Copyright by Maryann Hrichak

Understanding Gaza

In the month since I was in Gaza City, I have been thinking through that journey. Living in East Palo Alto for 20 years and teaching in a prison are two experiences that have given me some perspective on Gaza. I lived in EPA when it was named the murder capital of America. (EPA was where I could afford a house as a single mother working in the Silicon Valley – lower house prices being one of its virtues.) I recently started mentoring an EfM seminar at Elmwood Jail in Milpitas. Both EPA and jail can be dangerous and depressing places, but they can also be home and a ground for community support, growth, laughter, and love. When we visited Gaza, I saw devastation, poverty, and political anger but I was warmly welcomed by hundreds of locals who are building their lives and working to raise their community from the ruins. Five of us went to Gaza together: Erin Keeley, Eileen Brewer, Aliya Janjua, my daughter Jessica Dickinson Goodman, and me. It was the first visit by a group of executive technical women ever hosted by MercyCorps and Gaza Sky Geeks. Ours was also the first group visit by TechWomen mentors to our Palestinian mentees.

When I got back from three weeks in the Middle East and Africa, I briefly described Jordan, Israel – Palestine, and Zimbabwe to the men in my class at Elmwood. Trying to explain Gaza, I compared its twenty-year siege to lockdown, when inmates are immediately locked in their cells and all jail visitors must quickly leave because of an emergency situation. While we were with the TechWomen Delegation in Jordan and during the two days we toured Israel before going to Gaza, we often heard deep surprise that we would be allowed in at all. While we were in Gaza City, people on the street were very surprised to see us shopping and eating out. We were told that many outsiders who visit Gaza drive through quickly, surrounded by guards. We did follow MercyCorps’ rules to only go out during the day and early evening and always to be accompanied by a MercyCorps staff member but we were treated with hospitality and respect whereever we went. Of course, I mostly was with my 2014 mentee Mai Temraz and her charming family!

Although Gaza is primarily Islamic, we visited the 50-bed Ahli Arab Hospital (supported by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem) and the Church of Saint Porphyrius (Greek Orthodox) between giving presentations on mentoring, venture capital, design thinking, crowd funding and other professional topics. One effect of the long siege of Gaza is that the small Ahli Arab Hospital treats tens of thousands of patients per year with a mortality rate for diseases such a breast cancer at about triple – partly because of a lack of local medical facilities and the difficulty in getting patients out of Gaza promptly for treatment elsewhere.

One of the most difficult conversations I had several times with professional women in Gaza was whether they should stay or go. Gaza is blessed with many talented and educated people whom it needs to rebuild after each conflict ends. However, those are the people who can most easily qualify for graduate school, jobs, and programs elsewhere – which may be the best choice for them and their immediate families. My prayers are with the people of Gaza every day.

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Filed under Church, Mentoring & Other Business, Mentoring Standard, News & Reviews

Tagged as Education for Ministry, Geeks, Israel, Jail, Jessica, Mentoring, Middle East, Palestine, teaching, technical women, TechWomen, Zimbabwe

March 13, 2016 · 5:40 pm

TechWomen in Zimbabwe

Catching up on my blogging with my adventures as a member of the TechWomen Delegation to Zimbabwe, 20-28 February 2016. This was my 8th Delegation trip since 2011, and 4th trip to the region of Sub-Saharan Africa. Zimbabwe was the third country of a three-week trip, after a week in Jordan and a week in Israel-Palestine. Each of these journeys has been fascinating and different from the others!

The Delegation stayed at the Meikles Hotel in Harare but made day trips to Mbare, Bindura, and Bulawayo among other locations nearer the capital. We visited girls in school as well as programs and universities focused on STEM, including: TechWomen Zimbabwe’s Pamusha Project (at Chitsere Primary School, Mbare), University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers, Harare Institute of Technology, Bindura University, African Regional Intellectual Property Organization, and the National University of Science and Technology (Bulawayo).

