Ammon News - AMMAN Tuesday marks the birthday of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah.

Last year, the Queen co-chaired 1Goal, a global campaign, in partnership with soccer’s governing body "FIFA", that aims to raise awareness about the cause of an estimated 69 million children currently out of school.

The campaign gained worldwide momentum and directed the world’s attention to the importance of education, with participation of major soccer stars and celebrities championing the cause along with the Queen.

In the past two years, Her Majesty directed most of her attention to ensuring that quality education is available to all.

Queen Rania launched "Madrasati Palestine" this year in eastern Jerusalem, based on the same model of her "Madrasati" in Jordan.

Madrasati "my school", is an all-encompassing initiative that aims at rehabilitating and refurbishing the worst off public schools in Jordan, thus providing students with a better school environment combined and increased local community involvement.

With work on the Madrasati phase III commencing this year, the initiative has thus far reached more than one hundred and ten thousand students and community members.

Labeled by many "the online Queen", Her Majesty, has more than 1.3 million followers on the social networking site, Twitter.

And that’s not where her online presence ends.

Apart from Her website, the Queen has over three hundred thousand fans on Her facebook page, as well as very successful Youtube channel, where she works to promote issues such as breaking stereotypes and cross cultural dialogue.

In that spirit, Her Majesty launched "Twisit" earlier this year.

In cooperation with Twitvid, a twitter video application site, Twisit.

A "tourist swap" with a twist.

Chosen by the public, the lucky winner from Jordan will be traveling to Seattle USA, while the American winner will receive an all-expenses-paid vacation for a week to Jordan.

Also this year, Queen Rania wrote "The Sandwich Swap", a children’s picture book, about embracing our differences.

The lesson learnt from the book, is that one should not fear the unknown and be open to experiencing other cultures with no pre-judgment.

The message comes across in a simple story of two girls, who swap very different sandwiches at their school.

The Sandwich Swap topped the New York Times best seller list for 2 consecutive weeks.

Recently, Her Majesty announced the launch of a campaign to raise awareness and funds for Al Aman Fund.

The Fund which was founded in 2003 by the Queen, works on providing orphans with education, allowance and expenses for their post secondary education.

The Campaign, which coincides with the holy month of Ramadan – a time of spirituality and giving for Muslims around the world - aims at raising awareness about the importance of orphans’ education, in order to provide them with the tools and skills to develop a career and a sustainable independent future.

This year also witnesses the fifteenth anniversary of the Jordan River Foundation (JRF), which was founded by Her Majesty.

JRF is a non-profit Jordanian non-governmental organization (NGO) that aims to lift the lives of Jordanians by empowering communities, with a wide range of programs such as those that encourage job creation and child protection.

During last year, Queen Rania received several awards and recognitions for Her work and efforts, for promoting the importance of education and championing women’s and children’s rights, such as the "Arab Knight of Giving" award, The prestigious 2009 "FIFA Presidential Award", as well as the Marisa Bellisario Golden Apple International Award.

* Petra