Resources for Teachers and Students on Noor Al Hussein
Prepare: As Queen of Jordan, Noor Al Hussein has
an official
governmental website, with versions both in English
and Arabic. It contains a personal profile, listings of
her projects and speeches, an online photo album, and links
to her foundation.
Read:
Noor Al Hussein wrote an
original essay for the Architects of Peace project.
In it, she discusses an era of coalition activism that she
perceives the world community moving into, an era in which
she anticipates civilization developing a culture of peace
as an alternative to our current culture of war.
Explore: The Noor
Al Hussein Foundation, NHF, works in five main areas:
community development, child and family health, microfinance,
culture and the arts, and enterprise development for women.
The foundation focuses on development through training and
education rather than through charity, and has been especially
effective in increasing the number of girls attending school
in Jordan.
Write: In her Architects of Peace essay, Noor Al
Hussein claims that the real issue involved in achieving
peace is security, stating, "As long as a nation, or
a community, or an individual feels threatened, violence
and recourse to weapons are never far from the surface."
While many would applaud such a realist approach to peacemaking,
idealists might criticize it as being pessimistic. Is peace
a function of security, or are higher ideals involved in
the achievement of peace? Compose a three-to-five page reflection
on these questions in which you argue in favor of either
a realist or idealist approach.
Extend: Noor Al Hussein serves on the steering committee
of the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines, working closely in that cause
with fellow Architect of Peace, [LINK Jody Williams]. Additionally,
she serves as official patron of the Landmine
Survivors Network, an organization founded for landmine
survivors by landmine survivors.
Additional Resource: In addition to her work in
the areas of peace and development, Noor Al Hussein's interests
include conservation causes. She serves as official patron
of the IUCN,
The World Conservation Union, which works to construct a
"Green Web" of collaboration between hundreds
of international non-governmental organizations and their
governmental counterparts.
Biography of Noor
Al Houssein
