Programs and Events

U.S. Chargé d'Affaires Alberto Fernandez talks about Embassy efforts to promote educational cooperation with Sudan as Khartoum State Deputy Governor and Minister of Education Dr. El Sadig El Hadi El Mahdi, PAO Joel Maybury, and chairman of the service committee in the legislative council of Omdurman locality, Imad Al-Deen Al-Fadel, listen.

Sudan Joins "My Arabic Library" Club 

October 29, 2007

On October 29, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Sudan, Alberto Fernandez, handed over the popular “My Arabic Library” set to the Mohamed Bashir Al-Abbadi Basic School in Omdurman.  In attendance at the ceremony were Dr. El-Sadig El-Hadi El-Mahdi, Khartoum State’s Deputy Governor and Minister of Education; Imad Al-Deen Al-Fadel, Chairman of the Service Committee in the Legislative Council of Omdurman Locality; as well as academics from local universities, school principals, and ministry officials.

More than two dozen book sets are in the process of being delivered to elementary schools in the Khartoum/Omdurman metropolitan area as part of the Embassy’s public diplomacy campaign aimed at reaching Sudanese youth.  The Embassy intends to place further orders of “My Arabic Library” for eventual distribution in other regions in Sudan.

In remarks to his Sudanese hosts, the U.S. Chargé expressed his desire for expanded people-to-people contacts and greater cooperation in the educational field.  For his part, the Minister of Education said the book donation builds on Khartoum State’s own plans to reinvigorate school libraries.

“My Arabic Library” is published by Scholastic Inc. and has proven to be a very popular outreach tool for schoolchildren in several countries of the Middle East and North Africa.  In those instances, the books were purchased with funding from the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI).  The U.S. Embassy in Sudan, which does not benefit from MEPI funding, used its discretionary public diplomacy funds to purchase the book sets.  The donation is the first of its kind outside the Middle East and North Africa region.

U.S. Chargé d'Affaires Alberto Fernandez, back row second from left, and Khartoum State Deputy Governor and Minister of Education Dr. El Sadig El Hadi El Mahdi, back row far left, watch as schoolchildren display samples of "My Arabic Library" during book handover ceremony in Omdurman.