Day 1 in Abu Dhabi at Festival of Thinkers

Day one was awesome! Today was the opening ceremony at the Emirates Palace as well as the start of the roundtable discussions at the Abu Dhabi Women’s College, concluding with a huge gala dinner.

The production was amazing — including one of the most incredible fireworks displays (out over the gulf) I have ever seen!


I was very impressed with Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Prize Winner for Peace, from Iran. She spoke about the importance of educating Muslim women and the importance of women in the Muslim world. I was surprised at how freely and confidently she spoke about women’s rights in the region.

Our topics of discussion today were the current economic crisis and sustainability in the world’s resources. I am part of a panel tomorrow entitled, “Future Role Models, Adventures in Adversity.” Time to sleep — I hope, as jet lag is no fun!

I also wanted to include this short video of my friends from the Abu Dhabi Women’s College. I was shocked on my trip to the region last March that a number of the girls play basketball!


I was so impressed as I didn’t realize they were “able” to play based on the cultural views of women. What’s great to see is that things are changing here and there are many more opportunities for women, most of which we Americans totally take for granted. I have a wonderful bond with the “team.” I love their spirit!

Here's a list of my blog posts from this trip!

The Journey Begins!

Hello USANA family! I am about to board the plane for Dubai and like all of you, I never leave home without my HealthPak 100! I was just going to empty the paks into my bag. I can’t travel as much as I do without USANA on every trip!

I always up my Proflavanol 90 on long trips like this...helps a lot! It will be interesting to see if I get interesting looks as I take out my HealthPak during our fancy dinners. Should make for some interesting conversation...

Headed to Dubai

I am headed to Dubai today to participate in Festival of Thinkers, a “platform to foster and celebrate thinking, inspiring the youth of the region, and allowing thinkers from around the world to come together and share their ideas and thoughts.” Here is the incredible group.

I can’t wait to meet the “World Thinkers.” (still not sure how I got into this group...) My flight leaves SFO at 4:45pm — thankfully nonstop to Dubai. It’s a short 16-hour flight! I am excited to fly on Emirates Airlines as I have heard how nice the service is. I will send updates during the trip.

Education Without Borders

These are videos from my trip to Dubai as a speaker at Education Without Borders. What impressed me was the commitment to education of both boys and girls in the UAE. I had so many stereotypes of life there. After my visit, those were shattered. I was worried about safety and wondered if I would have to wear a burka or cover my head in public, but I found the UAE very open to "foreigners" and other cultures, so I felt very comfortable and safe.

I highly recommend a visit to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. They have done in 40 years what has taken centuries in other countries. They rely on foreign labor and skill to help them develop and put their money into a strong infrastructure. I found people to be extremely open and welcoming. It is hard to imagine just 45 years ago, the Emirati were wandering the desert! Now they have a world class society!



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