Touring with TechWomen Tunisia Delegation

This week, I am a member of a TechWomen Delegation for the sixth time – having been on every delegation since the program started. It has been my honor and pleasure to visit Emerging Leaders in Morocco (2011), Jordan (2013 – with a side trip to Lebanon), Rwanda (2014), Morocco (2014), South Africa (2015), and now, Tunisia. As always, we travel with a U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs representative, in addition to Institute of International Education (IIE) staff. I begin my ten days in Tunisia with local tours, both informal and formal, to provide cultural context. Last weekend, we visited:

• Dougga – made a UN World Heritage Site in 1997 representing “the best-preserved Roman small town in North Africa”
• Sidi Bou Said – a small coastal town with blue doors, winding streets, and many cats
• The ancient ruins of Carthage – another UN World Heritage Site, since 1979
• The North African American Cemetery and Memorial (in Carthage) where 2,841 US military casualties are interred, mostly from World War II
• The Bardo National Museum in Tunis – with one of the best mosaic collections in the world
• The Tunis Medina, also made a UN World Heritage site in 1979

Dougga

Sidi Bou Said

North African American Cemetery and Memorial

Carthage

Bardo Museum

Images Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson