South Africa

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department- London) Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, on Tuesday, joined forces with global leaders, footballers, and FIFA President Sepp Blatter in the global launch of the 1Goal education campaign, which included live satellite link-ups from six different countries.

The FIFA-backed 1Goal campaign, which seeks to give 75 million children a fair chance in life by recruiting tens of millions of supporters through a mass sign up campaign in the run up to the 2010 World Cup, calls on global leaders to stand up to their education pledges.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department- Johannesburg) Starting a three-day working trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, Her Majesty Queen Rania, on Thursday, met with the South African statesman and Nobel Prize laureate Nelson Mandela and his wife, Graca Machel.

During the meeting, members of the Nelson Mandela organizations briefed Her Majesty about the various legacy projects currently underway, including the planned Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, which will be one of three such facilities in all of Africa.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Johannesburg) As a staunch advocate for increasing access to quality education, Her Majesty Queen Rania on Friday announced her role as Honorary Chair of the Global Action Week on Education in anticipation of the “Big Read” event organized by the Global Campaign for Education.

Before reading her story to a group of curious children surrounding her in the Sandton Public Library in Johannesburg, Queen Rania addressed the need to provide “Education for All” by calling on millions to join the “Big Read” campaign.

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department – South Africa) At the opening session of the World Health Organization's 8th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion in Durban, South Africa, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah urged global leaders, physicians and citizens of the world, on Sunday, to "elevate humanity's primal instinct to shield loved ones into a global instinct to shelter and safeguard one another."

(As it appeared in the Huffington Post)

Ironic. The peace conference, that brought me to South Africa, has been postponed.

A gathering billed to bring people together... that symbolized the power of dialogue and intercultural understanding... that was to be a medium for solutions to ongoing conflicts around the world has, instead, polarized opinions, fuelled frustration, and caused divisions.