About Manal and her activism goals:

"My name is Manal M. El-Azzeh. I was born in Amman, in 1975. I've studied dentistry in the University of Jordan and graduated in 1997. I completed my Masters degree in 2005.

"I've been a dentist since 12 years and actually I spent most of the time in working and studying. Since 5 years, I decided to participate positively in the activities of the Jordanian Dental Association, till I become the head of the Jordanian Women Dental Committee. I started to communicate with the female dentists and encourage them to participate strongly in the activities of the association. We began to review the laws in our association (like health insurances and retirements) that affect female dentists, and changed some of them.

"My goal is to participate in the elections of our Dental Association and to become a member of its congress, and in the second step to be the head of our congress, as the first female dentist reach this position, not only in the dental association, but to be the first in all the Jordanian associations."

Why Manal was inspired to take an active role in the Jordanian Dental Association:

"When I was newly graduated in 1997, I was affiliated to the Jordan Dental Association...[but] at that time I didn't recognize that the role of the association is an important one for us, therefore, I became not interested in the association and its activities.

"But actually after 1 year of my graduation from the university (in 1998), I was lucky to work in the clinic of the first Jordanian dentist woman, Dr. Zeinab Abdul-Latif...Although she was in her 70's at that time, but she was simple, full of happiness and spontaneity, and she liked her work a lot. I liked her personality a lot and actually she encouraged me to love my work, look positively to the world, and try to participate more to give service to people. I was impressed to know that she was active in the Jordan Dental Association activities, and a member of its congress in 1976, as the first Jordanian dentist woman [to] reach this position by free elections.

"Because she was very active, I asked her "Why didn't you compete through elections for the position of the chairman of the dental association?" and she answered me that she liked to do that but her other responsibilities...didn't [leave] time to do so.Her words changed my way of thinking. I become more interested to know more about our association, its activities and the elections."

What Manal learned from her OAI experience:

She gained understanding of people, their natures, and their thoughts. She defined her strengths and weaknesses, worked with diverse people, and benefited from their abilities. She completed her plan and defined her goals and timeline. She states: "It changed my view of people; I can evaluate people and understand them. I learned different means of invention/creativity, am thinking about my goals more carefully, and have more self-confidence."

The actions Manal has taken as a result of her OAI experience:

In her leadership course, taught by Kathleen Schafer, Manal wrote a detailed political leadership plan mapping out the steps she will take to get elected to the Jordan Dental Association congress and then to win the position of chairman. She is now working on creating a team that will work together to reach this goal.