RIYADH, 4 September 2007 — On first meeting Noura Saleh Abdullatif at the GOTEVOT National Computer Skills Competition in March 2007, the GM of Microsoft Saudi Arabia was amazed by her IT knowledge and ability. The National Computer Skills Competition is a contest for all computer amateurs and hobbyists, both men and women, of every age. The contest includes many different categories and Noura won first place and SR10,000 in the category of “Single Electronic Artwork Created by an Elementary School Student.”

This summer, members of the Microsoft Saudi Arabia team met with Noura and her father once again. Everyone was impressed with her talent and her interest in creating art using a PC. To enable Noura to fully develop her skills, Microsoft decided to provide her with a new Tablet Computer loaded with Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007.

“Through girls like Noura, we see the powerful role that technology plays in enabling the children and youth of Saudi Arabia to realize their potential,” said Dr. Khaled Al-Dhaher, GM, Microsoft Saudi Arabia. “This is what inspires us to encourage children like Noura and to support programs and initiatives that help her and others discover their talents and build their IT skills.”

Noura is eight years old and a student at the 17th School for Memorizing Qur’an. Her family could be described as conservative in outlook, with adherence to Islamic principles a priority in their lives. It is often thought that conservative members of society shun any contact with the Internet, but Noura actually gets some inspiration for her artwork from the Net.

Noura’s father explained that they use the Internet together as a family, mostly to explore Islamic and educational websites. The children never surf the Net alone. He advised however, that for children raised with Islamic values, “Islam will be the inner control for the child to know how to use the Internet properly.”

Everyone in Noura’s home uses the computer and Noura’s older sister is an amateur graphic designer. The family tends to use the computer together rather than individually, and from about the age of four, out of curiosity Noura would sit beside her sister watching her at work with the various programs on the PC. Eventually she began using the computer on her own. Soon, there was friendly competition between the girls, with Noura trying to outdo her sister in the artwork she was creating on the PC.

“Noura always was fascinated with technology,” remarked Saleh Abdullatif, Noura’s father. “She always loved to play with my mobile telephone and she used to play the little games on the phone from a very early age. Once she understood a little about the computer, Noura would sit by her sister’s side, never leaving for hours, trying to see and learn everything her sister was doing and eventually nagging to use the PC for a little while. She shocked everyone when she began opening files in Adobe Photoshop and immediately started switching between layers and using the different brushes.”

Noura’s father admitted that until the competition back in the Spring, he really was unaware that her talent was so significant. He thought that doing art on the PC was just a fun activity. Seeing that she enjoyed it so much, he had been encouraging her to learn more about the advanced features of the graphics programs and her sister had been teaching Noura some of the ways that she could enhance her drawings. Noura took a beginner’s course too that was focused on learning the basic features of a variety of mainly Microsoft programs. That allowed her to start using her artwork in presentations for school, which have been very well received by her teachers.

“Now, all my friends and family who are my age have begun asking me to teach them how to start using the computer and make designs with it,” said Nourah. “The best way to do this is to invite them over to my house and then show them the basics and let them try it too. They like it a lot.”

It usually takes Noura about three or four days to complete one of her projects. As she has learned some advanced graphics skills, now she likes to combine different design elements, such as a photograph, freehand drawing and calligraphy together. Noura was very happy to enter the GOTEVOT competition and she wasn’t nervous about it at all, mostly because she was entering the competition for fun, at her father’s suggestion. She was quite surprised to be a winner and now that she has the new Tablet PC she is looking forward to developing her skills further and participating in more events in the future.

“The only problem I have right now,” said Noura, “is that my younger sister who is only three years old wants to touch my computer all the time and I have to be very careful with it so she doesn’t break it. My little sister says that she wants to learn how to use the computer so she can win a competition like me and get her own laptop!”