Anglican Communion News Service - Digest News

By Leila Victor Diab, International Anglican Women's Network provincial link for  the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East

Bishop Suhail Dawani and his wife Shafeeqa, who is the co-ordinator of Women's Work in the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East, met with the Committee for Women's Work in the Episcopal Church in Amman, Jordan on Thursday, March 31st, 2011.

Unfortunately, due to the situation in the Middle East, our sisters from Lebanon were unable to attend. Members of the committee joined the group from the West Bank, Palestine and Israel. Committee members included: Rev. Ibrahim Nairouz, consultant to Women's Issues, Susan Barhoum, Wadad Soudah, Faten Saadeh, Sana Rizk, Reem el Far and Leila Diab from Jordan.

A strong and valuable discussion took place prior to the workshop with a number of recommendations for future work whereby more workshops will be held for the women and a General Assembly Meeting in 2012 in Amman, Jordan.

A number of issues of concern were on the agenda for future discussions which included The Existence of Arab Christians in the Middle East, Co-existence, more involvement of Women's Work in the life of the Church, Gender and Family Violence, etc.

Bishop Suhail Dawani and his Wife Shafeeqa supported this discussion and added to the venues of empowerment of women in diocese, by encouraging a vital dialogue between them and the members of the committee.

The opening session of the workshop was a Communion Service in St. Paul's Church headed by Bishop Suhail Dawani and Rev. Hanna Mansour. Passage from the Bible were read out by some of the ladies.

On the second day Deacon Iyad Ajji headed the service while Reem El Far, gave the sermon on the Role of Martha and Mary, a very spiritual, fruitful sermon.

On the second day a visit was paid by the group to the Old Age Home in Ashrafieh and they were all met by Canon Faiq Hadad, his wife Dua' and members of the Church's Committee and Ms. Farida Shatara, a dedicated lady that is responsible for the place.

The workshop which took place in St. Paul's Church in Marka Jordan, hosted around 50 women and some clergy between the ages of 25 - 55. The aim of this workshop was Training on Leadership with specific emphasis on Communication Skills and Networking.

Susan Barhoum, who is a member of the committee led the workshop on Friday morning and guided the group through various discussions by dividing them into six groups for preparations of presentations. The groups were very lively and enthusiastic in presenting each a different topic such as: What is My Identity as a Woman, What is the Role of Youth in the Church, The Challenges the Youth Face in this modern Day, such as Drugs, Smoking, Internet, etc.. What do I need to tell visitors about my Diocese when they come for a visit? How do I represent my Diocese when I travel abroad? All these topics were tackled very professionally and with confidence, sincerity and openness, and each a every single lady present took a part. The overall atmosphere was very friendly and one could see the close relationships that the ladies had at the end of the workshop.

On a lighter note, Mr. Nabeel Sawala, a Jordanian professional Comedian presented a session on the Values of Laughter which was very impressive and effective. This added to the success of the Communication Skills workshop.