El-Djazair Alumni Newsletter

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Volume 2, Issue 17 May 2011

A Special International Visitor: Ahmed Bensoltane Mohamed

Ahmed Bensoltane Mohamed,
Inside this issue: president of Al Ajdad, an Asso-
ciation for Diabetic Children
based in Ain Defla, Algeria, was
in the USA to be part of the
Alumni from IV 1 NGO Management Program
that took place in Washington
DC, Manchester, NH, Portland,
OR, and Indianapolis, IN from
EducationUSA Mak- 2 January 31, 2011 to February 18,
ing The Round in 2011.
Algeria
As the founder and president of
Good Football 3 El Ajdad, Ahmed Bensoltane
Mohamed was diagnosed the
diabetes 27 years ago and with
Follow Us 4 all the complication he has been
through, Ahmed had the will to
Bensoltane (seated first from right) and Mahfoudh Bouss-
create an association that helps edi (Standing second from the right)
children suffering from this dis-
ease, El Ajdad is very active in
increasing parents and children Algerian participant, who is an
awareness and also helps to active member of El Ajdad, but
provide them with medicine and who also helped as a guide for
support materials through dona- Ahmed to help him through the
tions but also with informative visit as he is blind.
sessions and conference organi-
zation. After his first experience in the
U.S., Ahmed Bensoltane Mohamed
This thee-week conference, has learned a lot about the differ-
Ahmed and representatives ences and similarities between
from different other countries both the Algerian and American
shared experience and advice on cultures. He also discovered peo-
NGO management, ways of ple’s friendliness and helpfulness;
improving and reaching out to a from the program, he discovered
larger audience, but mainly fund- different and more efficient ways
raising and being convincing. It to increase his association’s effec-
was a great experience, as the tiveness.
opportunity allowed them to
meet Americans and discover A.B
the U.S.

This was the first visit for Ah-

med Bensoltane Mohamed and
Mahfoudh Boussedi, another
 Page 2 El-Djazair Alumni Newsletter

EducationUSA Making The Round in Algeria

EducationUSA Delegation during
one of the Presentations
“EducationUSA
delegation helped
a lot in the
understanding of
a system that,
most of the time,
seems too difficult
for Algerians”
Marissa Scott and Jennifer Fondil-
ler with students from Oran
At the Algerian Ministry of Higher
Education
From April 30 to May 6, 2011,
EducationUSA, in collaboration
with the Public Affairs Section
organized a visit in Algeria of a
delegation representing differ-
ent American educational insti-
tutions. This first time event
came in an effort to promote
U.S. education to Algerian stu-
dents, but also to increase
Algerian students’ awareness
on the available opportunities
for international students in the
U.S, help them understand the
application process and most
importantly the different means
to get financial aid.
EducationUSA delegation in-
cluded five representatives who
were Ann Kuhlman from Yale
University, Ken Carpenter
from the University of New
Mexico, Jennifer Fondiller from
Barnard College, Ross Jennings
from Greenville Community
College, and Joe Delap from
Jacksonville State University.
These universities represent a
large spectrum of American
universities including an Ivy
League institution, a women’s
college, two state universities
and a community college; This
delegation was led by Janine
Fahat, a Senior International
Educational Specialist working
for College Board, another
partner that helped in making
this visit. As a non-profit mem-
bership association represent-
ing more than 5,900 colleges,
universities and schools, the
College Board leads national
and international efforts to
improve access to and readi-
ness for higher education. It
helps over seven million stu-
dents connect to college op-
portunities. The EducationUSA
delegation visited different
institutions in different parts of
Algeria, including the University
of Science and Technology, the
University of Es-Senia in Oran,
Mentouri University in Con-
stantine, from there to Guelma,
a neighboring city, to visit the
University of May 8th 1945, and
during their last day, the dele-
gation visited the Universities
of Science and Technology in
Bab Ezzeouar and Benyoucef
Benkhedda, both in located
Algiers. The delegation also
took part to the Microsoft
Imagine Cup where hundred of
students visited the U.S. Em-
bassy booth and met with Ac-
cess and the Competitive Col-
lege Club students.
During the different visits, Edu-
cationUSA delegation had the
opportunity to meet with hun-
dreds of students to give pres-
entations covering different
topics in the interest of Alge-
rian students, who showed a
great interest in the presented
subjects, mainly financial aid,
campus life, American universi-
ties requirements and through
their questions, had the panel
explain any discrepancies be-
tween the Algerian Education
and the American one, the trip
also included meeting with
Rectors and scholars from the
different Algerian institutions
to hear from them and their
expectations from such a visit,
and discussed ways to increase
collaboration with U.S. institu-
tions through scholars’ visits,
faculty collaboration in the field
of research for instance and also
ways to increase students’ ex-
change through bringing Ameri-
can students to Algeria.
Last but not least, the Educa-
tionUSA delegation also worked
closely with Algerian Higher edu-
cation authorities through differ-
ent meetings not only promoting
U.S. education but also to adver-
tise the available options for Al-
gerian researchers and profes-
sors through exchanges and vis-
its.
This visit by the EducationUSA
delegation helped a lot in the
understanding of a system that,
most of the time, seems too
difficult for Algerians and allowed
the Embassy to present informa-
tion to offer different options for
local students so to encourage
them to apply to American insti-
tutions and to increase the num-
ber of Algerian students in the
U.S., We look forward for future
visits by EducationUSA.
A.B
 Volume 2, Issue 17
Good Football Tours Algeria
On April 18-24, Embassy
Algiers sponsored sports
envoys Lorrie Fair, Brian
Gonzales, and Hisham Elk-
oustaf from American NGO
Good Football for a soccer
program in several Algerian
cities. Ms. Fair, a two time
Olympic gold medalist and
women’s World Cup cham-
pion, was overwhelmed by
the warm welcome she re-
ceived from our Algerian
hosts. The delegation was
received by the current and
former presidents of the
Algerian Football Federa-
tion, and by presidents of
both the men’s and
women’s Algerian profes-
sional Leagues. In Algiers,
the group led a soccer clinic
for women inside El Har-
rach prison, toured the pro-
fessional soccer academy,
visited the headquarters of
leading sports newspapers
El Heddaf and Planete Sport,
gave a live interview on
prime time sports show
“Saa Riadha,” and led a full
day youth soccer tourna-
ment at the Grande Poste in
Lorrie Fair during the event in Algiers Center.
Page 3
the heart of downtown over partnership opportunities,
the weekend with local or- and Ms. Fair was presented
ganizations Proximus Events a lifetime achievement
and Ness El Khir that was award. Good Football and
attended by dozens of the Embassy are honored to
young players, including a have enjoyed such a fun
group with mental disabili- successful week with our
ties, and hundreds of inter- Algerian friends, and look
ested others. The group forward to growing future
also visited the current Al- sports programs together.
gerian women’s champion
team, AFAK Relizane,
where they were hosted
personally by the wali of
Relizane. The wali also spent
a friendly evening with the
group to have dinner and
watch the Copa del Rey
championship match in
Spain. From Relizane, the
group visited Oran, where
they led a soccer clinic at a
private academy for boys
and met with the men’s
professional team. At the Lorrie Fair with young Algerian Soccer players
end of the visit, Good Foot-
ball and Algerian NGO
Ouled El Houma signed an
MOU in the presence of the
leaders of all the profes-
sional Algerian soccer or-
ganizations to seek future
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
El-Djazair Alumni Newsletter

Follow Us
Endless efforts are made by the U.S. Embassy in Algeria in different fields
to increase exchange between Algerians and Americans in different educa-
tional and cultural fields.

Coming soon is the IRC, the Information Resource Center, which will be
another opportunity from Algerian Alumni, students and also researchers
and teachers to get information from the source. The IRC will be open to
public at the U.S. Embassy and will offer different services to the public.
Books, DVC, Discussion Groups, Speakers.

Meet Your Adviser, an event that now is more of a traditional meeting

with students interested to study in the U.S to have a meeting with the
EducationUSA Adviser the last Tuesday of each month.
Different exchange programs are also available on our website for those
who want to apply for long or short term U.S. Government's sponsored
programs.

Follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter...and of course the U.S. Em-

bassy Algiers website.