I have to show you this gorgeous picture of baby Hamad, whose mother – a journalist – has attended three of the courses I’ve run in Abu Dhabi.
Well, two and a half courses, actually.
Because Hamad was born a couple of days into a recent multimedia course at the city’s twofour54 training academy.
You didn’t need the eagle eye of a seasoned journalist to spot that mum-to-be Amal Almehairi was about to go into creative overdrive. But the speed at which this particular story broke took everyone by surprise.
Especially Amal.
Always punctual, it was clear something was up when Amal didn’t arrive on the third morning. Neither did Alsaad Almenhaly, a fellow journalist at the Arabic-language Al Ittihad newspaper, who was also on the course. (On a previous Multimedia Tools course, Alsaad had made a great impression with her video skills using a Flip camera).
An hour later, Alsaad burst in to the training room with a huge grin and waving a Flip: “Mr Dan. I take video of Amal’s baby.” Naturally, the course ground to a halt while we watched this exclusive footage. The close-ups and natural sound in particular drew critical acclaim from coursemates, who all work at Al Ittihad. Smiles all round.
I’ve exchanged a few emails with Amal since, and mum and baby boy are doing just fine. My thanks to Amal and her husband for letting me share the picture. And here’s wishing all the very best to Hamad (I’m told his name means ‘thanks’ in Arabic).
There. Told you multiskilling was the way to go.
• The journalists at Al Ittihad were attending a series of multimedia and Web 2.0 courses managed by the Thomson Foundation and twofour54.
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Fantastic Website! I wondered if I might be able to pages and use a handful of points for a school assignment.