We had some opportunities to see Zimbabwe’s famed wildlife (zebras, giraffes, antelope, wildebeests, lions, leopards, baboons…) but that was not a big focus for our trip. I was much more interested in the technical challenges and entrepreneurial accomplishments of a country which has at least 80% unemployment (for which the most common computing device is a cell phone) – and in their creative artworks. I found many chances to use the Notable Technical Women materials to present role models and career choices to the hundreds of friendly and fascinating women and girls with whom I spoke.

After the delegation ended, I had an opportunity to meet with some of the leaders of the Anglican Diocese of Harare and to shop for Shona stone sculptures, printed cloth, and reclaimed metal work art at the remarkable Newlands craft street market in Harare.

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Tagged as Africa, Israel, Jordan, Mentoring, Palestine, teaching, technical women, TechWomen, Zimbabwe

February 18, 2016 · 11:05 pm

Traveling in Palestine

A group of TechWomen mentors, Fellows, and friends have been traveling together in Israel and Palestine this week – between the official TechWomen Jordan and Zimbabwe delegations. We started with a tour of Jerusalem, Masada, and Jesus’ Baptism site on the Jordan River among other inspiring and historic locations. We spent two days in Gaza City as guests of Mercy Corps working with Gaza Sky Geeks, making presentations on mentoring, design thinking, venture investments, and crowd funding to audiences of up to 125 – mostly women. We met with the leadership of the Al Ahli Arab Hospital, Gaza.

We then spent two days in the West Bank – presenting at HCIE (the Higher Council for Innovation and Excellence) in Ramallah, and at PPU (Palestine Polytechnic University) in Hebron. We even got to see the Cave of the Patriarchs – the mosque above the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. Today, we will be walking around the Bethlehem area with our TechWomen Fellows.

It has been a pleasure to travel with my daughter Jessica, Eileen Brewer, Erin Keeley, and Aliya Janjua. We have been given overwhelmingly generous and loving support by so many of our mentees, including Mai Temraz, Maysoun Ibrahim, Ibeer Imtair, Nadiah Saba’neh, and Sandra Al-Arja. What an amazing and thought-provoking trip this has been so far! Tonight, we fly to Zimbabwe.

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Tagged as Africa, Israel, Jessica, Jordan, Mentoring, Middle East, technical women, TechWomen, Zimbabwe

February 11, 2016 · 12:04 pm

TechWomen Jordan Delegation at the Dead Sea

The TechWomen Delegation to Jordan is entering its final day. We have enjoyed visits to the Princess Rahma Bint Al Hasan School (Shmiesani, Amman) and the Latin Patriarchate School (Madaba), the Oasis 500 technical incubator, and a reception at the Zain Innovation Campus with US Ambassador to Jordan, the Honorable Alice G. Wells.

We have also seen Mount Nebo, the Shrine of the Beheading of John the Baptist, and the Madaba Mosaic Map in the early Byzantine church of Saint George at Madaba. The Delegation moved today from Amman to the Dead Sea for the two-day TechWomen unconference supporting problem solving and planning by this remarkable community of technical leaders from 21 countries.

TechWomen Delegation to Jordan Started

The TechWomen 2016 Delegation to Jordan started this week. Several dozen mentors and Fellows from the 2011-2015 cohorts are joining together to learn from each other and this remarkable place. TechWomen is an Initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs managed by the Institute of International Education in San Francisco. We are traveling with both State Department and IIE staff.

Amman has been cold and rainy but we have already toured the city, learned to cook our own Maqluba (rice, chicken, and vegetables cooked upside down) at the Beit Sitti cooking school, been addressed by the remarkable and wise (first woman) US Ambassador to Jordan, the Honorable Alice G. Wells, visited 2013 Fellow Hanan Kader’s HelloWorldKids coding academy for young children in the impressive and large King Hussein Business Park “the Silicon Valley of Jordan”, and visited the Eureka Tech Academy, run by 2011 Fellow Afnan Ali.

I was a member of the 2013 Jordan Delegation as well: much has changed here but despite its challenging neighbors, Jordan’s friendly people, impressive Roman-era ruins, delicious food, and commitment to technology and entrepreneurship remain.