- Hala Khalaf
Hala Khalaf or Rambling Hal (born 1981) is a prominent
Jordanian blogger as well as afreelance journalist whose writing focuses on howculture influences the daily lives of people living around the world.She maintains he popular
weblog [http://ramblinghal.blogspot.com/ Rants and Rambles]Born in
Kuwait to aPalestinian father, Hala began herjournalism career inCanada at theUniversity of Waterloo where she worked as areporter ,photographer ,proofreader and eventually forum editor of thecampus newspaper Imprint. She graduated in 2003 with a BAHonours degree in English &Rhetoric andProfessional Writing . She has aLicentiate of theRoyal Schools of Music (LRSM )diploma in Piano Performance fromEngland , and a Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL )certificate fromCanada .Upon graduation, Hala moved to
Jordan where she worked as afreelance writer for various nationalJordanian publications, including The Star, aweekly newspaper , and the monthlymagazines Jo and Living Well. At The Star, she had aweekly column entitled Street Rhythm, in which she commented on the cultural beat and daily life of people living inJordan .While writing is her passion, Hala also dedicates her time to teaching children. In the summer of 2001, she travelled to
Lebanon where she volunteered for 2 1/2 months as an English teacher atPalestinian refugee camps . Furthermore, she teaches music to children innursery school s andkindergarten s in addition to givingpiano lessons to young children.In 2004, Hala was awarded the
Novo Nordisk Media Prize for her article "The Truth About Diabetes" (Jo, March 2004). The award is given to the best article ondiabetes and is evaluated by an independent international jury. This article was also a finalist for the Inquirer Award 2004.After winning the prize, Hala embarked on the adventure of her life – a trip around the world to eight countries on four continents. The goal of this journey was to interview 13 children from different
cultural andethnic backgrounds, but all with one thing in common – they all havediabetes . The result was the photographic and narrative book [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470015845] .Hala Khalaf has also worked for
Aramex International in theircommunication s department, and as an English Information andPress Secretary at the Office of HerMajesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah ofJordan .Today, Hala continues to work as a
freelance journalist as well as an external consultant forNovo Nordisk A/S. She is a proud member of the youth panel set up byNovo Nordisk to raise awareness aboutdiabetes worldwide.Khalaf lives with her parents and her two younger brothers in
Jordan . Her father is acivil engineer and prominentbusinessman while her mother is afamily practitioner and published medical writer. They live in a large flat in anupper middle class neighbourhood in the capital city,Amman . Her interests include reading,writing , playing thepiano ,travelling ,photography , meeting people, andhorseriding . Khalaf has also lived inCyprus ,Denmark , andSyria . She is part Syrian and aJordanian national but she mainly sees herself as anArab and aMuslim . She is proud of herArab heritage, and appreciates the richculture . Hala is a true believer in traditionalArab hospitality.External links
* [http://ramblinghal.blogspot.com/ Rants and Rambles blog]
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470015845 "Young Voices: Life with Diabetes" by Hala Khalaf]
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