Christmas 2019

Dear Family and Friends:  

Amidst all the turmoil that has been going on in this crazy world of ours, and despite all  its absurdities, hope for justice and peace for all,  keeps us going. Even the weather has been acting crazy.  Ever since we had two good showers in October in time for the Olive harvest, it has been completely dry until we were blessed with some rain during this last week end.  I hope it is an omen for a good season.  

The highlight  of the year for us as a family was the wedding of granddaughter Zeina, my son Suhail’s  oldest child who got married on September 1 to Faris Zabaneh, her classmate at the Friends School.  It was a blessing that I had recovered from a fractured pelvis after a fall in January,  and was able to join the wedding party on top of a few jigs on the dancing floor.  Having some cousins from across the river of Jordan and from Europe, was an extra bonus.  Haya Yasmeen, Dina’s daughter was maid of honor, and her brother Faris had graduated from the University of San Francisco in time to join us for that  lovely occasion. Omar,  our oldest grandson, and the designer,  was also back from London where he had spent the summer at the British Musem.  Rand, Zeina’s  sister and one of the four bride’s maids left home immediately  after the wedding to start her veterinary studies in Budapest.   We look forward to having her home for Christmas in a couple of weeks.  Suhail’s youngest two boys Yousef and Shadi are still in school in Jerusalem, and Shadi was very happy to be the ring boy at his sister’s wedding. 

Daughter Dina who had been in charge of infection control at the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem for many years started a new post at the hospital in May as Chief of  Operations Officer (COO.) Since then she has travelled for meetings and conferences to the USA, Dublin, and Dubai.  Her husband, Yousef  Nasser continues to teach economics at Birzeit University but after all those long years of being denied entry to Jerusalem,  he now has a permit to be in Jerusalem which needs to  be renewed on a yearly basis.

Son Suhail and his wife Rania have been contributing to the cultural aspect in the Palestinian Territories.  Suhail, as general director of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, and Rania as director of Yabous cultural Centre in Jerusalem.  The Palestine Youth Orchestra had a successful tour in the Scandinavian countries this past summer shortly after they had finished performing the musical “the Little Lantern” based on the story by Ghassan Kanafani, which Suhail had composed.  It was performed for the first time in 2004 at the Cultural Palace in Ramallah and  accompanied at that time by a German Orchestra.  But this time it was performed at the Feisal Husseini Hall at Yabous Cultural Centre  in Jerusalem, and accompanied by the Palestine Youth Orchestra. It ran daily for a whole week, and the young cast were all from Jerusalem.    Rania came back recently from Morocco after being one of five international personalities honored during the opening of "Visa for Music"   International festival for Music and Art in Rabat, Morocco, for her contribution and commitment to the cultural landscape in Palestine. 

I feel blessed to have both of my children around, especially that I am completely retired now and spend most of my time at home reading and writing.  Occasionally I accompany some friends to Rawdat El-Zuhur which remains close to my heart, and those lovely children continue to be a source of hope for the future.  I was not even able to attend the Sabeel International Gathering recently.  But it was such a pleasure to have  some of the participants drop by for a visit;   Brian Grieves,  Rev. Ateek with my friend Cedar and a long-time colleague at Sabeel, who was also unable to attend the Sabeel gathering, as well  as Don and Linda Wagner. 

As usual my birthday,  86^th this past November,  was celebrated twice. Once in Jerusalem with the children.  and once in Birzeit with my siblings, Rima and Hanna and his lovely wife Tania.  This is due to some of the absurdities and check points that are part of our daily life.

Another highlight for the year was the election of Mira Rizek, the National Secretary of the YWCA of Palestine as president of the World YWCA during the recent meeting of the World YWCA council in November, held in Johannesburg, South Africa.  This meant a lot to us as a community, and to me personally because I had the privilege of being the first National President of the YWCA of Palestine when it was affiliated to the World YWCA in Stavengar in 1991.  On the 7^th of January,  the YWCA of Jerusalem had a pre Christmas breakfast for its membership and friends on the occasion of St. Barbara’s feast.  It was a lovely occasion to welcome Mira with a big applause and a nice bouquet of flowers.  Abla Nasir, another past National president provided us with lovely music on her guitar, and the whole atmosphere was joyful. 

  

My children, their spouses  and grandchildren join me in sending you our warmest greetings for a blessed Christmas and a peaceful New Year. And we would like to share with you the following link for a song composed by Suhail with lyrics by Fouad Srouji .