		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Dec. 2000 - 3 Jan. 2001 Issue No.514
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Pack of Cards

By Madame Sosostris

Last week I made one of my customary gaffes and, referring to the famous gynaecologist Dr Mohamed Abul-Ghar, I stated that he was a journalist. Unpardonable of me, of course, since very few in Egypt are not aware of Dr Abul-Ghar's reputation. I do have an excuse, however. I had just read a piece that he had sent to the Weekly and dears, it was so eloquently written that, well, I could have penned it myself. Consequently I consider the author as an esteemed colleague and described him as a journalist. Who knows, maybe he will consider writing in the future? I will not have been so wrong after all.

Darlings, I think you know by now -- and not only through my charming babble, I hope -- that the great Egyptian actor Adel Imam has other worthy activities, such as defending the rights of world refugees, for instance. He is a goodwill ambassador for UNHCR and, in this capacity, has decided to go an extra mile: he will be starring in a documentary sponsored by UNHCR and has waived his (usually very large) fee all for the cause he defends so staunchly. Of course, we are fully aware of the fact that the film will owe much of its popularity to Adel's extraordinary charisma, and from what I hear UNHCR Regional Representitive for the Middle East Mohamed Bukhari fully agrees with this assessment.

Santa has been rather busy this year, appearing at several Christmas celebrations bearing gifts: One of his visits was to the Nile Hilton, where 40 children from the Association for Child Welfare and Amir Tadros Copt Orthodox Orphanages were treated to a programme of Christmas carols in the lobby of the hotel aroud the splendid Christmas tree before proceeding to the Aida banquet hall, where they enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner.

The Nile Hilton did not stop there: it also invited 40 boys aged five to 10 from Dar Al-Hana Orphanage to a lavish Iftar buffet in the Aida banquet hall. After Iftar, they watched their favourite TV programmes and at the end of the event received each a brightly lit Ramadan lantern as a gift.

On the occasion of the Eid, Major General Mustafa Afifi, governor of South Sinai, and Sherif Fanous, board member of the Egyptian Renaissance Cinema Company, joined by other South Sinai political and public figures, inaugurated the Renaissance Sharm Al-Sheikh yesterday. The cinema, located in Kiroseiz tourist village, which is close to Sharm Al-Sheikh International Airport, has two screening rooms with a capcity of 390 seats. Needless to say, two Egyptian Eid films will be the first to show on the brand new screens.

My dear friend and colleague, artist Gamil Shafik, will start the New Year with an exhibition under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and the Egyptian Centre for International Cultural Cooperation, entitled Black and White. It will be inaugurated on 2 January by Mohamed Ghoneim, first undersecretary of state for foreign cultural relations, at the centre's premises. I am sure that you have noticed our front page, and this should give you a taste of what is to come at the exhibition.



Darlings, as you may guess the festive season has brought its wonderful crop of greeting cards to the Weekly. Try as we might, we could not decide which to show you and which to leave out because we simply did not have the space. One of our favourites, sent by my dear friend Brigitte Lefebvre, Middle East representative of Dior, was simply gorgeous, just freaturing a red mouth (Dior lipstick of course) on a background of gold. Unfortunately it did not work in black and white and is now sitting on a shelf in my office. Others, like Al-Badawiya, enclosing the greetings of Shell Egypt. The intricate motifs conveying the good wishes of the ambassador of Armenia and his charming wife also looked really good in print. To all of you who remembered us, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Eid and New Year.

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