What’s the solution to world poverty? Some might say food aid; others, training and investment. But, for a growing number of international philanthropists, the next big thing for the Third World might just be the same force that’s been reshaping the First: technology. It all started at the 2005 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, announced an ambitious plan to improve education and stimulate economic growth in the world’s poorest countries with the development of a $100 laptop. Just over a year later, One Laptop Per Child [...]
Editor’s Note: This article is the first of two that look at the attitudes of young Muslims toward Islam. The second looks at young Muslim women in the Middle East. Twenty-year-old Ahlam Shalabi could be the poster girl for young American Muslims. Shalabi is a college student three days a week at San Diego State University, an officer in her school’s Muslim Student Union (MSA), a volunteer youth leader at a local mosque, and a full-time devout Muslim. She represents a new consciousness emerging among young American Muslims nationwide, one fueled by pride in Islam. “I started wearing hijab [headscarf] [...]
Editor’s Note: This article is the second of two that look at the attitudes of young Muslims toward Islam. The first looks at young American Muslims. CAIRO — When I arrived in her stylish office in the Al-Risala building here, I had expected Naira El-Sheikh, the young marketing director for the Middle East’s hottest new Islamic satellite television station, might be wearing a veil. After all, since its launch earlier this year, Al-Risala — “The Message” in Arabic — has drawn notoriety for its progressive staff of on-camera and behind-the-scenes go-getters who aren’t afraid to show their Muslim colors. What [...]
