Pack of Cards

It is with great pleasure, dears, that I write to you from the seaside this eid, where I am having a wonderful time dangling my toes in the cool water, while typing away on my laptop at the same time. Yes, my sweets, I am as connected, and with the times, as the best of them.

Just before I left for the beach, my esteemed colleague Mursi Saad El-Din took me to the beautiful headquarters of the Coptic Evangelical Organisation for Social Service, a wonderful organisation started by the late Samuel Habib over 50 years ago. There, we attended a ceremony in which the Samuel Habib award for distinguished voluntary social work was bestowed upon my dear friend, Tareq Ali Hassan. Hassan is an intellectual par extraordinaire, a multi-talented physician whose musical compositions have been performed by many an Egyptian and foreign symphony orchestra. Hassan is also the founder of a society for voluntary social work, an achievement for which he received this prestigious award. Mursi and I were the first in line to congratulate Hassan for this long-deserved commendation. Currently headed by Nabil Samuel, the Coptic Evangelical Organisation has been dedicated to raising the quality of life for the local inhabitants of upper Egyptian villages. The organisation also organises a great deal of seminars and lectures in which intellectuals, both Muslims and Copts, actively participate.

Last week I was extremely lucky to also attend a charity concert organised by the American University in Cairo's Volunteers in Action (VIA), a student-run club. I joined my active colleague Reham El-Adawi for a fantastic evening of enchanting music played by none other than Omar Khayrat. Now if you're anything like me, dearies, you know that Khayrat is the consummate pianist and composer -- his melodies have continued to strike chords in the hearts of anyone who has heard them for as long as I can remember. This particular concert's aim was to raise money for a programme designed to help orphans obtain apartments when they turn 21, and must leave the shelter of the orphanages where they currently live. I was certainly touched by Khayrat's decision to forgo his LE5000 fee for the event. So far the VIA, thanks to concerts like these which have previously featured singers Mohamed Fouad and Amer Mounib, among others, have managed to raise enough money to obtain 40 apartments for the orphans. And not only that -- the group is constantly trying to provide orphanages with their basic needs, while increasing public awareness to this all-important issue.

You couldn't have missed me, my dears, at the opening of a spell-binding exhibition at the Egyptian Centre for International Cultural Cooperation in Zamalek, by none other than the prominent Chilean painter Gonzala Correa. Dressed in a chic floral ensemble, I was at my most social, mingling with Correa, who is just as charming as his art, as well as Mohamed Ghoneim, first undersecretary of state for foreign cultural relations and Samuel Fernandez Illanes, Chile's ambassador in Egypt.

I capped off my week of good tidings with a fabulous wedding, certainly one of the most memorable I've ever been to. The dashing Karim Nassif is the son of my very dear friend, renowned engineer Bahgat Nassif, and his charming wife Nadia Bakhoum. Karim's stunning bride Cynthia is the daughter of prominent chemist Emad Kelada and his equally charming wife Suzy. Both bride and groom are AUCians, and Karim is the managing director of the Dary building and decoration stores. Allow me to amaze you, my sweets, with a description of the St Mark's Church in Heliopolis, where the official ceremony took place. The floral arrangements designed by the talented Dina Iskandar were certainly one-of-a-kind, extending from the street, up the church's staircase, and all the way inside -- a veritable celebration of tulips, lilies and candles that literally filled the evening with a magical, elegant light. The festivities continued at the Cleopatra ballroom of the Semiramis hotel, where DJ Hani Wahba kept the crowd dancing till dawn. Karim and Cynthia, of course, led the way, for they are both excellent dancers. All in all a wonderful time was had by all, and especially yours truly. My sincerest congrats to both families and to the happy couple, whose future looks to be filled with happiness and light.

And finally, my dears, I must tell you that my colleague Samir Naoum is certainly full of joy these days, and with very good reason -- he's become the proud father of a brand new baby boy. The two-month old Kirolos was just baptised, and, as you can see from the picture, he certainly looks like he's ready to take on the world. All of us here at the Weekly extended our heartiest congratulations to the Naoum family on their new arrival.

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