Saudi Gazette WHILE the unemployment rate in the United States in January was at 4.9 percent — one of the all time lows — most Americans make "networking" a way of life, particularly for those wanting to work in big cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or Miami. The Webster Dictionary (produced in the United States), officially describes "networking," as "the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically: the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business." [caption id="attachment_36027" align="alignleft" width="300"]img class="size-medium wp-image-36027" src="http://saudigazette.com.sa/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/saudi-2-300x193.jpg" alt="The President of "Scholarship Fingerprints" Faisal Al-Yousuf honoring Saudi Arabia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN. — Courtesy photo" width="300" height="193"/ The President of "Scholarship Fingerprints" Faisal Al-Yousuf honoring Saudi Arabia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN. — Courtesy photo[/caption] So it should perhaps come as no surprise to learn that a PhD student from Saudi Arabia currently studying in the United States — Abdullah Al-Ghafis — arranged a high level networking meeting in New York recently with the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, Prof. Saad Abdullah Al-Saad. Al-Gahfis helped arrange the meeting along with students from the Iona College Saudi Club and the Brooklyn College Saudi Club. Speaking to Saudi Gazette about why this network meeting held at the Marriott Hotel in New York's famed Time Square was important, Al-Ghafis said: "I sense the importance of these events in terms of development of extracurricular activities for students. It is also one of the best ways to motivate youth empowerment." With over 80 people attending the meeting, there was a lot of room to network with new contacts, new ideas, and also raise awareness of Saudi Arabia's achievements on the global stage. "Because our guest speaker works with the UN we wanted to include other nationalities at this meeting too. We wanted to show other nationalities that Saudis also do well in politics, economics, education medicine and culture. We are not a country that just has oil and desert." Born in Riyadh, Abdullah Al-Ghafis, has been living in the United States for the past five years. First as an under graduate at the University of Dayton in Ohio, he is now taking a PhD degree in biomechanics engineering at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, which is considered one of the top 20 schools in the United States. He is also one of the founders of the "Scholarship Fingerprints Initiative," which encourages Saudis who have studied in the United States to write about their experiences in their field of work so that others can learn from them, and contact them. During his interview with Saudi Gazette, Abdullah reiterated how important networking is, and why people should help others. He freely admits how grateful he is to the King Abdullah Scholarship Program providing his education, adding, "The scholarship experience was a dream for us. The time has come to take our fingerprints home. The scholarship was a dream and became a footprint. Our achievements are the hallmarks of every fingerprint, a bright spot in the life of every scholarship. It is also and bright spot in the history of the nation. We collect our fingerprints to be a gift to the homeland that contain the spirit of originality and genius of Saudis." Given hundreds of thousands of Saudis have studied in the United States, that is a lot of opportunity for people to network. Networking is something Abdullah has done a lot of in the past five years. He's spent over 1,000 hours volunteering with over 15 different organizations, including the Red Cross; tutoring inmates at Montgomery Jail, and serving as the Director of Public Relations at the UNICEF Club at Lehigh University which he still does. He said, "Volunteer work changed my personality, to encourage all of us to do it and be part of it. It helped me meet people from more than 55 countries." That is why the meeting with one of Saudi Arabia's representatives to the United Nations was so interesting for the students. The United Nations has representatives from over 193 countries, so Prof. Al-Saad addressed the nature of the United Nations and its work, and the role of the Kingdom in this world organization. His message was that terrorism is a global fight, which affects countries from all over the world. His comments certainly resonated with Al-Ghafis who told Saudi Gazette: "In this international effort it reflects Saudi Arabia as a leading country in the fight against terrorism, both at the global level and on the local level, just as the UK has struggled with terrorism." Given all the experience Al-Ghafis is getting, and all the networking he has been making in the United States, he is looking forward to returning to the Kingdom, "I will do more than one thing to make my country one of the best in the world. My goal is to transfer my volunteer work experience and expand it as much as I can. My country needs me nowadays more than any time past." It seems as though many people will embrace all Abdullah Al-Ghafis has to offer.
