Today I am flying out to Doha, Qatar in the Persian Gulf where I have been invited to participate in cultural and professional activities.
The Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs was established at the behest of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, wife of His Highness the Emir of Qatar, to meet the demands of the Qatari society to establish a center that provides comprehensive services to children with special needs.
I will be visiting the Center along with about 250 other guests of Her Highness who have been invited to participate in the Fifth international Forum on Disability sponsored by Qatar. The title of this forum is “Crisis, Conflict, and Disability: Ensuring Equality.
One of the speakers at the forum will be Cherie Blair, former First Lady of the United Kingdom who now works in international law with a specialization in discrimination and human rights. It was recently announced that First Lady Michelle Obama will be in attendance as well.
Qatar has been in the news quite a bit recently, including a story on 60 Minutes. The citizens of Qatar are said to be the wealthiest in the world. Doha is the home of Al Jazeera Arabic News, and recently Doha has agreed to host the political headquarters of the Taliban.
