Palestinian girls invent 'seeing' walking stick for blind

Palestinian girls invent 'seeing' walking stick for blind

By Sheera Frenkel | McClatchy Newspapers

snip//


"We are very proud. To go, to compete at Intel and show our work. This is very, very important," Nour said. "I am proud of what we have done. There was already one (walking stick) that could sense objects ahead, and another one that could find holes, but nobody combined the two."

The three girls clasped arms as they demonstrated their invention on the courtyard steps of their school. A rough cane made of local pine, it has two infrared sensors that scan forward and downward to detect changes in the terrain and help the user "see" obstacles ahead. It issues various high-pitched beeps to alert the user.

"We all want to grow up to do important things," said Aseel Abu Leil, who wants to be a gynecologist. Aseel Sha'ar and Nour said they wanted to go into the sciences and education, respectively.

"We, as women, have brains too. As good as anyone else," Aseel Abu Leil said. "We have shown what we can do."

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/27/92992/palestinian-girls-invent-seeing.html

Smart kids!

:thumbsup:

:thumbsup:

http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=960

In all nine predominantly Muslim nations surveyed in 2009 a strong majority say it is equally important to educate girls and boys. This opinion is shared by more than eight-in-ten in Lebanon (96%), Israel (93%), Indonesia (93%), Turkey (89%), Pakistan (87%) and the Palestinian territories (85%). Very few in any of these countries say education is more important for either boys or girls. In Egypt (16%) and Jordan (19%) a considerable number say it is more important to educate boys, but in both countries (12% in Egypt and 15% in Jordan) comparable percentages say it is more important to educate girls. Only among Nigerian Muslims do far more say it is more important to educate boys (29%) than say it is more important to educate girls (2%); still a majority (68%) says girls and boys should be educated equally. Egalitarian views are somewhat more widespread than in 2007 in Pakistan (+13 percentage points), the Palestinian territories (+11 points) and Israel (+9 points)

:applause: !!!!!!!!!






Seems the Western world has the opposite problem -- we are so crazed over titsandass that we ignore ANYTHING else women do; Women's achievements are cloaked as effectively as Islam cloaks women's bodies.

I hope they have many more successes to come.

:thumbsup:

It matters not the gender nor the color of the skin. Sometimes it matters when someone has had a rough bringing up that makes them strive harder.