Insight Dubai Conference Fifth and Last Day

Thursday 31st of March was the last day of Insight Dubai Conference. This was such a sad yet happy day to remember. The day started in our small groups to prepare for the guest speakers who are women leaders from different countries around the world and are successful in their lives and careers.

We headed to the multi purpose hall to be seated and listen to the first guest speaker who was Marsha Ivins, an astronaut. Her speech was one of the most inpsirational presentations I have ever attended. I didn't expect to see such images and listen to such words. She showed us exclusive pictures who are available only for NASA from outer space and inside the space ship. Marsha explained how they eat, use toilets, and sleep in space. She even showed us pictures of significant cities and how they look like from the space ship such as, New York, Dubai, and Hawaii. They all looked so beautiful and specially New York that was full of lights during night. It's really the city that never sleeps.

The following speaker was Butheina Kazim who is an Emirati successful woman who is a manager for Strategy and Business Development, Dubai Media Incorporated. In addition, she is one of the members of "Gulf for Good". She talked to us about the Gulf for Good program and how helpful it is for children around the world. A person can make their own fund raising and participate in this program to any activity he or she likes. For example, cycling in Malysia or hiking. In addition, she showed us an amazing video that represented how happy children become when the participants help them in the program. Furthermore, I loved the messages she gave during the session and her replies to all questions.

The following speaker was Dr.Buthaina Alshunnar who is a plastic surgeon and an amazing person. She shared with us her story about the challenges that faced her as a women that wants to become a surgeon and how much she failed in order to succeed. Her words were very positive and encourgingto all women and she wanted us to believe in ourselves even if people didn't. Moreover, she shared some of her experiences with her patients and how much they trust her because she's a woman.

The last speaker was an Emirati pilot woman who risked everything to achieve her dream. She studied in an air force in Al Ain and became the first Emirati woman pilot. She talked to us about how during her studies they told her that she can't get married but later on they approaved this request.

After all the presentations, the Insight Dubai participants were allowed to ask questions and they all got great answers. Later on, we went back to our groups to discuss the conference and share our feelings and experiences. We all expressed how we can't believe that it's the last day and how much we learned. Furthermore, we played a game that each person says three facts about themselves two should be true and one should be false and the rest of the players should know which is the false one. It was fun to play and to discover that we knew so much about each other in the past four days. Moreover, we played truth and dare to have an interesting and exciting way to end our last session. After the games we went to have our last lunch as a big group in the cafetria with our facilitator and continued our conversations.

After lunch we headed back to the multi purpose hall for the closing ceremony by Dr.Howard Reed and Haya Multaq that explained the purpose of this conference and how successful its is. The ceremony was followed by the certificates distributions. It felt like graduating when they called our names to the stage to collect our certificates and have a group photo.

Afterwards, there was an open microphone for whoever wanted to express their feelings or share their experiences and how much they learned. Many people went up to the stage and cried both happy and sad tears. They were sad to leave yet happy to have attended this conference. International students promised to promote this country and college and tell everyone how much fun they had and how beneficial the program was. Then everyone headed home to change and have a break and get ready for the dhow cruise.

Lastly, everyone came to the dhow cruise all glammed up and wearing their traditional clothes. The boat had two levels and our group sat upstairs in outdoors to enjoy the lovely weather and have dinner. We were all so happy and satisfied with this experience. We took phoyos of each other and even danced downstairs for the last time.

We finally said our goodbyes to everyone and wished them the best. We promised each other to stay in touch and communicate through emails and facebook or to visit anytime. The hardest part was saying goodbye to my buddy who I became best friends with and had her accompany for almost 24 hours everyday.

To conclude, this was the most beneficial and most fun experience I ever had in my entire life. I enjoyed it so much that I never wanted it to come to an end. I had so much to learn about people, countries, and so much more. This is a once in a life time opportunity to meet this number of women from so much countries around the world. I will definetly participate next year.