WHY A THIRD CARAVAN?
Since 2005, Fondation Saradar was sollicited by some municipalities in the Bekaa Valley. The response of the local populations to the IT training programme delivered by the “Saradar IT Programme” was unequivoqual: the rate of participation was high, as the Bekaa Valley and its surroundings are very populated regions that combine urban and rural areas, where the number of Micro & Small Enterprises (MSEs) is important, and the need for IT training remains immense.
This activity prompted Fondation Saradar to explore and evaluate the needs in IT learning in the Bekaa region, which resulted in the launch of the new Cadmus Caravan.
WHY CADMUS?
The ‘Saradar IT Programme’ and the ‘E-Caravan’ are registered trademarks. The branding of the caravan is designed and developed by Fondation Saradar.
The caravan’s name “Cadmus” was suggested by Mrs. Nina Jidéjian. “Cadmus” the son of the King of Tyre, is seen - on a Third Century A.D Bronze coin minted in Tyre - offering a papyrus roll to a Greek delegation, thus referring that “Cadmus” passed on the Phoenician Alphabet to the Greeks. Inspired by the idea of transferring knowledge, this mobile computer school is named “Cadmus Caravan” since it seeks to communicate and disseminate information and technology.
Fondation Saradar, thanks to the valuable assistance provided by the Directorate General of Antiquities of the Lebanese National Museum, contacted the British Museum to secure the coin digital photo in high resolution. Fondation Saradar was granted the required reproduction rights, covering the caravan’s branding and project promotional material.
Pilot Phase Calendar
The Cadmus caravan will be heading towards the Cazas of the Bekaa, the West Bekaa, Zahleh, Baablbeck, Hermel and Rachaya for an initial period of 12 months, with a possibility of renewing the following year. The Caravan will be deployed according to a tentative itinerary, subject to change. The first scheduled stations are Saadnayel, Bar Elias, Ain Kfar Zabad, Ras Baalbeck, El Riyyaq, Ablah and Niha. Each of the stations is expected to also serve users from neighbouring villages. The new Caravan will target:
• Children & youth
• Women in disadvantaged areas
• Disabled & blind persons
• Micro and small businesses
• Staff from the educational and civic institutions
• Rural populations
• Municipality members
• Elderly People
• Other vulnerable and marginalized social groups
THE STORY OF THE ALPHABET By Nina Jidejian, Historian
Lebanon’s greatest gift to Mankind is the Phoenician alphabet.
There were several systems of writing in the old world. Hieroglyphs were used in Egypt whereby each picture represented a word. In Mesopotamia, they used the cuneiform script consisting of a series of wedge-like signs; a series of wedges represented a word. Throughout many centuries these scripts developed into a syllabic system of writing whereby each sign represented a syllable.
It took a lifetime for scribes to master these scripts. Therefore, writing remained a scribal monopoly.
Then during the latter part of the second millennium B.C. the Phoenicians developed a simple phonetic alphabet of 22 letters whereby each letter represented a given sound, bringing writing within the reach of all men.
We are now in the realm of mythology.
In ancient times the gods descended from their abode in the skies to mix up in the affairs of the mortals. They took sides in battle, lay siege to cities and abducted beautiful maidens and youths. Thus Zeus (Jupiter), king of the gods, saw Europa, daughter of King Agenor of Tyre, playing on the beach surrounded by other maidens. He was overwhelmed by her beauty and grace. Transforming himself into a bull, he emerged from the sea, enticed the princess to sit on his back and carried her off over the waves of Crete.
King Agenor was dismayed by her disappearance and ordered his sons, Cadmus, Phoenix and Cilix to search for their sister throughout the world and not to return without her.
Cadmus traveled to Greece. There he consulted the celebrated oracle at Delphi who told him upon leaving the temple to follow a cow until she fell down from fatigue. She guided him to Boeotia. There he founded the city of Thebes.
The legend reflects the arrival on the Greek mainland of Phoenician traders and seamen about 800 B.C. The name “Cadmus” comes from the North-Semitic root qdm meaning the “East”. “Europa” in Greek mythology is a personification of the continent of Europe. The story of Cadmus and Europa was passed down from father to son until the legend was written down by classical historians (Apollodorus in Library I) and has thus come down to us today.
We now leave the realm of legend. Herodotus, the “Father of history” wrote during the fifth century B.C. in Histories 5.58 that Cadmus with a group of Phoenicians settled in Boeotia on mainland Greece and introduced a number of accomplishments of which the most important was writing. Herodotus further states that the Greeks called the letters of their alphabet Phoinikia grammata (Phoenician characters) thus furnishing proof of their Phoenician origin.
The story of Cadmus and Europa was popular during centuries. Bronze coins of Tyre and Sidon minted in the third century A.D. have on the reverse episodes of this heroic legend. One represents Cadmus presenting the Phoenician alphabet on a papyrus scroll to the first of three Greeks. The Greeks in turn passed on the alphabet to the Romans. Without the Phoenician alphabet the story of western civilization may have taken another turn.
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WHY A THIRD CARAVAN?
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