Shane

This has been an exciting few weeks for the Middle East Exchange Program. We have been granted official permission to conduct our NGO and Capacity Building program in Syria. Now the real work begins.

We also had the pleasure of hosting Sami Backleh, QLF Middle East Coordinator, and Mounir R. Abi Said, Director of Animal Encounter in Lebanon. Both gentlemen are part of the QLF Alumni and continued to assist QLF in its mission.

Sami and I spent two weeks together organizing the two separate Middle East Exchange Programs. We interviewed potential candidates both here in New England and the Middle East (thanks to Skype), we organized potential workshops, and even got to see some of the sites around Ipswich and Boston.

We are getting close to having all 16 participants for the Community Based Natural Resource Management exchange and have already begun the search for the 12 participants for our exchange with Syria. The Fellows are some of the brightest people we have working on sustainability and community development. This is an exciting time for everyone involved in the program.